Tokyo: Films: Tokyo Film File

Tokyo Film File

Lost in Translation (2003). A clichéd and patronizing take on the city in which the Japanese characters speak no-so-gleat Englees but Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson are outstanding.

The Last Samurai (2003). It is hard to take Tom Cruise seriously with a topknot and battle armor, but the film is jolly good fun for the flavor of feudal Japan, with its strict code of honor and rigid morals. The honor-and-morals bit must have been particularly mystifying for the Hollywood executives at the screenings.

Blade Runner (1982). Tokyo’s streets are said to have been one inspiration for the futuristic Harrison Ford–Ridley Scott thriller.

Babel (2006). A rather disjointed film but notable for a stunning performance by Rinko Kikuchi as a deaf Tokyo girl trying to both communicate with her widowed father and make sense of the crazy world around her.

Tokyo Story. Usually included among the all-time classics, this 1950s movie concerns the younger and older generations of a family failing to understand each other. Some things don’t change.