Tokyo Tribe (2014) poster
2014 · musical · action · hip-hop

Tokyo Tribe

Directed by Sion Sono1h 56m2014
ElsewhereIMDb6.44kRT58%Metacritic58TMDB6.5163
  • kinetic
  • intense
  • surreal
Movie DNA

Neutral, breathless, extreme musical / action, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. Merra, leader of the Wu-Ronz tribe of Bukuro, joins forces with heavy-hitting gangster Buppa of Buppa Town. With Buppa's support, Merra aims to initiate a gang war between the Wu-Ronz and the Musashino Saru, and in a confrontation between the two attempts to kill Kai of the Musashino Saru. The inadvertent murder of Kai's friend Tera (a Musashino Saru member beloved by all Tribes since before their formation) leads to the joining of forces between all of the Tribes in an all-out war against Merra and Buppa.

Our read · Tokyo Tribe (2014) reads as a neutral, breathless, surreal musical · action · hip-hop entry — extreme in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Tokyo Tribe

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a wild Japanese hip-hop musical of warring street gangs and katana battles.

ends unsettlingit leaves you shakena rollercoastergrips from the openattention 3/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violencegore

Skip it tonightSkip if nonstop stylized gang violence and rap opera exhausts you.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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