This
is not your father’s dystopian rap musical. If you had ever wondered what The Warriors or Wild Style would have been like if Sion Sono had made them, well
friend, wonder no longer. Control over the streets of a near future Tokyo is divided
between a number of gangs or tribes. Kai’s Musashino Saru tribe is super-chill
and peace-loving. Lord Buppa’s Bukuro Wu-Ronz is belligerent, Satanic, and
cannibalistic. That pretty much guarantees conflict in Sono’s Tokyo Tribe (trailer here), which screens as
part of the 2015 New York Asian Film Festival.
Buckle
up sports fans, MC Sho will be our rapping guide through this dystopian jungle.
He quickly introduces us to the various gangs on what seems to be an average
night. However, amongst this night’s batch of prospective sex slaves (or human
furniture) picked up by the Bukuro lackeys is Sunmi. This woman can fight. So
can the ten year-old Yon, her self-appointed break-dancing protector. She also
happens to be the daughter of Lord Buppa’s ally, the malevolent High Priest,
who had been saving her and her virginity for a human sacrifice. Therefore, it
is imperative Bukuro Wu-Ronz recapture her when she inevitably escapes.
As
it happens, Mera, Buppa’s favorite lieutenant is also launching a long planned sneak
attack against the other gangs for control of the city. With Sunmi’s help, Kai
must unify the rival tribes against Buppa’s secret shock troops, the Waru, all
while maintaining a steady stream of rhyme.
Tokyo Tribes is technically
based on Santa Inoue’s manga, but it is its own bizarre Sion Sono animal. There
are elements of Why Don’t You Play in Hell and Bad Film, but Sono
cranks up the lurid Pink exploitation elements right from the start. Frankly,
he is just begging for a professionally outraged feminist’s apoplexy, so it
would be foolish to fall into his trap. Transgressive violence simply cannot
get anymore cartoonish, over-the-top, candy-colored, and defiantly silly.
Frankly,
the best comparison for Tribe might
actually be Bollywood at its trippiest, because it is a genuine spectacle. We
are talking massive street fighting, with all sorts of crazy costumes and
lethal hardware. Much of the cast hams it up relentlessly, just to avoid
drowning in the madness. However, Nana Seino displays considerable poise and
impressive action chops as the quiet but resourceful Sunmi. NYAFF special guest
Shota Sometani is also quite an effective rapping Rod Serling as MC Sho. As
Lord Buppa and the blond-and-bronzed Mera, Riki Takeuchi and Ryohei Suzuki absolutely
gorge on the scenery, understanding a Sono film is not the place act all twee
and mannered.
