Tokyo!
Directed by: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Bong Joon-ho
Written by: Gabrielle Bell, Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Bong Joon-ho
Starring: Ayako Fujitani, Ayumi Ito, Ryo Kase, Denis Lavant, Jean-François Balmer, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yû Aoi

Historically, short films have never really received much mainstream attention because, let’s face it, you can’t exactly put them in a movie theatre and charge full price for admission. They’ve mostly been relegated to the realm of film festivals and YouTube, but every now and then someone comes up with a clever way to package a collection of short films and sell it to the public. The 2007 film Paris, Je T’aime had a fairly successful (albeit limited) theatrical run collecting 18 shorts from such directors as The Coen Brothers, Tom Tykwer, Gus Van Sant and Wes Craven. It eventually spawned a sequel of sorts called, New York, I Love You.

Following in the footsteps of these films comes Tokyo!, another movie that combines multiple short films inspired by and set in a particular city. While the two aforementioned films are from the same producers, however, Tokyo! has a completely different creative team behind it, and it feels like a different beast in a number of ways.

The most obvious one is that there are only three short films here: Interior Design, directed by Michel Gondry, Merde, directed by Leos Carax, and Shaking Tokyo, by Bong Joon-ho. They are much longer than the ones featured in Paris Je T’aime, clocking in at around 30 minutes each. While this affords more room for storytelling, it also means that if you don’t like a particular segment, it’s going to be a long wait to get to the next one. The good news is that all three are worth checking out, making for a thoroughly enjoyable experience overall.

Interior Design is an adaptation of a story from a graphic novel by Gabrielle Bell called Cecil and Jordan in New York, about a couple (Hiroko and Akira) who move to the city in search of jobs and a place to live. They take temporary lodging in a cramped flat with an old school friend, while they await the screening of Akira’s film at a local movie theatre. As time goes on, the stress of their situation gets to Hiroko, who starts to worry that she is not pulling her weight. This feels a lot less like a Michel Gondry film than you might expect (partially because he didn’t write it, I guess), but that’s not a bad thing. There is nothing wacky or surreal about it except for the ending, which is simultaneously hilarious, touching and insane. Other than that, it’s just a story about the sacrifices and pitfalls of relationships.

Next up is Leos Carax’s Merde, a satirical story about a strange creature who dwells in the sewers of Tokyo and comes up to terrorize people on the surface. I must confess that I knew nothing about Carax going into this film, and I can’t say this really convinced me to check out more of his previous work. That’s not to say I didn’t like it, but only that it felt like it was trying a bit too hard. I think the concept is more interesting than the execution, although there were certain scenes that were a lot of fun (in particular, Merde’s first rampage on the streets). Denis Lavant’s twisted portrayal of the creature with his strange mannerisms and half-vocal/half-physical language of communication was impressive, but ultimately felt a bit too much like a sketch comedy character for me. The commentary on terrorism and the media was also heavy-handed, but underneath it all there is a tragic Tim Burton-esque story of a misunderstood outcast that I happened to like.

Last but not least is Shaking Tokyo, my favourite of the three shorts. Written and directed by Bong Joon-ho (The Host), this is the tale of a young man who is a social recluse that never leaves his house. I guess there are so many people like this in Japan that they even have a term for it: “hikikomori”. His home is packed to the rafters with stuff and organized with the utmost precision. He orders everything online or by phone and has it delivered to his house, until one day, after 10 years of seclusion, a pizza delivery girl faints at his doorstep during a minor earthquake. His life is turned upside down, and eventually he forces himself to venture outside into the great unknown, where he makes a shocking discovery. Shaking Tokyo is meticulously shot by Joon-ho and marvelously acted by Teruyuki Kagawa. It has a melancholic atmosphere but it is also quite funny at points, which helps make some of the apocalyptic twists that much easier to swallow.

Overall, I enjoyed this triptych of films quite a bit, and while I had initially suspected that it might come off as more of an experimental art piece, the stories are straightforward and relatable, with just the right level of weird to keep you hooked. The movie looks gorgeous — even moreso on Blu-ray — and of course, it helps to have such a unique city as the backdrop for a story. Ultimately, though, these stories are not just about Tokyo, but also about urban life in general, and they’re each brilliantly crafted in their own right.

Extras on the Blu-ray include “Making Of” featurettes for each film, and a montage of interviews with all three directors (plus the writer of Interior Design). — Sean

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Recommended If You Like: Paris Je T'aime, Babel, Lost in Translation