Tokyo Tribe
Japan 2014
Written by Shion Sono, based on the manga by Santa Inoue
Directed by Shion Sono
Watched on 23.09.2015

As much as I ended up loving “Love & Peace”, and thus was very much willing to give “Tokyo Tribe” a chance, it – like I previously feared – ended up being not my cup of tea. As someone who has a hard time with hip hop and rap music, this movie, which sounds and feels like a two-hour hip hop-music video, arguably never really had a chance with me.

There are certain things about it that I could appreciate. For example, and in complete contrast to “Love & Peace”, my favorite part of the movie were the first couple of minutes, with the very long take through the slums. That sequence was set up and shot masterfully. There were also a couple of nice, highly energetic scenes later on. And I also quite liked the lavish sets, the cinematography, as well as the overall look of the movie. In my book, however, the bad far outweighs the good, I’m afraid. I didn’t really like any of the characters, who mostly felt like clichés rather than real people, with the totally over-the-top crime boss especially annoying and painful. I also could have done without the supernatural angle that they ultimately bring in. There also were far too many different gangs for my taste, which made it difficult for me to keep track of them. The editing was quite erratic at times. And most of the humor fell flat with me, with the dick-measuring contest an especially low point. I really wish they would have spared us that, since I found it to be incredibly childish and immature. Ultimately, though, I guess it mostly boils down to the fact that I didn’t at all care about the music – which is why I found “Tokyo Tribe” to be rather loud, obnoxious, annoying and tiresome.
3/10

IMDB