Map of the Sounds of Tokyo
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo is a 2009 Spanish drama film directed by Isabel Coixet. The film competed in the main competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. Wikipedia
Release date: May 13, 2009 (initial release)
DVD release date: December 21, 2010
Running time: 109 minutes
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| Map of the Sounds of Tokyo | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Isabel Coixet |
| Produced by | Jaume Roures |
| Written by | Isabel Coixet |
| Starring | Rinko Kikuchi |
| Cinematography | Jean-Claude Larrieu |
| Editing by | Irene Blecua |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics (USA) |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Japanese, English, Bahasa Melayu |
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (Spanish: Mapa de los sonidos de Tokio) is a 2009 Spanish drama film directed by Isabel Coixet. The film competed in the main competition at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival.[1]
Plot
The movie begins with Mr. Nagara, a wealthy CEO, complaining to his loyal assistant, Ishida, that he does not like the way he has to entertain the people he is signing a contract with. They eat sushi off of the naked bodies of women lying on the tables. Ishida receives a phone call and tells Mr. Nagara that his daughter has killed herself. Mr. Nagara blames Midori's boyfriend, David, a Spanish man who owns a wine shop in Tokyo. Mr. Nagara cannot abide the fact that David is alive and Midori is dead. Ishida says he will take care of it and hires a woman who works in a fish market, Ryu, to murder David.
The story teller is an unnamed gray haired sound engineer for movies, who loves the fragile looking Ryu and records her often, but is unable to get her to tell him about her life. The sound engineer records Ryu as she visits and cleans gravesites. Ryu does not tell him that these are the graves of the people she has been hired to shoot.
Ryu enters the wine shop and David propositions her. They go to a sex hotel and have sex. Ryu is unable to bring herself to shoot David as he sleeps after sex. She thinks about him all day at the fish market as she slices fish. Ryu tries to return the money to Ishida and call off the killing, but Ishida threatens her. Mr. Nagara slowly deteriorates.
As David grieves the loss of Midori, the assistant says that Midori was a vengeful person who wanted her father's attention, and who didn't love anyone.
Ryu and David have sex again the next week on her day off, and then during Ryu's work week. She leaves a recording device in his shop and hears him selling his shop to his assistant, and planning to move back to Spain. The assistant asks him what he will do about his new girlfriend. David says he doesn't have a girlfriend. The assistant describes Ryu. David says, she is nobody. David longs to talk to Mr. Nagara.
Ryu considers killing herself with her gun. David calls Mr. Nagara and says he misses Midori and loved her, causing Mr. Nagara more anguish. Mr. Nagara is unable to conduct business. Ishida is furious with Ryu for not completing the killing.
David comes to the fish market to say goodbye to Ryu. Ryu is hurt and guarded, but David tenderly says goodbye and Ryu melts. As they hug Ryu sees Ishida approach with a gun. She turns and shields David, dying from Ishida's gunshot.
The movie ends with a view of the gray haired sound engineer cleaning Ryu's grave.
Cast
- Rinko Kikuchi as Ryu
- Sergi López as David
- Min Tanaka as Narrator
- Manabu Oshio as Yoshi
- Takeo Nakahara as Nagara
- Hideo Sakaki as Ishida
Criticism
The movie has been criticized for misrepresenting Japanese culture – a scene in the movie depicts nyotaimori (the practice of serving sushi on the body of a naked female) as if it were commonplace in Japan, while in reality it is nearly non-existent.[2] However, even in the film, the two Japanese businessmen ridicule the need to "eat hot sushi off a woman's navel" in order to "fit in with the idea that they have of us..."References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Map of the Sounds of Tokyo". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/10904913/year/2009.html. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Nyotaimori: a Japanese tradition?". japantimes. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fs20091203a4.html. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
External links
Rinko Kikuchi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Yuriko Kikuchi" redirects here. For the American dancer, see Yuriko (dancer).
| Rinko Kikuchi (菊地 凛子 Kikuchi Rinko) | |
|---|---|
 Kikuchi at 2010 Venice Film Festival | |
| Born | Yuriko Kikuchi January 6, 1981 Hadano, Japan |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Website | |
| http://www.rinkokikuchi.com/ | |
Life and career
Kikuchi was born in Minamigaoka, Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture. She debuted in 1999 under her birth name, Yuriko Kikuchi, with the Kaneto Shindo-directed film Ikitai (生きたい).[1] Soon after, in 2001, she starred in the celebrated Kazuyoshi Komuri-directed film Sora no Ana (空の穴), which was featured across several international film festivals, including the Rotterdam Film Festival.[1] In 2004, she appeared in the much-commended Katsuhito Ishii-directed film Cha no Aji (茶の味), which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival.[1]In 2006, she appeared in the critically acclaimed Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed film Babel, where she played Chieko Wataya, a deaf-mute teenage girl, in a role for which she was recognized[1] and nominated for numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[2] She won several, such as the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Female Performance (tying with Jennifer Hudson) and the Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough. Kikuchi is also the fifth actress in Academy Award history to be nominated for an award for a role in which she does not speak a word. (The others were Jane Wyman, Patty Duke, Holly Hunter, and Samantha Morton). Kikuchi has appeared in two Mamoru Oshii movies: 2008's The Sky Crawlers and Assault Girls (2009).
Her emotionally intense role in Babel has led to her being noticed by many international directors, such as Rian Johnson, auteur director of Brick. She starred in his second film, 2009's The Brothers Bloom, which was her first fully English-language feature. Though she plays a main character, she only speaks three words in the film; her character is said to only know three words of English.
In March 2011 she was named to the Keanu Reeves-led cast of 47 Ronin, the first English-language adaptation of the Chushingura legend, Japan's most famous tale of samurai loyalty and revenge.[3]
Filmography
Television
| Year | Title | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Bakayaro! Special 2 | |
| Kawaii dakeja Dame kashira | ANB | |
| 2001 | Chura-san | NHK |
| 2002 | The private detective Mike Hama | YTV #1 |
| 2003 | Uchu ni Ichiban Chikai basho | |
| Ai to Shihonshugi | WOWOW | |
| 2004 | Ryu | WOWOW |
| 2009-10 | Liar Game 2 | Fuji TV |
| 2010 | Moteki | TV Tokyo |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Group | Award | Result | Film |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Gotham Awards | Breakthrough Award | Won | Babel |
| Best Ensemble Cast | Won | |||
| National Board of Review | Best Breakthrough Performance - Female | Won | ||
| Austin Film Critics Association | Best Supporting Actress | Won | ||
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Won | ||
| Most Promising Performer | Nominated | |||
| 2007 | Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | |
| Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Breakthrough Performance | Nominated | ||
| Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | |||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Nominated | |||
| Golden Globes | Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role[2] | Nominated | ||
| 2009 | Chlotrudis Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | The Brothers Bloom |
| 2011 | Asian Film Awards | Best Actress | Nominated | Norwegian Wood |
References
- ^ a b c d "Midnight Eye interview: Rinko Kikuchi". http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/rinko_kikuchi.shtml. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
- ^ a b "OSCAR.com - 79th Annual Academy Awards - Nomination". http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=detail&nominee=KikuchiRinkoActressSupportingRoleNominee. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
- ^ "Keanu's "47 Ronin" has A-List Japanese Cast". http://www.japan-zone.com/news/2011/03/02/keanus_47_ronin_has_alist_japanese_cast.shtml. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ^ "ANORE INC.". http://www.anore.co.jp/index_english.html. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
- ^ "Brody and Kikuchi in Bloom - ComingSoon.net". http://comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=18762. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
- ^ "Oshii Casts Oscar-Nominated Kikuchi for Sky Crawlers - Anime News Network". http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-04-16/oshii-casts-oscar-nominated-kikuchi-for-sky-crawlers. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
Bibliography
- Morris, Jerome C. "Exposed! Interview with Riko Kikuchi", in Asian Cult Cinema, #55.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rinko Kikuchi |
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