Directed By: Michel Gondry (INTERIOR DESIGN), Leos Carax (MERDE), Joon-Ho Bang (Shaking Tokyo)
Written By: Michel Gondry (INTERIOR DESIGN), Leos Carax (MERDE), Joon-Ho Bang (Shaking Tokyo)
Interior Design Based on The Graphic Novel “CECIL and JORDAN IN NEW YORK” by: Gabrielle Bell
Cinematography BY: Masami Inomoto (INTERIOR DESIGN), Mitsuo Hirada (MERDE), Jun Fukumoto (Shaking Tokyo)
Editor: Nelly Quettier (MERDE), Michel Gondry (INTERIOR DESIGN), Joon-Ho Bang (SHAKING TOKYO)
Tokyo is a city of transitions in three short films. A young woman who finds her life useless experiences a metamorphosis. A disheveled Caucasian emerges from a manhole to face arrest, trial, and execution; he calls himself “Merde” and speaks a language only his look-alike attorney understands. Is he human? A recluse experiences human contact when a pizza-delivery girl faints at his door during an earthquake. He conquers fear to seek her out. A chair, a corpse, a hermit: sources of urban connection?
I don’t know if I’m right but the three short films that make up this anthology seem like films that are entertaining to the directors but to the audience not so much. They seem like larks to explore a foreign city and use it as a grand scheme to explain being an outsider sometimes in your homeland at least that’s what it feels like they are saying. Other than being over the top pretentious.
INTERIOR DESIGN
this is the first short and it follows a down and out a couple. He’s a filmmaker. She is his girlfriend and feels more and more useless as her despair grows. She finds herself transforming into a chair. She finally starts finding herself useful and able to give the proper support. This film feels like a punchline to a joke no one presents. While the special effects are inventive as usual from Mr. Gondry. I still found the film a disappointment. I really wanted to like it as I am a fan, But like the rest of the shorts, i found it extremely dull and boring.
MERDE
This short which is like a human spoof of Godzilla as a Disfigured Frenchman in a green suit terrorizes Tokyo. He seems to be unstoppable and possibly Schizophrenic. No one seems to identify him or understand him. It’s almost like the ugly American stereotype. This one started well with a lot of energy and humor. that the former short lacked. It seems like it was for nothing as this one fizzles out and soon makes no sense. It offers no explanation things just seem to happen.
SHAKING TOKYO
The last short has moments of intriguing ideas. A man who’s afraid to go outside, He’s Agoraphobic. Meets a delivery girl who faints in his apartment after an earthquake. He notices she has buttons tattoed on her skin that seem to control her. He feels a connection and he finally decides to venture outside. This was shockingly the best short. maybe because it was so low key. It didn’t try to use a grand or shocking idea as a jumping-off point. Plus it was romantic. It had great ideas but moved so slow that it felt longer then it should
GRADE: D
Cut To The Chase 