Adrift in Tokyo (2007) - Third Window Films Review
"Happiness creeps into you so slowly that you don't notice, but misfortune arrives abruptly"
If "misfortune" means a hardened loan shark bursting into your shabby apartment, stuffing his sweaty sock into your mouth while issuing severe threats re: repayment of your staggering debt, then yes, misfortune has rudely arrived for our anti-hero Fumiya.
Fumiya (haplessly played by the adorable Joe Odagiri) is a perennial student, apathetically chain-smoking his way through a life that has no real meaning or merit. Passively accepting things as they are, and accumulating great debt along the way, his childhood trauma colours how he sees, and fears, the world today.
It would take divine intervention to get Fumiya off his backside and out into the world. Enter mysterious and charismatic loan shark Fukuhara (the solid Tomokazu Miura).
In true Road Movie fashion, Fumiya and Fukuhara proceed on their travels, talking, eating and encountering some of the strangest characters to colourfully bounce across a screen. As the film progresses, an unlikely alliance between the pair blooms beautifully. It transpires that Fumiya has always needed a father, and Fukuhara needs a son. Can these two oddballs fill the gaping void in each other's lives?
One would hope so, however, as the final destination on their walk is the Kasumigaseki police station, where once arrived at Fukuhara is handing himself over for a terrible crime, the ill-fated duo are on borrowed time.
This is, in essence, a pre-prison trip down memory lane.
It's not all doom and gloom though, Satoshi Miki's Adrift in Tokyo is a hilarious and bonkers affair, with strong emphasis on the absurd. Filled with jaw-dropping autumn foliage, warm nostalgic lighting, thought-provoking framing, quirky shots of misplaced objects in odd places, and a fair bit of food envy if you're in any way inclined to drool over Japanese grub!
Miki also utilises deadpan stares and silence to great comedic effect, and some of the best comedy comes from understated reactions to some truly bizarre events. My favourite surreal scenes were the kung-fu wielding watch maker, the cosplay coin locker thief, Fumiya's childhood "Lacoste" anecdote, and also Fumiya following for miles an eccentric, psychedelic busker, air-guitaring his own way across a zebra crossing against the backdrop of a blood-shot Tokyo sunset.
A wonderful timelessness envelops the movie. The retro hairstyles, old-school costuming, and lack of time-placing tech mean the story can insert itself into whatever period the viewer feels most comfortable with.
There's social commentary too, as they wend their way through the bustling, cluttered backstreets, Fukuhara sadly pronounces: "Half the memorable places in Tokyo have become coin parking lots."
This is where the conflict for the viewer lies. As touched as we are by their relationship, and as much as we laugh at the irascible Fukuhara and his madcap antics - there's no getting away from the fact that as we too ramble around Tokyo in spirit, Fukuhara's wife is currently lying dead in her bed at home, as she has been all movie, murdered by her husband for her infidelity.
Miki asks the viewer to put aside their outrage at this fact, and instead focus on the pair as they are, in this moment in time. The viewer is rewarded for putting their judgment on pause, as Adrift in Tokyo is a treat for the soul. Such is the emotion, by the time it comes for Fukuhara to turn himself in, you, like Joe Odagiri, will be silently crying out for him not to.
I'd like to think that Fukuhara has opened Fumiya's eyes to the small pleasures, and big feelings, the world has to offer. Once his pal is incarcerated, will he now live with the lessons imparted onto him? And will the two remain in contact?
Hopefully Fumiya, balloon on a string that he once was, will take control of his life once and for all, and no longer be adrift in Tokyo.
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