AKA: Tenten
Country and Year: Japan (2007)
Director: Miki Satoshi
Starring: Joe Odagiri, Tomokazu Miura, Kyoko, Ittoku Kishibe

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 3 ½ out of 4 stars (great)

ADRIFT IN TOKYO PLAYS AT THE JAPAN SOCIETY THURSDAY, JULY 3RD AT 4:20 PM

Adrift in Tokyo has the kind of low-key, effortless charm that most movies sweat for. It is a perfect example of what have been called “hanging out” movies – movies where the pleasure is less about plot or story and more about spending time watching an entertaining group of characters interact. Here, at the end of Adrift in Tokyo, I could not help but be disappointed that my time in Miki Satoshi’s fascinating little microcosm of a world was done.

The premise, and it is really more of a premise than a plot, is that yakuza/debt collector/jack-of-all-trades Fukuhara (Tomokazu Miura) offers a deal to slacker college student Takemura (Jo Odagiri, truly a chameleon of an actor) – walk with Fukuhara for as long as Fukuhara chooses, and at the end of their peregrinations, Fukuhara will forgive Takemura’s debt and even pay him something extra. The walk is set to end at Kasumigaseki (the administrative and government center of Tokyo) where Fukuhara intends to turn himself in for a crime, but how long it will take to get there, and what detours they will take along the way, is up to Fukuhara.

So walking and talking they go, for days. Throughout, Fukuhara and Takemura remain the focus, even as they meet old friends and new acquaintances during their voyages. As they walk, their personalities begin to emerge. Fukuhara, though the elder, is more playful, more emotional. For him, the trip is all about tangents and memories – the primary tone is “natsukashi” (a Japanese term roughly correspondingly to nostalgia). Takemura is far more uptight – his frizzy afro practically radiates alarm at every moment – and, having been abandoned by his family at an early age, rejects memories as pointless.

Odagiri and Miura play off each other beautifully, and achieve a lovely rhythm. This is not a movie of big moments and big laughs – rather it is a masterpiece of throwaway lines and little oddities. Adrift in Tokyo has the feel of one of Jim Jarmusch’s more experimental films (think Stranger Than Paradise) but recognizably in the same vein as previous quirky, personality-driven Japanese efforts like The Taste of Tea, except with the wackiness factor dialed back in favor of talk. Lots of talk.

Nor is Adrift in Tokyo a tour of Tokyo’s most beautiful spots – instead Takemura and Fukuhara visit funny little stores and quiet shrines, nondescript neighborhoods and back alleys. Frankly it inspired a bit of natsukashi feeling in me as well. As a student in Tokyo, I used to do much the same thing – pick a neighborhood and just go for a quiet stroll, with friends or by myself. Tokyo is a fascinating city to walk in – the old and the new commingle and you never know what bizarre and unexplained piece of architecture is waiting around the next corner.

Adrift in Tokyo is adept at capturing this sense of quiet dreaminess that only exists outside the bustle of neighborhoods like Shibuya or Harajuku. Indeed, Satoshi’s subtle portrait of the city is almost an explicit rebuttal to Shinya Tsukamoto’s frequent portraits of a cold, dehumanizing metropolis. It is refreshing to see so successful a love letter to a city that nevertheless avoids the typical clichés of fancy meals, beautiful scenery and tourist destinations.

Adrift in Tokyo is also adept at catching the sense of mystery and the unknown that lingers about Tokyo. Many of the duo’s encounters in the city retain an enigmatic air. The camera constantly picks out individuals on the city streets without letting us know why they are important – there is constant sense that far more is going on than the audience is privy to. Like a sumi-e landscape painter, Miki Satoshi does a wonderful job of painting enough a picture of each person the pair encounters to tantalize before the camera moves on.

As mysterious as the denizens of Tokyo are, Fukuhara’s motives remain supremely cloudy. His job, his relationship to some of the people they meet, and the nature of the crime he committed are all questionable – Takemura, as well as the audience, is constantly unsure of whether he is being put on. Throughout, his true purpose in asking Takemura to accompany him is hinted at but never stated outright.

It is truly a testament to the writing, the acting and Tokyo itself that this meandering 100 minute film of musings, wanderings and seemingly aimless conversation never gets dull for a moment.

Recommended? Absolutely. This is a lovely film that should not be missed.

If you like this, you might like: Postman Blues, Stranger Than Paradise, The Taste of Tea, The Big Lebowski, Bounce Ko Gals

© David Austin