Tokyo Tribe

2014 Directed by Sion Sono

In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. The simmering tension between them is about to boil over into all-out war.

Ryohei Suzuki YOUNG DAIS Nana Seino Ryuta Sato Shota Sometani Denden Yosuke Kubozuka Riki Takeuchi Shoko Nakagawa Shunsuke Daito Takuya Ishida Yui Ichikawa Bernard Ackah Joey Iwanaga Arata Matsuura Makoto Sakaguchi Kokone Sasaki Hideo Nakano Aki Hiraoka Arisa Sakamoto Yoshihiro Takayama Tony Nakajima Takeo Gozu James Takeshi Yamada Mao Mita Satsuki Nakagami Cyborg Kaori Hitomi Katayama Santa Inoue Show All…

Alternative Title

도쿄 트라이브

action science fiction drama crime music

116 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by davidehrlich ★★★★★ 5

god-mode Sion Sono made Jet Set Radio into a Warriors-inspired martial arts rap opera pink film. Insert hyperbole here.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★ 15

"Happy birthday!"
Fuck yes.
Sion Sono has made some weird shit, but Tokyo Tribe tops them all, both in terms of enveloping insanity and a feverishly contained vision. It's beyond description in every way, beginning with a mesmerizing tracking shot that soars and dives, immediately showcasing a neon-drenched and a seductively rainy world. Playing like a mix of early-2000s Hip-Hop music videos, Yakuza movies, and an explosion at a fireworks factory; Tokyo Tribe is a Hip-Hopera of sorts where almost every line of dialogue is rapped.
Yeah. You heard that right.
And yet, that level of absurdity is raised and raised throughout its two hour run-time, culminating in a final battle that makes the last act of Why Don't You…
Review by YI JIAN ★★★★½ 11

Sono. Sono Sono Sono. What a revelation, this master. His films contain a level of insanity that transcends time and space, posessing an energy so large it disrupts the balance of the universe, so pure it tramples over the realm of physics. Entropy reversed, scientists scratch their heads, astronauts cry in space.
I've come out of his films asking what day, what month, what year is it. I can't recognize my own house. I can't even recognize my own face. My dog has set out to kidnap me, my neighbour is running for president.
Sono's universe, Sono's rules. Leave your logic, your expectations, your sense of justice, beauty, humor, leave them at the front door, thank you very much. And…
Review by Tears_in_Rain ★★★½ 16

A hip-hop infused fever dream, set in a neon-drenched, dystopian Tokyo. A film that feels like a live action anime at times, and a video game at others. A villain that looks like he strolled out of an episode of the Hokuto no Ken (aka Fist of the North Star) anime series, another villain whose entire motivation stems from penis envy, and yet another villain who collects people as living furniture. An aesthetic that looks like a blinged-out version of Akira collided with The Warriors. It all sounds so good on paper, doesn't it?
Yeah, I don't know. I liked this quite a bit, but I can't help but feel like this just doesn't live up to what I've come…
Review by matt lynch ★★★★ 1

anyone knows where i can get a gold-plated, jewel-encrusted working Beretta M92 9mm pistol/cellyphone, hit me up.
Review by Eli Hayes 6

The gap between music video and cinema has officially been bridged.
Review by <Todd> ★★★

"Tiny weenies gotta die" -Bad guy,
- Sion Sono Ranked: boxd.it/4HOUm
Beats.
Sono's films remind me of the old cliche about pizza... even when they are bad they are still pretty good. Here he directs a 2 hour hip hop fighting video and I am here for it. His style is so interesting and I love the way he uses color. His films always have this grimy but polished look and his characters are so diverse and weird. I don't think this is Sion's best work because it really drags in the middle a bit but the start is good and the third act is amazing.
Recommended.
Review by Wes ★★★★★ 1

im starting a kickstarter to fund myself to leave earth and live on sion sonos home planet because thats where i truly belong
Review by YI JIAN ★★★★ 6

I wasn't ready for this. The world isn't ready for this.
Musical. Comedy. Martial Arts. Gore. Misogyny. Over-the-top machismo. The most fucked up gangsters all around Japan. Tokyo Tribe has everything. I'd say that there's room for improvement, but I don't think Sono cares. This is Sono's vision, Tokyo re-imagined, the world he created and he does whatever the fuck he wants with it. He's a director out to have fun. In his universe our opinions don't matter, he drowns us with blood and colours, chaos and lunacy, peace and love.
So many good films out there, but I doubt I'll see them the same away again after being introduced to this crazy bastard. All the other films suddenly felt…
Review by truman ★★★★★

i fucking love that one of the central messages of this movie is that size doesn’t matter. such a fun time. sion sono, you had my curiosity, but now, you have my attention. it takes a lot of skill to balance being a crime movie, a musical, a batshit insane action movie, and actually having characters, but he does it magnificently. also who does his production design & art direction because they’re far and away some of the best ever in this, antiporno, & tag. can’t wait for love exposure.
Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★ 1

I like Sion Sono's stylized films...usually. The whole movie is pretty much a rap music video featuring different "gangs" in Tokyo.
However, most women in this were exploited. Lots of naked women. While there's a certain aesthetic, one girl says “rape me”. I'm not sure how I could justify that. I can't. I won't. It's just inexcusable.
Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★½ 3

I'd love to see this play on a double bill somewhere with The Midnight After.
I would totally show this movie to a class to explain the society and culture of early Anglo-Saxon Britain.
Somewhat related: no one wants me teaching their history classes.
Anyway, I think this is the best musical of 2014:
1. Tokyo Tribe
2. Highway
3. The Last 5 Years
4. Into the Woods
5. Jersey Boys
Great year, probably the best year for musicals since 1984.
Emmanuel Lubezki is a great cinematographer, and he's almost certainly going to win his second Oscar in a row this weekend, but there's nothing in the cinematography of Birdman that Tokyo Tribe doesn't do better, with more style, creativity and panache. I've never heard of Daisuke Sôma before, but he does good work.

Recent reviews

Review by Andreas ★★★★

Again a great watch. Bad guys, cute girls, big fights.
Review by gr3bb0 ★★★★★

the greatest musical ever put to screen
Review by Luca Dimauro ★★★★

Film totalmente fuori di testa, un musical violentissimo, quasi interamente rappato e con una buona dose di nudità. Super colorato e divertente, non si ferma un secondo, si fa quasi fatica a stare al passo col film. Se questo è uno delle peggiori pellicole di Sion Sono come molti dicono non oso immaginare come siano gli altri...
Ma la cosa davvero stupenda, che mi ha fatto morire dal ridere è il motivo per cui si crea la guerra, che ovviamente non spoilererò.
Review by __anderskor ★★★

Speechless.
Review by JhoTellis ★★★½

Sion Sono completamente maluco.
Review by Garrett ★★

the japanese Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Review by Steven Long ★★

Fun at times but mostly silly nonsense.
Review by Mani Payne ★★★

Tokyo Tribe is a 2014 Sci-fi action musical directed by Sion Sono. The film stars Ryohei Suzuki as Mera and YOUNG DAIS as Kai.
Seeing as before this I had only seen one Sion Sono film, I still hadn't accustomed myself of what to expect from his films next, and I can safely say that after watching this one I'm still as unsure as I was beforehand.
The film, from start to finish, practically gives you no chance to relax and get comfortable; from one scene to a next, the film bombards its audience with shockingly strange sequence after strangely shocking sequence without any hesitation whatsoever.
The music, though not all that great (at least, in my opinion that is),…
Review by J. G. Singhal ★★★

super misogynistic, way too schlocky, sags in the midsection, has a couple sequences of distractingly bad special effects, but by god what ambition !!! everyone gives their all to this martial arts hip-hopera (except nkoi who’s a fine actor but not a good singer) and as a result it’s propulsive and infectiously fun. maybe not the best sion sono movie to start with but i’m preparing for prisoners of the ghostland. anyways buppa is an indelible character and mera’s guiding motivation is so so funny... TOKYO TRIBE NEVA EVA DIE
Review by <Todd> ★★★

"Tiny weenies gotta die" -Bad guy,
- Sion Sono Ranked: boxd.it/4HOUm
Beats.
Sono's films remind me of the old cliche about pizza... even when they are bad they are still pretty good. Here he directs a 2 hour hip hop fighting video and I am here for it. His style is so interesting and I love the way he uses color. His films always have this grimy but polished look and his characters are so diverse and weird. I don't think this is Sion's best work because it really drags in the middle a bit but the start is good and the third act is amazing.
Recommended.
Review by Doğa Şahin ★★★★

Sion Sono 2 saatlik rap müzikali olarak uyarlamış Tokyo Tribe'ı, iyi de yapmış
Review by Morgan ★★

There are a lot of aspects of this that I genuinely enjoyed, but the first hour and a half is so monotonous!