Film Overview: Shaking Tokyo by Bong Joon-ho
Bong Joon-ho is a vital contributor in a long line of influential Filmmakers that have given South Koreans an identity in the world of cinema.
Although this film is directed by a South Korean, It is very much considered a Japanese film due to its content. Shaking Tokyo follows an unnamed protagonist that is labeled as a Hikikomori, a Japanese term used when describing a person that avoids social contact. The story line in itself tells us a great deal about Japanese Hikikomori culture, a culture unknown to most westerners. Even though Shaking Tokyo has just under an hour of runtime, it contains an abundance of technique when noting content and form. The film picks up ten years since the protagonist last made eye contact with another human being. Six minutes into the film the protagonist finally makes eye contact with a pizza delivery girl which sparks an earthquake. At this point in the film it seems as if Joon-ho draws inspiration from innovative Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu by having his characters stare directly into the camera, a technique used heavily by Ozu. The protagonist falls in love with the pizza delivery girl which poses as a problem seeing as he doesn’t leave his house. Chaos surrounding women is an ongoing theme throughout South Korean cinema detectable in works by Kim Ki-young. The protagonist eventually leaves his home in search of the girl which sparks another earthquake once they make eye contact for the second time. Joon-ho uses earthquakes as a way to visually show the unsettled feelings of the protagonist which are tattooed on his female counterparts body which include hysteria and sadness. Time plays a major role in this film and is used as a motif throughout the entire story. Beautiful imagery of clocks and circles can be seen throughout the film obscuring our perception of time even though the story is linear. At the beginning of the film the protagonist leaves an impression of a circle on his left hand which he still has by the end of the film, an impression that would usually disappear in a matter of minutes lasts around thirty minutes of screen time. We could conclude that the protagonist has fallen asleep on the toilet, which he often does, and that his story of finding love is merely a dream.Â
Following the release of Tokyo! came many J Hikikomori films including: Fireworks from the Heart (2010) by Masahiro Kunimoto, Left Handed (2010) by Laurence Thrush, Mameshiba Cubbish Puppy (2009) by Toru Kamei, and Now, I… (2008) by Yasutomo Chikuma, all of which are credited to Japanese directors. It could be said that Bong Joon-ho inspired a new wave of Japanese cinema but seeing as melodrama has existed throughout Japanese film history, it seems as if Bong Joon-ho selected an appropriate topic to expand on due to its proceeding popularity. Just one month before Tokyo! was released in August 2008 North Japan suffered a destructive earthquake that had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and injured close to 100 Japanese citizens. Japan is known for being one of the worlds most seismically active countries and the fact that Bong Joon-ho incorporated that into Shaking Tokyo shows a certain respect for Japanese culture. A respect that would soon turn tragic just three years later. In March 2011 Japan suffered their largest earthquake ever recorded which carried a catastrophic magnitude of 9.0. Better known as the Tohoku earthquake killed an estimated 29,000 people and caused about 25 trillion yen ($300 Billion) in damage. Shaking Tokyo shows tragedy leading to love in a time when love ends in tragedy.Â
