Japanese Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Tokyo Eyes (1998) by Jean-Pierre Limosin

Combining a European director with an exclusively Japanese cast is not exactly the norm in international cinema, and therefore “”, 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, to the point that she begins stalking him. The two eventually meet and a romantic relationship begins, although Hinano is still on a dilemma regarding whether she should give him up to her brother. As K explains his reasons and their relationship becomes more intense, the tension also soars, particularly when a gangster who seems related to him and the gun appears.

Jean-Pierre Limosin directs a movie that leans heavily on the attractiveness and the chemistry of his two protagonists, with their equally naive nature making for a wonderful romance, in the frequent style of French romantic comedies. And while their dancing and their overall interactions along with K's actions make for an intriguing spectacle, the rest of the film simply makes no sense.

The comments about the youth that is lost inside the eternal search for excitement, without any kind of parental guidance, and the alienation of the megalopolis are understandable; however, even those are lost inside the disconnected episodes of the narrative, along with the actions of the protagonists, which are unjustifiable, to say the least. In that fashion, a large part of the story is based on the incompetence of the police and the fact that Roy does not have a clue about the ways his sister has grown up and is currently thinking, but to a point that goes beyond logic. Perhaps Limosin wanted to induce the movie with a sense of deliriousness, but this works only for very brief moments, while the practical justification of why he misses his shots and the appearance of the gangster make no sense at all.

Regarding the last aspect, steals the show with his nosy, obnoxious, and dangerous behaviour that borders on bullying, only to be changed to something completely different and equally unjustifiable by the finale. Kitano is as good as always, but the irrelevance of his appearance actually makes his presence more of a gimmick than an element that adds to the narrative.

as K and as Hinano both look equally good in their feline movements and voices, while Jean-Marc Fabre's cinematography focuses on both aspects as much as possible, and also on highlighting the aforementioned comments in his presentation of the city. However, both actors suffer from the writing of their characters, which does not allow them much space to perform, with the same applying to Tetta Sugimoto as Roy, who acts almost like a caricature. Danielle Anezin's editing induces the film with a fittingly fast pace, but occasionally adds to the confusion of the narrative.

Despite some positive elements here and there, “Tokyo Eyes” is a rather faulty film, which becomes very difficult to follow very soon.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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