I've been to Tokyo, and it is just like this...if 'this' is 'Grand
Theft Auto: Tokyo'. The first Japanese film I've seen at the LFF since 2012 (withdrawal),
Shion Sono's latest film is certainly an experience.
I first came across 'Tokyo Tribe', that is to say the 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...
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