Tokyo Tribe gives you extravagant and ambitious set pieces, a cast of hundreds with almost as many speaking parts and rap ...so ...so much ...rap. And therein lies the most glaring flaw of this film. No, there's nothing wrong with rap. There IS something wrong with a plot taking a backseat so that rap and posturing can be front and center again and again and again. And just when you think you might get some substantial dialogue... more rap. Mind you, the rap is good and there are some worthy artists being showcased here. Cyborg Kaori is one of the amusing highlights - she seems to be playing some kind of court jester for the cannibal gangster - but she is overshadowed. She's drowned out by characters like the blonde Mera, who could be subversive and cool, but end up being monotonous and predictable. I was completely ready to enjoy Tokyo Tribe. On Netflix, it appears to be a fun, action-filled homage to films like The Warriors. But I knew within the first ten minutes that watching this was going to be a test of patience. In a way, it's the perfect Japanese film. It's a sensory overload of colors and images and the wandering camera is reminiscent of a tourist who can't decide what to pay attention to. It reflects little of Japanese reality - gangs are born out of economic hardship and strife. The strife in contemporary Tokyo is existential, not economic. But this film is knowingly fantasy and while it's easy to roll your eyes at middle class kids trying to be thugs, you can't actually accuse the film of being dishonest. For the first half hour, you feel like you're viewing an introductory segment. If you're half an hour into the film and you're still not sure who the protagonist is, you're watching an incredibly flawed movie. An hour into this story, you'll find yourself hungry for something of substance. Instead, you have to endure more stylized over-the-top performances and yet more introductions of new characters. It's a lot of time wasted on creative tangents, when that time could have been dedicated to the central characters. It's not hard to be emotionally invested in characters like Kai. But it takes almost forty minutes for him to be front and center. By that time, half the people watching this would have been completely justified in tuning into something else.

Insane rap musical about warring gangs in Tokyo. This grows to be a lot of fun, but I had to get over a lot of annoyances before I could get into it. First and foremost, I had to get into the music itself. It's certainly not great hip-hop, and, at first, I found it kind of lame. As the film progressed, I don't know if the music got better or I just accepted it as it was, but I started to kind of like it. Second, the plot is a huge mess. I certainly wouldn't recommend you go it hoping for a clear plot, because you're not going to get one. It's just kind of your standard yakuza turf war stuff, with a good gang and a bad gang and a bunch of other, lesser gangs. Then there's something with a runaway princess or something that never quite gels into a coherent story. What you will find is a ton of cool bits scattered throughout, augmented by weird and wild costume and production design. The action is also very good. Sono continues to be a flawed director, but he's clearly one of the most interesting people working today.

Japanese Rap - a musical oxymoron. Neither cool nor funny. Just plain awkward and embarrassing. I sat there for 120 minutes trying to figure out what in gods name Sono was trying to do with this flick. Rapping ridiculously stupid (I don't want to call it) lyrics and all those naked chicks whose IQ would add up to 10 just gave me goosebumps. He just can't be serious! This movie is a bad joke. I was basically cringing throughout the whole film and felt a strong need to shower afterwards. Sonos cinema has always been misogynistic and blunt but this simply goes too far. If you're a Sono fan you can risk a glimpse but don't expect a creative and facetious ride like his latest work Jigoku has been.

Shion Sono can, in the case of Love Exposure, make a 4 hour movie feel like a 2 hour movie and in the case of Tokyo Tribe make a two hour movie feel like a four hour movie. A strange showdown in Tokyo between warring crews is a freaking absurd mix between the Warriors, 1970's yakuza flicks, and an entire history of hip hop videos. The beats are tight, the visuals mind-blowing, the whole thing is like a crazy hallucination that is actually closer to way the real world operates than we admit. The set it is filmed on is obviously fake like the rain that hits it, the acting is absurd, the plot simple, but executed however the hell he wants. What is Shion Sono trying to say??? I think everyone that watches Tokyo Tribe at one point has to ask the question they know they shouldn't. I see, hear, and feel this movie. It does drag at times, since they're defiantly rapping almost every line of dialogue. Something about this film makes it the most progressive, subversive, pure cinema yet to be made on such a large scale. It's inaccessible, but mindless. It's mindful and welcoming. Crazy, insane, but completely lucid the entire time. I think it's genius. I think this guy Shion Sono is a genius. Should I admit that again? Oh I guess I already did on his last film.