Tokyo!: Looking for a unique and memorable cinematic experience? Look no further. This triptych of 1h50 goes by so fast! The final scene comes somewhat too quick but leaves you with a lot talk about. Here's my ratings for the three shorts: Michel Gondry's Interior Design: charming interesting simple story with a punch line that will make you fall off your chair! 7/10 Leo Carax's Merde: Leo brought back his craziest character from the movie Holy Motors and this short had some dragging parts but was still better than the whole movie HM. 6/10 Finally, Bong Joon Ho's Shaking Tokyo is the best of the three. A peculiar but very captivating story about isolation and agoraphobia. 8/10

Japanese films can be among the strangest films in the world. This is not a complaint...just a fact. Sometimes the films are delightfully strange (such as "Happiness of the Katakuris") and others, like "Tokyo!" are weird....and NOT pleasantly weird. It's a shame, as I really wanted to like this one but can see no reason to see this film."Tokyo!" consists of three short films. All are set in Tokyo and feature Japanese or mostly Japanese casts. However, two of the films are directed by French directors and another by a Korean one. Perhaps this might explain why I liked it so much less than other weird Japanese films."INTERIOR DESIGN" is the best of the three films. It's a story about a couple that move to Tokyo and have a hard time fitting in and adjusting. All this is pretty enjoyable and the couple is cute. BUT, out of the middle of nowhere, the film becomes weird--super, amazingly weird. I think the theme is something about depersonalization but frankly the payoff just isn't there. Trippy and worth, perhaps, a 3."MERDE" is different because it starts off VERY weirdly and is about a weird creature that lives in the sewer and runs about doing stupid (and rather funny) things. I liked the film a lot. And then, for no apparent reason, he began murdering people and the film because bloody and unfun. Of the three films, this one was the worst--tedious beyond belief and yechy--with a bit of VERY unsexy full-frontal nudity to boot. Unpleasant, that's for sure and worthy of a 1."SHAKING TOKYO" is a strange but somewhat enjoyable film about the 'hikikomori'. A hikikomori is a strange sort of person who simply gives up on life and becomes a recluse--and it usually begins in the teen years and may last many years. According to one article I read, this mental illness affects a whopping 700000--though no disorder like this is seen in western society. It is NOT the same as agoraphobia (caused by fear of life outside the home) but is more like a voluntary sort of hermetic life. The story is about one man content to live this sort of withdrawn life until he meets a very odd pizza delivery lady. Not pleasant but not awful and I'd give it a 3.Overall, none of the stories are particularly good and all are odd just for the sake of being odd. I just couldn't stand that there NEVER was any payoff for any of these stories and cannot recommend the film.

I knew it was a series of short films by foreign directors, but I expected something better from the all-star Japanese cast in these films.The first segment "Interior Design" is a total trash. The two main characters' behaviors were completely un-Japanese and ludicrous. The 'spin the umbrella and jump' joke was so anime, it probably was copied from an anime series. The whole presentation with the chair and heroine was so generic that it felt like a work of a film school student trying to be creative, much like the failing filmmaker in this movie.The second segment "Merde"'s opening sequence was very solid, but the Gojira theme music playing in the background was ridiculous, and shows how little research was done on Tokyo and Japan for this film. The second havoc scene was produced with so little care that one of the dead victims was clearly breathing. The director also went overboard with the fake language and the crazy gesture that came with it. The actor who played Merde was brilliant, but the French lawyer's acting was so fake and corny. This short film would've been much better with more Merde action.The third segment, "Shaking Tokyo" was the only short film that had anything remotely related to exploring characteristics unique in Japan. I guess being the closest neighbor of Japan, a Korean director was the only one of the three who were qualified to describe Tokyo in a short film, and the only one who did any kind of research. Cinematography, Kagawa Teruyuki's narration, and depiction of this atypical (very organized) hikikomori were all really well-done, but the special effects in the Earthquake could've been done much better. This short film deserved much more budget since it starred A-list of Japanese acting like Kagawa Teruyuki, Aoi Yuu, and Takenaka Naoto. Although I liked the style of this film, it was too different from the previous two art-house style short films that created inconsistency as a whole.I guess this anthology was made for Western audience, but the first two segments were a joke to anyone familiar with Tokyo and Japanese films. In fact, those two films absolutely didn't need to be set in Tokyo or Japan. Only the Korean director made any attempt to tackle an issue of Japanese society. Considering the all-star cast these short films managed to gather, these short films were nothing but complete and utter failure.

Greetings again from the darkness. Three odd shorts merged together because of their Tokyo locations. Normally I am not a fan of the segmented, multi-director approach. The best that come to mind are Paris je'Taime and New York Stories. Tokyo is not at that level.The always interesting Michel Gondry (yes, he's French) has the best segment. Interior Design provides two story lines ... the fine line between generosity (helping a friend) and taking advantage of that friend; and the loneliness of losing one's self in a relationship. Gondry works wonders in a short time and I absolutely loved the chair as a metaphor.The second segment comes from another Frenchman, Leos Carax. By far the weakest and least accessible, Merde is about our facing the fear of an unknown terror. We are startled in the beginning as we are introduced to Merde, but the story falls apart after he is incarcerated.Korean Joon-ho Bong (The Host) presents Shaking Tokyo in the third segment. Dealing with a totally reclusive and obsessive character who, after 10 years, makes his first contact with another person and is captivated. There is some comedy here but also commentary on the need to connect.Overall, some interesting shorts, but don't expect any tie to the three stories ... other than the fascinating title city.