{ "id": "epj75w70sm", "slug": "tokyo-epj75w70sm", "title": "Tokyo!", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films", "label": "Biographical and historical drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "label": "Released 2006 to 2009", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020: Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Tokyo! (2008) is a France-Japan-South Korea-Germany anthology film with three Tokyo-set segments, Interior Design, Merde, and Shaking Tokyo, by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho, premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard.", "snippet": "Tokyo! (2008) is a France-Japan-South Korea-Germany anthology film with three Tokyo-set segments, Interior Design, Merde, and Shaking Tokyo, by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho, premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "markdown": "# Tokyo!\n\n**Tokyo!** is a 2008 anthology film of three short segments directed by [Michel Gondry](https://www.edgepedia.org/michel-gondry), Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho, each freely inspired by Tokyo and shot in the heart of the city. The producers described the result as \"a fantasy in three movements\" and \"a Tokyo Rhapsody,\" and Cannes described it as a symphony in three dissonant movements reflecting the image of the metropolis.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2008/un-certain-regard-tokyo-by-michel-gondry-leos-carax-and-bong-joon-ho/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tokyo/) It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.[3](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/83801/en/interview/405864/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Directors | Michel Gondry (Interior Design), Leos Carax (Merde), Bong Joon-ho (Shaking Tokyo)[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tokyo/) |\n| Premiere | Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2008[3](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/83801/en/interview/405864/) |\n| Runtime | 110 minutes per Cannes and Cineuropa; several home-media and streaming listings give 112 minutes[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tokyo/) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/tokyo) |\n| Countries | France, Japan, South Korea, and Germany[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tokyo/) |\n| Releases | Japan 16 August 2008; France 15 October 2008; US limited release 6 March 2009[5](https://eiga.com/movie/53419/) • [3](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/83801/en/interview/405864/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10010237-tokyo) |\n| Principal cast | Ayako Fujitani, Ryo Kase, Denis Lavant, Jean-François Balmer, Teruyuki Kagawa, and Yu Aoi[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tokyo/) |\n| Reception | Metascore 63 (generally favorable); IMDb rating 7.0/10 from about 13,000 votes; US gross $351.1K[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/tokyo%21/critic-reviews/) • [8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976060/ratings) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10010237-tokyo) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### The three segments\n\n**Interior Design (Michel Gondry).** A young provincial couple, Akira (Ryo Kase) and Hiroko ([Ayako Fujitani](https://www.edgepedia.org/ayako-fujitani)), arrive in Tokyo so that Akira can pursue filmmaking. He finds work while she drifts and loses her sense of direction, until she undergoes a strange metamorphosis, gradually turning partly into wood, that finally gives her life a purpose.[9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/tokyo-film-review-by-emma-slawinski) • [10](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0013222) The segment adapts the graphic short story \"Cecil and Jordan in New York\" by the cartoonist Gabrielle Bell, who co-wrote the screenplay, with the setting moved from New York to Tokyo.[11](https://www.screendaily.com/tokyo/4038850.article) Gondry said the aim was not to show Tokyo as an inhuman megalopolis but to reveal the personality of a young woman who does not see the point of disappearing into the professional adult world.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2008/un-certain-regard-tokyo-by-michel-gondry-leos-carax-and-bong-joon-ho/)\n\n**Merde (Leos Carax).** A creature named Merde, French for excrement, played by Denis Lavant, emerges from the sewers to terrorize Tokyo, eating cash and flowers and later finding a cache of grenades underground. After his arrest he is put on trial, defended by a French lawyer (Jean-François Balmer) who is the only person able to understand his gibberish language.[12](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/tokyo/) • [9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/tokyo-film-review-by-emma-slawinski) Observers in the film link him to Al Qaeda and to the Aum cult, and the segment touches on Japan's 1937 China campaign, media sensationalism, and capital punishment, though the character's actions are never explained by any political context.[12](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/tokyo/) • [9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/tokyo-film-review-by-emma-slawinski) The film marked Carax's return to cinema after a decade of silence following *Pola X* (1999); he said he accepted the proposal to write something very fast, to be shot in the city of Mizoguchi and Godzilla.[13](https://mk2films.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2025/05/brochure-leos-carax-v3.pdf) • [14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-15-ca-indieeye15-story.html)\n\n**Shaking Tokyo (Bong Joon-ho).** The final segment follows a [hikikomori](https://www.edgepedia.org/hikikomori), a recluse who has not left his apartment in ten years, living on deliveries and avoiding all human contact. When a pizza delivery girl (Yu Aoi) faints at his door during an earthquake, he ventures outside to find her; Bong described it as a strange love story between two hikikomori.[9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/tokyo-film-review-by-emma-slawinski) • [1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2008/un-certain-regard-tokyo-by-michel-gondry-leos-carax-and-bong-joon-ho/) Teruyuki Kagawa plays the Man.[15](https://www.criticsnotebook.com/tokyo/)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was a four-country co-production among France, Japan, South Korea, and Germany, produced by Masa Sawada and Michiko Yoshitake through Comme des Cinémas with ARTE France, Bitters End, Kansai Telecasting Corporation, Sponge Net, Coin Film, and WDR.[3](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/83801/en/interview/405864/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tokyo/) The three segments were shot in entirely different ways: Gondry's on 35 mm, Carax's as a mixed-media experiment using HD video, a cell phone camera, and standard-definition DV, and Bong's on 16 mm with a letterboxed aspect ratio.[16](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/37715) The cinematographers were Masami Inomoto, Caroline Champetier, and Jun Fukumoto, and the music was composed by Étienne Charry and Lee Byung-woo.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tokyo/) • [10](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0013222)\n\n## Reception\n\nCritical response was generally favorable but uneven across the segments. The film scored 63 on Metacritic, with 12 positive and 6 mixed reviews and none negative.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/tokyo%21/critic-reviews/) Reviewers most often praised Gondry's opening segment and Bong's closer; the *Los Angeles Times* called Interior Design the anchor of the film, and several critics, including *Christianity Today* and *Eye for Film*, judged Shaking Tokyo the strongest entry while finding Merde overlong and heavy-handed.[14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-15-ca-indieeye15-story.html) • [17](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2009/03/tokyo/) • [9](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/tokyo-film-review-by-emma-slawinski) A Variety review from Cannes called the film uneven but enjoyable and likened it to a nastier Eastern sibling to *Paris, Je T'aime*.[18](https://theplaylist.net/first-toyko-review-hits-from-cannes-20080517/)\n\n**A recurring critical theme** was the absence of exoticized Japan. Kaori Shoji wrote in *The Japan Times* that the film liberated Tokyo from the karaoke bars, kimono, and sushi counters of other films about the city, treating it as an individual city and private experience.[19](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2008/08/22/films/film-reviews/tokyo/) The *Washington Post* observed that the film offers no visual romanticization of the city and no indictment of it either, leaving Tokyo more of a mystery than before.[20](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2009/04/10/tokyo-3-isnt-the-magic-number/cb1ef4e2-309c-4eed-98b6-0b9feea8dbc0/) At festivals the film won a Special Mention and the Titra Film Award in 2008 and was nominated for the Narcisse Award for Best Feature Film.[21](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/tokyo/2000007715/)\n\n## Context in the city-on-screen genre\n\nTokyo! belongs to the urban portmanteau genre alongside *Paris, Je T'aime* (2006), a comparison critics drew repeatedly.[11](https://www.screendaily.com/tokyo/4038850.article) • [18](https://theplaylist.net/first-toyko-review-hits-from-cannes-20080517/) Unlike that film, all three of its directors were non-Japanese, and critics noted that the segments suggest more alienation from Tokyo than affection for it, resorting to surrealism and fantasy to describe the city.[22](https://chlotrudis.org/review/tokyo-2/) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/tokyo%21/critic-reviews/) The three segments share a concern with isolation and hidden things: a woman losing her identity, a monster beneath the streets, and a recluse behind his door.[20](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2009/04/10/tokyo-3-isnt-the-magic-number/cb1ef4e2-309c-4eed-98b6-0b9feea8dbc0/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Un Certain Regard: \"Tokyo!\" by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-Ho, Festival de Cannes (15 May 2008)](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2008/un-certain-regard-tokyo-by-michel-gondry-leos-carax-and-bong-joon-ho/)\n2. [TOKYO!, Festival de Cannes film page](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tokyo/)\n3. [Tôkyô! (Tokyo!), Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/83801/en/interview/405864/)\n4. [Tokyo! streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/tokyo)\n5. [TOKYO！, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/53419/)\n6. [Tokyo!, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10010237-tokyo)\n7. [Tokyo! critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/tokyo%21/critic-reviews/)\n8. [Tokyo! (2008) ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976060/ratings)\n9. [Tokyo! (2008) review, Eye for Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/tokyo-film-review-by-emma-slawinski)\n10. [ＴＯＫＹＯ！, U-NEXT](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0013222)\n11. [Tokyo! review, Screen Daily (Lee Marshall, 16 May 2008)](https://www.screendaily.com/tokyo/4038850.article)\n12. [Review: Tokyo!, Slant Magazine (Andrew Schenker)](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/tokyo/)\n13. [Leos Carax brochure, mk2 films](https://mk2films.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2025/05/brochure-leos-carax-v3.pdf)\n14. [Twisted 'Tokyo!' in three takes, Los Angeles Times (15 March 2009)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-15-ca-indieeye15-story.html)\n15. [Found in Translation, Critic's Notebook (Robert Levin)](https://www.criticsnotebook.com/tokyo/)\n16. [Tokyo! Blu-ray review, DVD Talk](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/37715)\n17. [Tokyo!, Christianity Today (6 March 2009)](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2009/03/tokyo/)\n18. [First 'Tokyo!' Review Hits From Cannes, The Playlist (17 May 2008)](https://theplaylist.net/first-toyko-review-hits-from-cannes-20080517/)\n19. ['Tokyo!', The Japan Times (Kaori Shoji, 22 August 2008)](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2008/08/22/films/film-reviews/tokyo/)\n20. ['Tokyo!': 3 Isn't the Magic Number, The Washington Post (9 April 2009)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2009/04/10/tokyo-3-isnt-the-magic-number/cb1ef4e2-309c-4eed-98b6-0b9feea8dbc0/)\n21. [Tokyo!, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/tokyo/2000007715/)\n22. [Tokyo! review, Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film](https://chlotrudis.org/review/tokyo-2/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-epj75w70sm", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-epj75w70sm.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Tokyo!\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-epj75w70sm. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Tokyo!](https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-epj75w70sm)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-epj75w70sm](https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-epj75w70sm). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Tokyo!\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-epj75w70sm. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Tokyo! is a France-Japan-South Korea-Germany anthology film with three Tokyo-set segments, Interior Design, Merde, and Shaking Tokyo, by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho, premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard." }