Pop Screen takes its first dip into the flamboyant world of Japanese director Sion Sono with Tokyo Tribe. Adapting a manga by Santa Inoue, Sono takes the characteristically weird decision to tell it in the form of a hip-hop opera, with dialogue rapped by a mixture of actors and real Japanese rappers like Young Dais. It works better than it sounds, and Geek Show head honcho Rob Simpson is here to guide Sono newbie Graham through its neon-lit wastelands.
Along the way we discuss Riki Takeuchi’s colossal performance as gang boss Buppa, Sono’s involvement in Nikkatsu’s “pinku eiga” revival, the scene-stealing appearances by a DJing grandma, and so much more. We also wonder if we live, despite all appearances, in a golden age of maverick film-makers, and look forward to Sono’s English-language debut with Nicolas Cage in Prisoners of the Ghostland.
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