Tokyo 10+01

Tokyo Eleven is an extremely tacky but very amusing send-up of Battle Royale, full of bad jokes and abysmal acting, both of which are quite obviously intentional. I gather it's one of those b-movies made by a bunch of people who were simply out for a laugh and didn't take themselves too seriously, so I can't really fault them for having made it. Besides, a lot of 10+01's humour is very tongue-in-cheek, which ultimately means it's very entertaining.

One of the film's main selling points (if you can call it that) is the fact that Masanobu Ando aka Battle Royale's Kiriyama stars in it, which should attract fans of the actor and/or BR. Ando himself is obviously in on the joke, which makes Tokyo Eleven (and Ando) all the more endearing in my eyes.

No, this isn't exactly Tarkovsky, but then it isn't meant to be. It's simply a fun movie to watch, preferably in the company of friends and ailed by plenty of booze.

Personally, I found Tokyo 10+01 to be a funny, cartoony, lightweight, cute and trashy bit of fluffy nonsense. As cheaply made as it undoubtedly is (and looks it, much like most of his other movies such as Nagai Yume (Long Dream) which was still very much a triumph despite its costing limitations), Higuchinsky is fast proving himself to be the master of how to take a 100-yen budget and stretch it to its absolute limit whilst still maintaining a stylish aesthetic, in keeping with the character of the stories he is handling.

The acting quality is utterly over-the-top, mischievous and silly - Masanobu Ando in particular appears to be having great fun messing with the role of Fake, a master fine-art forger whose portraits unfortunately look like they were painted by a monkey with two left hands. This is *clearly* not a movie made to be taken in the slightest bit seriously, referencing with a knowing wink many contemporary classics, including Ando's most Western-mainstream movie Battle Royale, and taking the mickey out of them quite mercilessly.

I enjoyed this movie greatly, but don't watch it thinking you're going to be getting anything as unique or profound as Uzumaki or Long Dream, otherwise you *will* be disappointed. Just enjoy it for what it is: a silly, lightweight spoof with no money behind it, but a great sense of humour.

"Tokyo 10+01" comes from director Higuchinsky who brought us the imaginative and entertaining "Uzumaki". That makes it all the more surprising and disappointing that the action flick is such a mess. It starts out with 11 people in an unknown room (shades of "Cube") and quickly turns into a parody/hommage of Kinji Fukasakus "Battle Royale" with a couple of ideas from the German TV movie "Das Millionenspiel" thrown in for good measure. The result is an embarrassing piece of film: The story has no power, no sense, no timing, no anything. It just moves along for only 70 minutes and still manages to bore. And the twists at the end are so bad, the film even manages to have an anti-climactic ending.

It's neither funny nor gory, neither suspenseful nor witty. So at least you could expect it to be stylish coming from the guy who did "Uzumaki", right? No. Its look is utterly cheap. The digital technology makes the sets look like remains from "Battlefield Earth" and the camera tricks (zooms, blood on the lens etc.) are both childish and annoying. I don't get how Higuchinsky could have done this. What did he try to do? Low-Budget-Trash? Some sort of guerilla film making? Whatever he tried, the result is a disaster. If you loved "Uzumaki" like I did, avoid this film at all cost or the name Higuchinsky will fall a lot in your esteem. It's a bore-fest that looks like it's shot by an amateur. Or in short: Crap!

Rating: 1/10

'Tokyo 10+01' has a promising start, introducing colorful characters who will be involved in a game of death. The soundtrack was decent too. However, the film goes downhill due to poor special effects and poor spoof jokes. The title of the film is a spoof of Ocean's Eleven (2001) and there were some references to Brad Pitt in the beginning of the film. Overall, it was unbearable to watch even though the runtime is only 70 minutes.

If you are looking for good spoof films, I recommend Spaceballs (1987) and Kung Pow (2002). Please stay away from 'Tokyo 10+01'.

Mao points: 2/10

Having no previous knowledge of the directory Higuchinsky or his history, I didn't expect much from this movie judging by Netflix's rating. What I found however was a pretty hip piece of independent youthful film-making that kind of blends the 80's, 90's and the future.

It reminded me of a hard core version of Takeshi's Castle (AKA Most Extreme Elimination Challenge).

Eleven unwitting participants are thrown together into a city wide game in which they must split up into teams and make it across the finish line before their time expires. Each is fitted with a wrist band that reveals their location and time remaining. Removal of the wristband results in a lethal injection. Groups are intercepted along their route by henchmen. Proximity of henchmen is detected and signaled by the wristbands.

A kind of real life D&D, treasure hunt, survivor, laser tag, reality TV spoof.

This movie has the appearance of a student film or home made movie. It looks like it was shot on video tape and transferred to film, however the acting, special effects and gags are just as good as any American teenage slasher comedy, except is has the coolness of a video game, urban anime and Japanese game show all rolled into one.

I really liked it.

=Game Over=