MAP OF THE SOUNDS OF TOKYO

Spain, 2009, 109 minutes, Colour.
Rinko Kikuchi, Sergi Lopez, Min Tanaka.
Directed by Isabel Croixet.

The sound of noodles.

As David (Sergi Lopez) remarks to Ryu (Rinko Kikuchi), who shows her relish by loudly slurping her noodles, that this would be impolite in Spain but essential in Japan. The noodle sound is one of the ingredients for the title of this film.

Isabel Coixet has made films in Spanish and in English. Here she opts for a Japanese production and the use of Japanese and English.

The film can be called an erotic thriller. It opens with Japanese and foreign businessmen exploiting women by eating sushi laid out on their bodies. However, by the end of the film, Coixet is prepared to sacrifice (in a lower key than, say, Lars Von Trier in Breaking the Waves) the woman for the sake of the man.

After the business meal, an elderly sound recordist begins to narrate the story of Ryu, an enigmatic young woman whom he befriends. She works in the fish market. However, she becomes entangled with David who runs a wine shop in Tokyo. While their encounters become more and more erotic (he is grieving the suicide death of his girlfriend), the issue is whether she will kill him as she has been hired by the dead girl's father.

What is it about Tokyo for foreign film-makers, relationships, being lost, sex and the love hotels? Gaspar Noe offers a far more pessimistic outlook on these issues in Enter the Void. This is a slight Last Tango in Tokyo with a semi-happy ending.

1.An erotic thriller? The Japanese and Tokyo settings? The focus on the Japanese? On the European man?

2.The title, the sounds and sights, the aerial shots of Tokyo, the business world, the fish market and its detail, the wine shop, the Love Hotel? Its elaborate French style? The film’s feel for Tokyo? The musical score?

3.The introduction and the tone, the businessmen, the deal, the Japanese on one side, the foreigners on the other, their drinking, the sushi spread out on the girls on the table? Nagari and his hostile reaction? The foreigners drunk, Nagari getting the news, his collapse, the businessmen taking it as a sign for humorous riot? The reason for Nagari’s upset, his daughter’s suicide, his bond with her, her scrawling in blood on the mirror, her not experiencing her father’s love for her? His collapse? His watching the videos? Wanting vengeance, allowing his assistant to hire the killer? Going to the board meeting, his being abstracted, looking out the window, his adviser helping him?

4.The old man and his narration, the introduction to Ryu, her many names, her work at the market, her slurping sound with the noodles, their bickering friends, her not revealing any secrets, just good company, his recording the sounds? Going to visit the cemetery with her – and her flashbacks to the killings and her victims? Her tending their graves?

5.Ryu as enigmatic, seemingly ordinary, at the market, in her uniform? Nagari’s adviser and his hiring her, the contract? The photo? Going to the shop, looking at David?

6.David, coming from Spain, three years in Japan, trying to learn Japanese but not successfully? His shop, his efficient assistant? In love with Nagari’s daughter, the effect of her suicide, his sympathy at the hospital and Nagari rejecting him? Ryu coming into the shop?

7.His response to Ryu, her choice of wine, their talking, her interest, going to the meal, the sound of the noodles, his comments, their drinking, walking in the city, going to the hotel, his honesty? The erotic meetings, the effect? She with the gun, the silencer, not killing him? Their going out, her feelings, laughing, her phone call to cancel the contract?

8.David and his desperation, grief, going to the hotel, the erotic experiences with Ryu? Talking with his assistant, thinking of selling the shop? His going to the market? Wanting to leave, not wanting to leave? The shooting and Ryu’s death?

9.Nagari and his assistant, his thwarted love for the girl? The market returning to normal, hosing down the blood? The old man and his comments, going to the cemetery to Ryu’s grave? David, back in Barcelona, watching the Japanese film, his wife calling him, the beginning of a new life?

10.Insights into character, relationships, violence, Japanese ways? David’s comments that the Japanese ways were distinctive but yet universal?