Combining a European director with an exclusively Japanese cast is not exactly the norm in international cinema, and therefore “Tokyo Eyes”, stands out from the beginning, which was probably the reason it was selected for the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard-category.
The story revolves around two rather unusual characters. K is a young Japanese programmer who collects Techno LP. However, the unique thing about him is that he is also a vigilante who shoots people who behave badly, when he encounters them, although he always misses purposefully. Before each shooting, he wears a pair of glasses, with the media quickly naming him “Four Eyes”. Hinano is a 17-year-old girl who works part time at a beauty salon and lives with her older brother, Roy, who is assigned the Four Eyes-case. One day, Hinano recognizes K on the subway, from a police sketch her brother brought home, and finds herself fascinated by him,...
The story revolves around two rather unusual characters. K is a young Japanese programmer who collects Techno LP. However, the unique thing about him is that he is also a vigilante who shoots people who behave badly, when he encounters them, although he always misses purposefully. Before each shooting, he wears a pair of glasses, with the media quickly naming him “Four Eyes”. Hinano is a 17-year-old girl who works part time at a beauty salon and lives with her older brother, Roy, who is assigned the Four Eyes-case. One day, Hinano recognizes K on the subway, from a police sketch her brother brought home, and finds herself fascinated by him,...
- 7/25/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Energy and comedy are in large supply in writer-director Mitsuo Yanagimachi's "Who's Camus Anyway?," yet another riff on the levels of reality that occur when a cast and crew make a movie. The twist here is that the filmmakers are a group of university students, who must juggle classes and complicated love lives while under the pressure of making their first movie.
After establishing a light-hearted mood, Yanagimachi tries a subtle tone change that edges the movie into serious matters, creating a kind of movie within a movie that is only partially successful. But by focusing on amateur filmmakers who clearly love movies, Yanagimachi conveys the passion that motivates nearly everyone who gets into such a crazy business.
A bright, young cast of actors and models well known in Japan and other Asian markets assures the film successful theatrical run there. And the universal situations of a college campus and film set make exposure elsewhere a strong possibility. Another big plus is that Yanagimachi, who has taught film production at a university, was given access to a Tokyo campus for his main location.
"Camus" is actually a film more about pre-production. Five days before shooting is to begin on "The Bored Murderer", things are in turmoil. The lead actor has dropped out, forcing director Matsukawa (Shuji Kashiwabara) to go with his "second choice," the strange and strangely effeminate Ikeda (Hideo Nakaizumi).
Meanwhile, Matsukawa is being stalked by his passive/aggressive girlfriend Yukari (Hinano Yoshikawa). So persistent is her shadowing of him that the crew refers to her as Adele, after "The Story of Adele H.", Truffaut's masterpiece about Victor Hugo's daughter's increasingly psychotic obsession with a British army officer.
Similarly, the campus' resident film director, Professor Nakajo (Hirotaro Honda), carries the nickname of Aschenbech, after the Dirk Bogarde character in Visconte's "Death in Venice". Sure enough, he does have a romantic obsession with a young person, a willowy and exotic coed named Rei (Meisa Kuroki).
The students' movie, "The Bored Murderer", based loosely on Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger", concerns a student who as an "experiment" kills an old woman. As Ikeda struggles with such a motive, others in the crew debate the mindset of such a character when he commits his crime. The filmmaker then contrives to have "real life" bring about a near tragedy that better acquaints them with such a mindset.
This means that the subplots involving the two "stalkers" must take serious turns. The tonal shift here is not completely smooth. The bright naivety of the student filmmakers and their subsequent encounter with sobering events both feel a bit forced.
Junichi Fujisawa's hand-held camera follows characters around the campus and surrounding area with frantic nervousness. This includes an opening tracking shot lasting many minutes, in which characters discuss the upcoming film and filmmaking in general including long tracking shots lasting many minutes. (This is acknowledged as a repeat of the joke that opened Robert Altman's "The Player".)
The cast is a sheer delight. The actors clearly enjoy the chance to play characters who, unlike many people in Japan, cannot hide feelings by withdrawing into a socially correct shell.
WHO'S CAMUS ANYWAY?
Production Gunro
Credits: Writer/director: Mitsuo Yanagimachi; Producer: Kazuo Shimizu; Director of photography: Junichi Fujisawa; Production designer: Iwao Saito; Music: Yasuaki Shimizu; Costumes: Takako Hamai; Editor: Hiroshi Yoshida.
Cast: Matsukawa: Shuji Kashiwabara; Yukari: Hinano Yoshikawa; Hisada: Ai Maeda; Ikeda: Hideo Nakaizumi; Rei: Meisa Kuroki; Oyama: Tomorowo Taguchi; Prof. Nakajo: Hirotaro Honda.
No MPAA rating, running time 115 minutes...
After establishing a light-hearted mood, Yanagimachi tries a subtle tone change that edges the movie into serious matters, creating a kind of movie within a movie that is only partially successful. But by focusing on amateur filmmakers who clearly love movies, Yanagimachi conveys the passion that motivates nearly everyone who gets into such a crazy business.
A bright, young cast of actors and models well known in Japan and other Asian markets assures the film successful theatrical run there. And the universal situations of a college campus and film set make exposure elsewhere a strong possibility. Another big plus is that Yanagimachi, who has taught film production at a university, was given access to a Tokyo campus for his main location.
"Camus" is actually a film more about pre-production. Five days before shooting is to begin on "The Bored Murderer", things are in turmoil. The lead actor has dropped out, forcing director Matsukawa (Shuji Kashiwabara) to go with his "second choice," the strange and strangely effeminate Ikeda (Hideo Nakaizumi).
Meanwhile, Matsukawa is being stalked by his passive/aggressive girlfriend Yukari (Hinano Yoshikawa). So persistent is her shadowing of him that the crew refers to her as Adele, after "The Story of Adele H.", Truffaut's masterpiece about Victor Hugo's daughter's increasingly psychotic obsession with a British army officer.
Similarly, the campus' resident film director, Professor Nakajo (Hirotaro Honda), carries the nickname of Aschenbech, after the Dirk Bogarde character in Visconte's "Death in Venice". Sure enough, he does have a romantic obsession with a young person, a willowy and exotic coed named Rei (Meisa Kuroki).
The students' movie, "The Bored Murderer", based loosely on Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger", concerns a student who as an "experiment" kills an old woman. As Ikeda struggles with such a motive, others in the crew debate the mindset of such a character when he commits his crime. The filmmaker then contrives to have "real life" bring about a near tragedy that better acquaints them with such a mindset.
This means that the subplots involving the two "stalkers" must take serious turns. The tonal shift here is not completely smooth. The bright naivety of the student filmmakers and their subsequent encounter with sobering events both feel a bit forced.
Junichi Fujisawa's hand-held camera follows characters around the campus and surrounding area with frantic nervousness. This includes an opening tracking shot lasting many minutes, in which characters discuss the upcoming film and filmmaking in general including long tracking shots lasting many minutes. (This is acknowledged as a repeat of the joke that opened Robert Altman's "The Player".)
The cast is a sheer delight. The actors clearly enjoy the chance to play characters who, unlike many people in Japan, cannot hide feelings by withdrawing into a socially correct shell.
WHO'S CAMUS ANYWAY?
Production Gunro
Credits: Writer/director: Mitsuo Yanagimachi; Producer: Kazuo Shimizu; Director of photography: Junichi Fujisawa; Production designer: Iwao Saito; Music: Yasuaki Shimizu; Costumes: Takako Hamai; Editor: Hiroshi Yoshida.
Cast: Matsukawa: Shuji Kashiwabara; Yukari: Hinano Yoshikawa; Hisada: Ai Maeda; Ikeda: Hideo Nakaizumi; Rei: Meisa Kuroki; Oyama: Tomorowo Taguchi; Prof. Nakajo: Hirotaro Honda.
No MPAA rating, running time 115 minutes...
- 5/18/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Tokyo Eyes'
Slick and stylish, intriguing at first but ultimately unsatisfying, French director Jean-Pierre Limosin's "Tokyo Eyes" (Un Certain Regard) is an end-of-the-century love story between a bespectacled young rebel who calls himself K (Shinji Takeda) and the younger sister, Hinano (Hinano Yoshikawa), of a police inspector on the trail of a mysterious shooter who randomly confronts people on the streets of Tokyo but misses his targets even at close range.
A happy teenybopper just beginning to pay serious attention to boys, Hinano recognizes K as the unpredictable "virtual killer" in the news and at first wants to help her brother catch him. But once she gets to know the spacy video-game maker, she comes to sympathize with his instant rages at prejudiced, intolerant and callous people who cross his path. While Limosin's technique draws one into the convoluted mystery-thriller-romance and the performances are solid, the film's appeal is limited to younger audiences and U.S. distribution is a long shot.
'Teatro Di Guerra'
A small theater company in Naples struggles to mount a production of Aeschylus' "Seven Against Thebes" in 1994, intending to present the grim drama of war and fratricide in disintegrating Sarajevo. Unfortunately, this frustrating Italian Un Certain Regard offering from acclaimed avant-garde writer-director Mario Martone is too choppy and uninvolving except for the most patient cineastes, with most of the characters remaining sketchy and distant despite a nearly two-hour running time.
Rehearsing in a ramshackle theater in a rough neighborhood, the group of pro and tyro thesps led by Leo (Andrea Renzi) manages to stay afloat despite lack of funding and the disinterest of more successful comrades. Last-minute support comes when Leo agrees to hire a drug-taking star (Anna Bonaiuto), while the situation outside the stage door becomes more ominous with the gunning down of the local Mafia boss. The film builds to an ironic conclusion that underscores the war everywhere between artistic conscience and indifference.
'Divine'
With the unholy ghost of Luis Bunuel hovering over this Un Certain Regard entrant -- iconoclastic Mexican auteur Arturro Ripstein was mentored by the great Spanish surrealist -- "Divine" (El Evangelio De Las Maravillas) is a millennial allegory about a bizarre religious cult with a movie-loving priest, self-proclaimed prophetess and dozens of sheepish followers. Unfolding as more than a dozen "mysteries," the non-linear structure is the most interesting aspect of the storytelling that is driven by the arrival of a reformed prostitute (Carolina Papaleo) and sinful teenager Tomasa (Edwarda Gurrola) in the shut-off community.
Veterans Francisco Rabal (Bunuel's "Nazarin") and Katy Jurado (an Oscar nominee in 1954 for "Broken Lance") are the leaders preparing the flock for the coming of a new messiah, and the latter before dying proclaims Tomasa the new prophet. But the youngster rewrites the rules and commands every male to have joyless sex with her. It sounds racy and relevant, but it's ponderous and far from a divine viewing experience.
David Hunter...
Slick and stylish, intriguing at first but ultimately unsatisfying, French director Jean-Pierre Limosin's "Tokyo Eyes" (Un Certain Regard) is an end-of-the-century love story between a bespectacled young rebel who calls himself K (Shinji Takeda) and the younger sister, Hinano (Hinano Yoshikawa), of a police inspector on the trail of a mysterious shooter who randomly confronts people on the streets of Tokyo but misses his targets even at close range.
A happy teenybopper just beginning to pay serious attention to boys, Hinano recognizes K as the unpredictable "virtual killer" in the news and at first wants to help her brother catch him. But once she gets to know the spacy video-game maker, she comes to sympathize with his instant rages at prejudiced, intolerant and callous people who cross his path. While Limosin's technique draws one into the convoluted mystery-thriller-romance and the performances are solid, the film's appeal is limited to younger audiences and U.S. distribution is a long shot.
'Teatro Di Guerra'
A small theater company in Naples struggles to mount a production of Aeschylus' "Seven Against Thebes" in 1994, intending to present the grim drama of war and fratricide in disintegrating Sarajevo. Unfortunately, this frustrating Italian Un Certain Regard offering from acclaimed avant-garde writer-director Mario Martone is too choppy and uninvolving except for the most patient cineastes, with most of the characters remaining sketchy and distant despite a nearly two-hour running time.
Rehearsing in a ramshackle theater in a rough neighborhood, the group of pro and tyro thesps led by Leo (Andrea Renzi) manages to stay afloat despite lack of funding and the disinterest of more successful comrades. Last-minute support comes when Leo agrees to hire a drug-taking star (Anna Bonaiuto), while the situation outside the stage door becomes more ominous with the gunning down of the local Mafia boss. The film builds to an ironic conclusion that underscores the war everywhere between artistic conscience and indifference.
'Divine'
With the unholy ghost of Luis Bunuel hovering over this Un Certain Regard entrant -- iconoclastic Mexican auteur Arturro Ripstein was mentored by the great Spanish surrealist -- "Divine" (El Evangelio De Las Maravillas) is a millennial allegory about a bizarre religious cult with a movie-loving priest, self-proclaimed prophetess and dozens of sheepish followers. Unfolding as more than a dozen "mysteries," the non-linear structure is the most interesting aspect of the storytelling that is driven by the arrival of a reformed prostitute (Carolina Papaleo) and sinful teenager Tomasa (Edwarda Gurrola) in the shut-off community.
Veterans Francisco Rabal (Bunuel's "Nazarin") and Katy Jurado (an Oscar nominee in 1954 for "Broken Lance") are the leaders preparing the flock for the coming of a new messiah, and the latter before dying proclaims Tomasa the new prophet. But the youngster rewrites the rules and commands every male to have joyless sex with her. It sounds racy and relevant, but it's ponderous and far from a divine viewing experience.
David Hunter...
- 5/21/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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