Update on Gondry, Carax, and Bong’s ‘Tokyo!’ chapters.

I realize that we haven’t said too much about the triptych film ‘Tokyo!’ since its announcement in March. And given the most recent news reported that Bong Joon-ho finished filming his segment last month and Gondry is up to the plate next week I figure I do some digging and see what I can find out about it and what has happened up until now. I’ve also linked to as many actors sites as possible so you can put names to faces, in most cases.

To recap, each of the three strange tales will last about half an hour, making for a total runtime of approximately 90 minutes. While the Gondry and Bong will mainly use a Japanese cast and staff Carax has chosen to use a French cast and staff. I don’t know what that will do for narrative and story cohesion but he is the lesser of the three so hell, why not take the chance! The segments are titled ”Shaking Tokyo” (Joon-ho), ”Hiroko & Akira in Tokyo” (Gondry), and ”Merde” (Carax). Bong began filming his segment back on August 22nd. Teruyuki Kagawa and Yu Aoi co-starred in his contribution.Kagawa plays a man who has been living as a shut-in for the past 11 years, until he ends up falling in love with a pizza delivery girl, played by Aoi. He finally builds up the courage to join the outside world, only to discover that most of Tokyo has become withdrawn. The supporting cast is Naoto Takenaka, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Yutaka Matsushige, and Yoshiyoshi Arakawa.

Gondry’s chapter, Hiroko & Akira in Tokyo, is scheduled to begin filming on the 23rd. The leads will be played by Ryo Kase and Ayako Fujitani, supported by Ayumi Ito, Satoshi Tsumabuki, and Nao Omori. A woman from Hokkaido comes to Tokyo with her boyfriend, who is aiming to become a movie writer. However, she has no purpose of her own. One day, she notices that part of her ribs are turning into wood. Say that synopsis with any other director’s name and you would think they were on crack. But with Gondry it makes perfect sense.

Carax’s “Merde” is scheduled to begin shooting in November. A brief search for info yielded nothing about the cast but we do know that the story is about a man who appears from the sewers in unexpected places. An incident leads to his capture, which is met with mixed reactions by the townspeople.