Sion Sono has spent his entire career pushing the boundaries of sex and violence in cinema. He doesn’t do this simply to be a provocateur; instead, Sono is confronting viewers to sympathize with those in the margins of society whom we usually shun. Through his portraits of prostitutes, gangsters, and criminals, Sono is like a modern day Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and like Fassbinder, Sono wants to shed light on the dark corners of the human soul to give voice to the voiceless.
With Tokyo Tribe (2014), Sono is exploring the lives of youth who turn to gangsterism because it offers an outlet for creative expression for them. Rap and hip-hop music is rooted in the culture of inner city gangs in the African-American community, but Sono is viewing how Asian youth gangs take on this art form. Based on the popular manga series by Santa Inoue, Tokyo Tribe is the story of a turf war between various gangs in an alternate, futuristic Tokyo. The main players in this war are Show (Shōta Shometani), Sunmi (Nana Seino), Young Dais (Kai Deguchi), Mera (Ryōhei Suzuki), and Buppa (Riki Takeuchi). Each of these characters take on a prominent role in their respective gangs.
Tokyo Tribe is one of Sion Dino’s most expensive productions, and it shows in the intricately elaborate set design with its pop-art-like, bright color palette that recalls early MTV music videos and the paintings of outlaw graffiti artists like Daze and Banksy. There are gold-plated tanks, chainsaw-like bazookas, and a sort of human installation sculpture garden that recalls Salo and A Clockwork Orange. Also, Tokyo Tribe wouldn’t be a Sion Sono film without its share of over-the-top violence, including an absolutely bonkers musical fight sequence that ends with a giant, flesh shredding fan.
The cinematography in Tokyo Tribe, courtesy of Daisuke Sōma, vividly captures the throbbing energy of Sion Sono’s vision. The opening crane shot (filmed in a single, long uninterrupted cut) follows the character Show as he guides the viewer through a vibrant Tokyo cityscape at night, filled with vagrant youth, scantily clad prostitutes, and a DJ’ing grandma. Like his previous masterpiece Love Exposure, the camera moves freely through space and time, mirroring the many exhilarating and expertly staged fights sequences and musical numbers.
All of this technical bravado wouldn’t mean anything if it wasn’t in the service of a deeper purpose, and Tokyo Tribe is indeed more than just an exercise in style over substance. Ultimately, Tokyo Tribe is about the power of youthful idealism over nihilism. The battle between the various gangs in the film is a battle of light over darkness, of hope over fashionable pessimism. Sono reveals how the garishly violent Buppa and his gang only perpetuates an endless cycle of death and destruction, while the more optimistic characters of Show and Sunmi lead the turf war forward towards peace and love.
Indeed, the youth gang represented by Show, Sunmi, and Young Dais spend their time in the film at a 1950s style, brightly colored cafe, where they use hip-hop to celebrate positivity and love for each other. This contrasts with Buppa’s dark and bloody lifestyle, which is filled with gratuitous sex and violence, as most blatantly symbolized by his tendency towards cannibalism. Also, Buppa’s mansion is filled with instruments of death and torture, which contrasts sharply with the serenity of the youth cafe.
Tokyo Tribe ends on a wave of positive energy as Show leads a group of youth in an invigorating and uplifting hip-hop musical number about love and solidarity. By doing so, Sono is contrasting the criminal landscape of Tokyo we see at the opening crane shot sequence with a more hopeful conclusion. It is no coincidence that Buppa and his tribe are older than the gangs represented by Show and Sunmi. Like Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Feminin, Tokyo Tribe is a celebration of the power of youthful idealism over aging cynicism and disenchantment.
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