Tokyo Shaking

Just watch the movie.

The main actress is bored out of herself just being here.

The dialogues are terrible and the decision-making are questionable...

The point of view of the people portrayed here is the only thing that make it worth watching.

The epitome of the "I am feel uncomfortable when we are not about me?" meme. Tokyo was not physically affected in the disaster, and faced no real radiation threat. And on top of that, we have the super privileged first world problems of the tip-top 1%: A wealthy European bank exec stationed in the wealthiest cities (which, again, sustained no damage) in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, who cares? The only way she could be any luckier if she were a man. She would be slightly less lucky if she worked for a Japanese company, but still pretty well off in her position. I really could care less how this type faired after the earthquake. There were even plenty of lower-level foreigners who did not have a viable economic opportunity to just quit their jobs and return to their home countries, let alone of course it's not like 100% of Japanese people could suddenly leave Japan.. it's not just a choice and matter of some bushido stereotypes orientalists are so obsessed with... a whole country can't be evacuated, duh. And again, why would Tokyo be when it was not affected? There were enough problems finding support for actual displaced people. Trust me, I know these exact types of foreign execs (yes, female too) stationed in Tokyo and at that time they said so many horrible things about actual victims of this disaster in the actual affect areas ("backwards" rural areas far away from Tokyo), I really don't care about their unfounded paranoia while others who were actually in the sh- literally lost everything, including lives.

Alexandra is a manager for the Tokyo branch of a major French investment bank. When the tsunami strikes Fukushima, she is called upon to manage the crisis that threatens Tokyo by her imperious director. With her husband demanding that she flee Tokyo with their children, she struggles to adapt to the unfolding situation. The film ambitiously presents several themes - women in management, workplace solidarity, cross-cultural interactions, parenting during a crisis, and crisis management itself. Viard is in excellent form as she copes with an untenable situation made worse by her director's decisions. The intense experience of a disaster unfolding is exceptionally well presented in a realistic story of corporate culture clashing with human values.

The basic idea is not so unintersting; it would be rather good, but the development is totally a mess, with an unconvincing Karine Viard, maybe because she was herself not convinced at all by this unlikely script. I was really bored most of the time, but I repeat, the basic scheme could have been more interesting if treated in another way, with more character intensity. Dul performances and production design too. I prefered STUPEUR ET TREMBLEMENTS aka Fear and Trembling - not Shaking - made by Alain Corneau in 2003, from an Amélie Nothomb's book and also showing French people living in Japan thru the business angle.