Synopsis
Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.
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Cast
- Ayako FujitaniHiroko (segment "Interior Design")
- Ryo KaseAkira (segment "Interior Design")
- Ayumi ItoAkemi (segment "Interior Design")
- Nao OmoriHiroshi (segment "Interior Design")
- Satoshi TsumabukiTakeshi (segment "Interior Design")
- DendenCar Pound Attendant (segment "Interior Design")
- Denis LavantMerde' (segment "Merde")
- Jean-François BalmerMaître Voland (segment "Merde")
- Renji IshibashiAdvocate General (segment "Merde")
- Toshiyuki KitamiProsecutor (segment "Merde")
Recommendations
- 75
The A.V. Club
The entries aren't equally strong, of course, but each comes from a sharp outsider's perspective, approaching Tokyo as a strange, mysterious organism that infects the populace. - 75
New York Post
Carax, who hadn't made a movie since "Pola X" in 1999 comes off best. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Though these vignettes appear frivolous and inconsequential when set beside the directors' features, they will tickle the funny bones of a general audience. A safe choice for fantastic fests, worldwide cinemas will open to the kind of audiences who bought tickets to see "Paris J'taime" or "To Each His Own Cinema." - 70
Village Voice
Mutants abound as each episode trips the light fantastic. - 70
The New York Times
Both in its parts and in the sum of them Tokyo! is playfully and sometimes disorientingly apocalyptic. - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
Do these films reflect actual aspects of modern Tokyo? The hikikomori epidemic is apparently real enough, but the other two segments seem more deliberately fantastical. The entertainment value? Medium to high: "Merde." Tokyo? Still standing. - 60
Variety
An uneven but enjoyable trio of films that take affectionate (and sometimes literal) aim at the Japanese capital. - 60
Salon
This isn't an art house crowd pleaser along the lines of the 2006 "Paris, je t'aime," a freewheeling mixed bag of shorts made by the likes of Olivier Assayas, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuarón. Tokyo! demands more patience, patience that it sometimes doesn't deserve.
