Three of world cinema’s great visionaries:
Michel Gondry (BE KIND REWIND, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE
SPOTLESS MIND), Leos Carax (THE LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE, POLA
X), and Bong Joon-ho (THE HOST) each direct a segment of
this surreal triptych film, set in the ultra-modern Japanese
metropolis, TOKYO . The film will be released March 6 in New
York , and March 20 in Los Angeles and Nationwide.
“Interior Design” (Dir. Michel Gondry)
Hiroko and Akira (Ayako Fujitani and Ryo Kase),
a young couple, arrive in Tokyo to pursue their careers,
moving in temporarily with Hiroko’s old friend Akemi (Ayumi
Ito), a career girl whose boyfriend quickly tires of the
houseguests. Hiroko and Akira appear to have a solid and
mutually supportive relationship that will seemingly carry
them through any challenge. Akira, the young man, takes
steps towards his ambition to become a filmmaker, but the
woman is less sure of herself and gradually she begins to
lose herself in the vast city. Ultimately she under-goes a
surreal metamorphoses that gives her an unexpected sense of
peace and purpose. Adapted from the comic “Cecil and Jordan
in New York .”
“Merde” (Dir. Leos Carax) Merde (a French term
translating as “shit”) is the name given to an unkempt,
gibberish-spewing subterranean creature of the Tokyo sewers,
played by Denis Lavant, who rises from the underground lair
where he dwells to attack unsuspecting locals in
increasingly brazen and terrifying ways: he steals cash and
cigarettes from passersby, frightens old women and
salaciously licks schoolgirls, resulting in a televised
media frenzy that creates mounting hysteria among the Tokyo
populace. After discovering an arsenal of hand grenades in
his underground lair, Merde slips into full-on assault mode,
hurling the munitions at random citizens and creating a
Godzilla-like atmosphere of urban terror, which the media
promptly laps up and reflects back to its equally voracious
television audience. Enter pompous French magistrate Maître
Voland (Jean-François Balmer) - a dead ringer for the sewer
creature’s gnarled and twisted demeanor - who arrives in
Tokyo to represent Merde’s inevitable televised trial,
claiming to be the sole person in the world able to speak
his client’s unintelligible language. The media circus
mounts as lawyer defends client in a surreal court of law
hungry for a satisfying resolution. Merde is tried,
convicted and sentenced to death - until justice takes an
unexpected turn.
“Shaking Tokyo “ (Dir. Bong Joon-ho) Teruyuki Kagawa
stars as a Tokyo shut-in, or hikikimori, who has not left
his apartment in a decade. His only link to the outside
world is through his telephone, which he uses to command
every necessity from a series of random and anonymous
delivery people, including the pizza that he lives on and
the hundreds of discarded pizza cartons he meticulously
stacks in and around his cramped apartment. But one day is
different - his pizza arrives thanks to a lovely young woman
who succeeds in catching the shut-in’s eye. Suddenly an
earthquake strikes Tokyo , prompting the beautiful young
delivery woman to faint in her client’s apartment. And then
the unthinkable happens - the hikikimori falls hopelessly in
love. Time passes and the shut-in discovers through another
pizza delivery person that the improbable object of his
affections has become a hikikimori in her own right. Taking
a bold leap into the unknown, our hero crosses the threshold
of his apartment and takes to the streets in search of his
mystery girl, at last discovering his kindred spirit at the
very moment another earthquake strikes.
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