Tokyo Tribe

Ardent followers of iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono will certainly rejoice in the continued surrealistic cinema that erratically meshes a combustion of various themes and genres thus generating a spicy spectacle of action-oriented exuberance. Sono, known for such colorful feisty-minded fare such as Guilty of Romance and Suicide Circle will have one scratching their bewildered noggins trying the grasp the latest twisted tale of sexual and violent gumption in the wildly impish and imaginative gang-bang musical street-tug-of-war crime caper Tokyo Tribe. Outwardly frivolous, frenetic and fueled with a bizarre combination of opulence and outlandishness, Tokyo Tribe will indeed stimulate the senses with its hodge-podge of hedonistic heft in the realm of instantaneous insanity.

There is no doubt that Sono's turbulent and tactical offering in Tokyo Tribe is a devoted salute to the memorable gang movies and notable musicals that have graced moviegoers' consciousness throughout the decades of cinema in general. The homage to the influences that Tokyo Tribe festively borrows from is delightfully thrown in one's exhaustive face in gaudy, grand fashion. From obvious gangster tributes to rousing gems such as A Clockwork Orange, Scarface, Ichi the Killer and The Warriors to finger-snapping sing-alongs that include West Side Story and Moulin Rouge, Sono's melodic meltdown of fists, firepower and fury is a serving of potent street turf stew ready to be sampled with sensory overload. Clearly, Tokyo Tribe is proudly off-balanced and curiously unstructured to the point that the free-for-all bombastic action and strife is celebrated with indescribable excitement.

Sono's crime and fantasy landscape of a dystopian Tokyo gone up for grabs in clashing ecstasy leaves some wondering if the overwhelming elements of its boisterous flavored parts are truly worth the powder keg production as a whole. Well, Tokyo Tribe dutifully captures the haunting and high-spirited wrath of it...