TIFF 2014: Tokyo Tribe Review
While TIFF last night may have opened with a few high-profile films such as The Judge and Clouds of Sils Maria , I doubt any were as fun as Sion Sono's hip-hop musical brawler, Tokyo Tribe . From the opening crane shot to the final brawl, Sono kept the energy up and the bass pounding for much of the film's two-hour runtime. About twenty minutes in, it is clear that Sono is not interested in ever sticking to one character's story for too long nor should we really have to care about anyone involved in the all-out gang war that will inevitably commence in the film's last quarter. I came to accept the madness pretty quickly, but with so many characters popping up left and right, spouting their (sometimes catchy and always exposition heavy) rhymes, the film could get overwhelming or even tiresome for some as it storms forward. Part of the fun of Tokyo Tribe is seeing that all the actors (many of which are real rappers) and crew are game for the entirety of the product...