An unknown menace threatens the population of Tokyo at gunpoint, and while police inspector Roy (Tetta Sugimoto) is baffled by the random assaults, his beautiful teenager sister Hinano (Hinano Yoshikawa), bored by her day job, keeps her eyes open and uses her shrewd knowledge of the city streets and trains to track the mysterious man down.
But when this supposed menace to society turns out to be a handsome, secretive boy her own age (Shinji Takeda), Hinano tries to understand and sympathize with the crimes as she begins to fall for the criminal. The two sweetly begin to date as if the violent assaults were just a bad dream, but the dark musical throb of the soundtrack, the film’s snaky, stylized visuals, and the boy’s puzzling disappearances suggest that the threat is far from over.
Director Jean-Pierre Limosin flips his serial-killer film on its head as the story weaves from a detective film to the myopic impressions of youthful love, where the rest of the world and its concerns fade away in the glowing pleasure of a solitary couple’s shared moments of happiness. Tokyo Eyes trembles with unease and romance, where love is never far from danger and where the alluring possibilities of one inevitably lead to the disturbing threats of the other.
Born in 1949 near Paris, Jean-Pierre Limosin meets at the end of the 70’s film critic for Cahiers du Cinéma Alain Bergala. They both manage a cultural centre photography and video workshop. In 1983 they direct together “Faux fuyants”, which premieres in Cannes’ Critics’ Week. At the beginning of the 90’s, after two other feture films, Limosin turns to television and documentary, taking part in the celebrated series “Cinéastes de notre temps” (Filmmakers of Our Time).
His travels to Japan inspired many of his latest productions. His brilliant “Tokyo Eyes” (1998) features filmmaker Takeshi Kitano in a small part.
I got an impression that this is a French film with Franco-Japanese characters speaking Japanese and behaving like French people, especially when K chases the garbage truck saying, “I’m garbage, throw… read review
This movie reminded me of the recent hit and comic-novel ’ V for Vandetta.’ It had that unique comic-book like aesthetic and dramatization of the characters. I also thought the subtle and sensual… read review
