Ardent followers of iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono
Frank Ochieng
Ardent followers of iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono will certainly rejoice in the continued surrealistic cinema that erratically meshes a combustion…
Ardent followers of iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono will certainly rejoice in the continued surrealistic cinema that erratically meshes a combustion of various themes and genres thus generating a spicy spectacle of action-oriented exuberance. Sono, known for such colorful feisty-minded fare such as Guilty of Romance and Suicide Circle will have one scratching their bewildered noggins trying the grasp the latest twisted tale of sexual and violent gumption in the wildly impish and imaginative gang-bang musical street-tug-of-war crime caper Tokyo Tribe. Outwardly frivolous, frenetic and fueled with a bizarre combination of opulence and outlandishness, Tokyo Tribe will indeed stimulate the senses with its hodge-podge of hedonistic heft in the realm of instantaneous insanity.
There is no doubt that Sono's turbulent and tactical offering in Tokyo Tribe is a devoted salute to the memorable gang movies and notable musicals that have graced moviegoers' consciousness throughout the decades of cinema in general. The homage to the influences that Tokyo Tribe festively borrows from is delightfully thrown in one's exhaustive face in gaudy, grand fashion. From obvious gangster tributes to rousing gems such as A Clockwork Orange, Scarface, Ichi the Killer and The Warriors to finger-snapping sing-alongs that include West Side Story and Moulin Rouge, Sono's melodic meltdown of fists, firepower and fury is a serving of potent street turf stew ready to be sampled with sensory overload. Clearly, Tokyo Tribe is proudly off-balanced and curiously unstructured to the point that the free-for-all bombastic action and strife is celebrated with indescribable excitement.
Sono's crime and fantasy landscape of a dystopian Tokyo gone up for grabs in clashing ecstasy leaves some wondering if the overwhelming elements of its boisterous flavored parts are truly worth the powder keg production as a whole. Well, Tokyo Tribe dutifully captures the haunting and high-spirited wrath of its yakuza-style boiling point. Although at times seemingly uneven and over-indulgent in its zest for collaborative craziness, Tribe does manage to wink at its super-charged exploitation with a dynamic giddiness that wryly registers. Saddled with sadistic criminal gang-bangers, hip hop-induced tunes piercing through the film's booming soundtrack and skin-clad beauties for the hormones to race aimlessly at will, Tokyo Tribe is both caustic and cockeyed while reveling in its need for the featured Japanese rap musicians to convey a sense of creative yet corrosive urgency in the showcased horror of the furious Far East streets of mayhem.
There is something that can be said for Sono's energetic direction of a gun-toting narrative that could easily be dismissed as overblown and pretentiously shocking. This, however, is actually the appeal to Tokyo Tribe because it is willing to be unconventional, unnerving and unapologetic for its pumped-up presentation of wayward will and war on the mean streets and alleyways as carried out by larger-than-life machete-swinging merchants whose taste for blood is undeniable. Sono's frenzied fable of street-minded violators with a code for chaos and conflict is what feverishly steers Tokyo Tribe into a grinding and gritty guilty pleasure of a crime story peppered with dream-like delusion and confusion. Granted that Tokyo Tribe is not as high-minded or observant as Sono's moving The Land of Hope. Still, Tribe feels joyously experimental as a volt-oriented vehicle with reckless promise and panache.
The premise is set as twenty-three gangs are vying for ultimate control of the targeted tough streets in futuristic Tokyo in what appears to be a fierce face-off for the ages. Naturally, these gangs (or "tribes" as they are deemed) look to make their presence known within Japan's vulnerable capital city. In particular, the overbearing and menacing overlord Bubba (Rika Takeuchi) envisions taking over the entire region and having dominance over the other crime lords and their minions. The ruthless Bubba means business as he wants the existing tribes at his feet of mercy. Hence, Bubba calls for an all-out war in an attempt to challenge his equally evil-minded rivals.
Of course when Bubba and his underlings (including his son) are not trying to take over the Tokyo street operations they look to hook the attention of pretty and prestigious Sunmi (Nana Seino). The jeopardized Sunmi just happens to be the daughter of a prominent local bigshot in the community. Nothing says complete triumph to Bubba and his backers should Sumni succumb to his personal needs within his felonious organization. Soon, the realization comes into focus--the rivals all over Tokyo must come in unison to stop the diabolical Bubba from becoming the master manipulator and prevent him for furthering any power hunger proclivities.
Surely the audience will find themselves surrendering to the various devious angles that Tokyo Tribes turns its tricks towards in spontaneous, off-kilter fashion. Over-the-top characterizations, animated violent sequences, fleshy females, combative confrontations, flashy choreographed movements, the aforementioned inclusion of some well-known Japanese rap artists, dizzying colorized overtones, provocative wardrobes, both silly-minded and stirring gang-style antics--all are assembled with weary finesse that propels Tokyo Tribe as an overactive romp that knows its role all too well. And what role is that one might ask? Perhaps to be an entertainingly odd and ludicrous genre flick that acts as an unsettling messenger for our indiscriminate preferences in cinematic mob mentalities and musical musings.
Tokyo Tribe (2014)
1 hr. 57 mins.
Starring: Young Dais, Ryouhei Suzuki, Nana Seino, Shota Sometani, Riki Takeuchi
Directed by: Sion Sono
MPAA Rating: R
Genre: Gang-Related Fantasy and Suspense/Crime and Drama/Action and Adventure
Critic's rating: ** 1/2 stars (out of 4 stars)
(c) Frank Ochieng (2015)
Read full review
★ 6 / 10
Tokyo Tribe
politic1983
I've been to Tokyo, and it is just like this...if 'this' is 'Grand Theft Auto: Tokyo'. Sion Sono's latest film is certainly an experience. I first came across…
I've been to Tokyo, and it is just like this...if 'this' is 'Grand Theft Auto: Tokyo'. Sion Sono's latest film is certainly an experience.
I first came across 'Tokyo Tribe', that is to say to strangely titled 'Tokyo Tribe 2', while in, erm, Tokyo. Bored, and looking for a new anime series to entertain, I searched my local 'Book Off' and came across something that looks like it might combine both anime and hip hop in a way that only 'Samurai Champloo' could do before it. On the cheap (for Japan), I purchased volumes 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the DVD collection, being that 3 and 6 were unavailable on that day. Being that I was in Japan, there was no need for English translations on these bad boys, so I could merely watch the interesting images and listen to the fat beats which were contained within.
Loosely, the plot centres around the Mushashino Saru gang, a group of fun-loving kids that hang out at a diner. But, being just one of twenty-three gangs in Tokyo, all representing their 'hood in their own unique way, they soon find their peaceful lives caught up in gang wars. It's 'The Warriors' in Japanese.
The anime of Santa Inoue's manga comes with GTA-style breakdowns of the characters, the gangs, the locations, the eateries involved in this semi-fictional Tokyo world. I like the anime (not that I understand it, wakarimashita?!), with the music and style; seriousness and comedy, but mainly the ending credits, which always need to deliver in an anime series. So, now comes the live-action version from bum-crampingly- long film director Sono: a man that might have one said that both Miike Takashi and Kitano Takeshi are both 'dead', but also might have not.
When turning a cartoon into a live-action, it's always interesting to the approach that will be taken. Sono certainly takes some interesting ones here. The first notable one is that this being a hip hop anime, 90% of what is said is 'rapped', with a combination of actors trying their best and some Japanese wordsmiths making up the cast. What starts off as interesting, soon starts to feel like a potentially irritating gimmick, before you settle into it and it becomes natural. After two hours of this, you will only want to speak in rap-form...in Japanese.
The second noticeable element is that of bling. Hip hop is always something that I feel is very anti-Japanese. Despite my love of both Japanese culture and hip hop, the loud, brash, bragging rights world of hip hop simply doesn't fit with that image of polite and respectful Japanese. But, being a man that regularly listens to Japanese ragga on vinyl, this cross-culture exists, and my Japanese hip hop collections is ever on the increase. But the US gangsta ethic feels a little strange in Japanese, with many of the gangs coming straight out of a comic book. But this is straight out of a comic book, and so some poetic license needs to be allowed here.
When watching characters in animated form, it is acceptable for them to be larger than life and somewhat unbelievable, but you're always unsure how to take them when they're actual humans. The sick and twisted characters certainly are that in Sono's 'Tokyo Tribe', and the gang colours come across as much hilarious as threatening.
Reality is not the name of the game here, with 'Tokyo Tribe' feeling very much like a game of 'GTA': not feeling in anyway based on real- life, but a dream world men wish they lived in, but would run from as soon as it was in their face. This is, therefore, pure silliness in a can...of film, the film's farcical conclusion in-line with the rest of the two hours.
There are good and bad elements in this film: The good include the rapping, which is interesting and gives the film a rhythm, though maybe not a linear plot. while the rappers in the cast can obviously hold their own, novices, like actor Shota Sometani take on a lot of rapping and while not blessed with talent can pull it off for the duration. There is certainly a lot of invention here as well, with creative set designs in-line with the manga and anime.
But with all that rapping and less-than-coherent plot, this is at times a little long and at times disjointed. But, much like Miike Takashi - a man he will inevitably be compared to - before him, Sono is a creative director that will keep churning them out, not dwelling too much on how films are received, working on what new and crazy things to do next...
Tokyo Tribe, never ever die...
Read full review
★ 6 / 10
A bizarre mash up of gang violence, martial arts action and hip-hop musical
mwilson1976
You'll either find this mash up of gang violence, martial arts action and hip-hop musical (it is told almost entirely in rap verse), based on a popular Manga…
You'll either find this mash up of gang violence, martial arts action and hip-hop musical (it is told almost entirely in rap verse), based on a popular Manga series ingenious or totally bonkers, but director Sion Sono delivers a movie that goes beyond the midnight-movie oddness of the plot, and has a knack of making the dumbest of ideas work. In a futuristic Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. When one of the gang leaders breaks the fragile peace, it triggers a brutal street war for supremacy. Featuring a cannibalistic yakuza boss and his son who has a room full of human furniture, a (computer-generated) tank rolling down the streets of Tokyo and bombing buildings, a lot of humour, and even a homage to Bruce Lee (not Kill Bill) in Game of Death, there's a lot to like in this movie even if the novelty of it all does start to wear a little thin after a while.
Read full review
58%
TOMATOMETER
· 33 reviews
47%
AUDIENCE
· 250 ratings
6.4/10
3.8K
•••
This was a wild, wild ride, highly recommend :)