One bad trip with Live from Tokyo documentary

Last Sunday we went, to the Dutch premiere of the documentary Live from Tokyo, at festival Camera Japan...with very high expectations...

This doc is about Tokyo's underground music scene, showing interviews, footages of performances at live houses, short images of Tokyo's streetlife/view and short colorful breaks. It was nice to see images of Tokyo again (sushi, traffic, small streets). And that was the only part we liked about this doc! Yes, it showed the underground music scene, but the maker of this documentary actually highlighted one genre. The genre called 'experimental' (experimental squeeking, innovative computer/electronic bits of sounds, some noisy screamings and weird rock-or-isn't-it-rock-noise). Anyway, music that sounds too odd to even understand it. I don't want to nag too much about the chosen music for this documentary, because, well, it's not my cup of tea. But it would be nice to show the other important parts and other genres of the underground musicscene in Tokyo. Not just the weirdest of the weirdest experimental music, because I know that there are a lot of other talents walking around in this metropolis, who are worth to show to the world.

Trio band d.v.d
So there were also footages of live performances, and well, there was only one band that sounded interesting and acceptable for my ears: d.v.d. This trioband consists of two drummers and a visual artist. The drums are connected to the visuals, so you'll experience music on a different kind of level. Well, you just have to watch it, it's difficult to describe.



Having a bad trip
And when I saw the short colorful breaks, uhm....it was like being stuck in a bad trip or something. Extremely bright colorful candies all of a sudden, some floating sushi everywhere on screen, then just a woman standing, looking meaningless at you, paper color buildings...all supported by weird background music. It's okay for a few seconds. But not for a few minutes long. Those breaks were really too long.  HM. So I wouldn't recommend this doc. for epileptic viewers (some people even left the cinema during the the screening), or people who are not familiar with Japanese music or culture, because you'll only leave the cinema with one question in your head: 'What the hell-o did I watch?!!!'.

It has some useful information with the interviews. But it's not a documentary what covers live underground music from Tokyo, it just showed a small part of it.

Also, I saw somewhere written online about this documentary: "you can save yourself a ticket to Tokyo by watching this documentary". Well this is SO not true. If you are interested in the underground musicscene of Tokyo, please buy a ticket and experience it for yourself. That's the only way to find out what I'm trying to say with this review.