Photo:
Tokyo Tribe
Just when you thought that Sono Sion's work can't get any crazier and more imaginative after 2013's Why Don't You Play in Hell?, here comes Tokyo Tribe – a berserk rap musical action drama about warring gangs in the near-future Tokyo, almost entirely told in rhyme, populated by a gallery of off-beat, super-fueled, and extreme characters, all competing for the control of the dystopian megalopolis, eventually having to unite to fight a bigger evil. Based on the popular manga series Tokyo Tribe 2 by Inoue Santa, the film's large cast includes Sometani Shota as the film's MC, Takeuchi Riki (Miike Takashi's Dead or Alive) as the sleazy Lord Bubba, Suzuki Ryohei (Hentai Kamen: Forbidden Superhero) as a blond-haired testosterone-charged gang leader, Seino Nana (Danger Dolls, Nowhere Girl) as the main heroine, and rapper-actor Dais Young. So let Master Sono transport you to a world full of killer rhymes, B-boy battles, high-kicking girls, pervy silliness, wild action (choreographed by Sakaguchi Tak, working under a pseudonym), and filled with so many baroque visual flourishes that the entire movie feels like Versailles stabbing you in both eyes, as you keep asking for more.