9 out of 9 people found the following review helpful:

Tokyo

chenny from , 7th June, 2009

Three short films surrounding life in the big mad city, the first of which explores the psyche of an underachieving artists girlfriend. This is not the strongest of the three films, and finishes at a point at which it should perhaps have started. But persevere because the second film will have your synapses strobing. It begins with the mysterious Mr Merde crawling out of the sewer and unleashing his own peculiar brand of hell on the good citizens. There is an analogy in here, of that I am certain, but for what I couldn't say with any authority. The last film is also very bold and unusual, concerned with our desire to remove ourselves from the blipvert hyperactivity of life. The film has plenty of flesh on it, and i feel sure the bones of it will be picked clean by Hollywood vultures and Ad-men the world over. If you like this, check out other Asain cinema. I recommend. The Host and Mad Detective

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

*** May contain spoilers ***

'Disappointing' sums it up well.

mcgeordie from , 27th June, 2009

There's great potential in a series of short films about one of the world's most interesting and bizarre cities. But whilst these three directors easily tick the latter box, the former is forgotten. The first film is Gondry's, a favourite director of mine, he was the main reason I was waiting in such anticipation for this film. But sadly I was treated to 20 minutes of a young couple's every day life. that was it. There may have been metaphors hidden deep within the sludge, but even with them, the dialogue and (non-existant) plot could not hold my interest enough to search for them. The cute twist at the end (which I won't spoil) was fantastic, no doubt, but by that point I was simply waiting for the film to end. The second was that of Leon Carax. Ironically, that film started with it's most interesting point, a scruffy wanderer emerging from the sewers of Tokyo and mildly irritating it's inhabitants was a genuine laugh out loud moment, but as soon as this man (by the name of Merdé) was captured by the police, the film quickly dissolved into a particularly dull episode of Japanese Judge John Deed. I was so bored by it that the attempted heartstring-plucking ending was ruined by my returning desire for the end of the story to see if this final one might be able to save the film. Bong Joon-Ho's section of the film was mercifully the final one, but also tragically the worst. It had a very interesting premise, of a man voluntarily locked in his house, refusing to even make eye contact with delivery men. And there were a fair few entertaining twists (including the moment where the main character wanders through the city). The ending for this story was also best, putting a giant smile on my face. Yet nevertheless, when the credits rolled my smile turned to a sigh, as I realised the film I waited so long for turned out to almost do the impossible, make three films with such interesting topics and premises so boring.

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It's shaking...

tsunamiwolf from , 12th January, 2010

the third movie in this collection is that rare type of movie when you learn something new, and plot is innovative, and actors are great. add japanese flavour to it and you got a modern masterpiece. Shaking Tokyo is a social phenomenon of hikikamori taken to extreme, turned into sci fi thriller with a love story thrown in. really, really liked it. glad i survived through first 2 movies to watch it. closing words 'It's shaking' are exactly how movies should end. bravo Mr Ho!

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1 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Not quite what I expected

A Customer from Epsom, 2nd July, 2009

I think something maybe for more artists, philosophy and psychology students. Three separate stories set in Tokyo.

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