Un Certain Regard: “Tokyo!” by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-Ho

Tokyo! producers Masa Sawada and Michiko Yoshitake describe their Un Certain Regard presentation as “a fantasy in three movements”. “It doesn’t matter whether each piece seems at odds with the others – when they are put together, they form a unique work. A Tokyo Rhapsody, to be precise.” To compose this triptych about Japan’s capital city, three directors, each outstanding in his own way, were chosen: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-Ho.

French director Gondry was at the Cannes Festival in 2001 to present Human Nature. His segment of Tokyo!, Interior Design, examines the trials and tribulations of a young couple trying to settle down in a large city they know nothing about. “The aim of the film however is not to show Tokyo as an inhuman megalopolis,” Gondry explains, “but to reveal the personality of a young woman who doesn’t see the point of disappearing into the professional adult world”.

With Merde, Leos Carax, focuses on the devastating impact an urban environment can have on human nature. His character, whose name is Merde [Shit], is a monster who dwells in the sewers, terrifying the populace whenever he emerges to prowl the surface. His arrest leads to an impassioned debate among the city’s inhabitants.
With Tokyo, French director Leos Carax returns to the Festival after a ten-year hiatus in filmmaking. He was last in Cannes to present Pola X, selected for the Official Competition in 1999.

Lastly, Bon Joon-Ho defines his Shaking Tokyo as “a love story taking place between a man and a woman, in a unique atmosphere of Tokyo. This film, as short as it is, is a strange love story.” Two hikikomoris (people who withdraw completely from social life, staying at home) fall in love, by the greatest of accidents. Will they succeed in overcoming their anxiety and consummate their passion?