The impact the Tokyo Olympic Games had, particularly due to the extreme repercussions the pandemic had in their commencing, is a topic that is bound to become “popular” in the country’s movie industry in the next few years, while Toshiaki Toyoda has already presented his opinion through his latest works. Akinore Isuse’s rather unusual short is another effort to deal with the topic, in a whole different setting however.
Out of Tokyo 202x screened at Osaka Asian Film Festival
The story begins on the opening day of the Games, outside of the Olympic stadium, where Rika, a woman from the future, meets Shin, who has arrived there also from the future, but from a different one. As the two of them reveal their true identities, they start to think and talk about the concept of the Olympic Games, in a discussion that eventually includes the ancient Greek ones. Soon, the festivities begin in phantasmagoric fashion.
Probably in an effort to show that this is the past, seen from a futuristic prism, Akinori Isuse has decided to have his images intensely bright, to the point that the movie looks blurred, in a decision that definitely faults the general sense the short leaves. Apart from that, however, he manages to cover the enthusiasm for the Games in the most impressive fashion, with the planes flying the sky, the crowds amassing outside of the stadium and the fireworks that signaled the beginning being rather memorable in their presentation, while exemplifying the work of DP Tomoki Miyanaga . At the same time, and through the mellow music and idyllic approach to the events taking place, the short looks more like a promotional video than an actual movie, at least for the most part.
Probably in an effort to dull this feeling, Isuse has also included some romantic notions between the two protagonists, a sense of disorientation about their identities, the concept of how memories are created, along with film speed manipulation and a number of other tricks that add an artistic sense to the short. These aspects, and the rather fitting acting of Ucyu Imagawa as Rika and So Morozumi as Shin move the short away from the promotional aspect, at least to a point.
“Out of Tokyo 202x” is an interesting and occasionally very beautiful short, particularly due to Isuse’s experimentation, which ends up though, being difficult to watch and without a specific purpose, apart from promotion.
