Tokyo Pop

Tokyo Pop has been in my collection since it came out...I could not locate it anywhere..and bribed the video store owner into selling me her copy. This was not too difficult..she said it was never rented..except by me. The movie hooked me in the first scene..just Carrie Hamilton herself, visually. The rest of the movie followed suit..a feast of cultures for the eyes and ears, and a romantic quality as well...though bittersweet.

I loved the music from beginning to end..especially Hiro's Song. Even the instrumentals played during the sad parts were worthy of me taping..what I'd give to find the soundtrack. I particularly love Carrie's vocals..in Do You Believe In Magic...she gives it everything she's got. I was heartbroken to discover that she's passed away at 38 from cancer...awww.

This is a cute little film. Ultimately it doesn't really go anywhere, but at the very least it's an extremely realistic portrayal of what it'd be like to suddenly fly to Japan with no friends there, no command of the language, no knowledge of the culture and conventions, etc. I suppose part of the reason the film succeeds so well in this is that it's a Japanese-U.S. co-production.

One of the best parts of the movie is the soundtrack. The track by the new wave band that the main character is in at the beginning of the movie is very nice, but "Rakuen, Rakuen" by Papaya Paranoia is wonderful! Even better is being able to watch P.P. perform -- just too bad they didn't include the whole number. So much energy and adorableness from this all-girl Japanese rock band.

The real shame is that the soundtrack's out-of-print worldwide. The Papaya Paranoia track is not available on their other albums, which are hard enough to come by as it is.

This is a very light movie that highlights some aspects of being a foreigner in Japan. This movie was released the first year that I moved to Japan so is especially relevant to me. It is often more travelogue than drama as I felt that some scenes were shot simply to show absurd aspects of Tokyo life and clashing cultures (the Japanese mother getting ready for her aerobics class as the daughter practices chopstick use; the boy working in a neighbourhood crepe shop; the plastic food factory; suited Salarymen fishing on the Kanda RIver). Still it has a certain simple charm that makes me smile and I feel that it better captures aspects of Tokyo at that time than Lost in Translation does for a more contemporary Tokyo. I just came across it as i was cleaning out my videos to take to a flea market (my favourites have all been replaced by DVDs). This doesn't seem to be available on DVD now so I am watching it as I dub it to make my own DVD. It still makes me smile and will certainly do the same for anyone who has spent time in Japan.

I really enjoyed this movie. The characters are real and likeable and the story is entertaining. The script is excellent and the exchanges between the Japanese and gaijin characters genuinely amusing and realistic. I loved the way the hero (Hiro) was always several beats behind in his responses to English. Anyone who has spent some time in Japan and has an interest in the Japanese music scene will find a lot to take delight in here. And the occasional desperation of a gaijin, feeling lost and alien in Japan, is cleverly portrayed. The people who made this movie really knew what they were on about, from the Japanese and the gaijin point of view.

The two lead actors are very believable and the other cast members are all excellent. The band scenes and the portrayals of the varied types of musicians are great fun.

I had never heard of this movie before I watched it and it was a revelation to find something so amusing and true about a place and a music that I love. Thank you to these film makers!

Tokyo Pop is the story of a girl punk-rock musician living in New York, who finds the scene dead and at the behest of a friend, moves to Tokyo, where things are allegedly happening. Carrie Hamilton, who stars, is the late daughter of Carol Burnett, and despite a strong physical resemblance, she's a unique talent in her own right and carves out a distinct identity for her character (only once did I detect a mother-daughter similarity: when she's calling out to passing cabs in Tokyo, I felt we were just moments away from the Tarzan yell). She's tough and confident when we see her in black leather prowling the streets of New York and Tokyo, and she's fearless. We're never afraid for her when she first arrives in Tokyo completely lost; we feel that she'll figure it out. After suffering some early setbacks as a gaijin (foreigner) who the Japanese eye warily, she hooks up with a Japanese boy who calls himself a rock-and-roller and whose English is workable, if a little tentative (he often tends to answer her by saying "Sure" or "Maybe"). He invites her to be the singer in his band, and then the Happy Fairy Land Storybook kicks in. The band becomes a sensation, singing a cute boy-girl rendition of the Lovin' Spoonful's Do You Believe in Magic and her face is on every magazine cover and billboard. The fame game is fun until it isn't and Carrie has a crisis of conscience and needs to go back to playing "her music" and breaks up the act. Yet in the final scene that plays during the closing credits, we see Carrie gushing an 80's power ballad. Why? That ending completely subverts the story we've seen for ninety minutes; she's transitioned from Debbie Harry to Debbie Gibson, another sellout singing Americanized Tokyo Pop.

It's not unheard of; real-life rock-and-rollers have done the same (Eric Clapton is a glaring example, although his metamorphosis took longer than one plane ride), but it just kills any integrity the character and the movie have built up. Tokyo Pop is a showcase for Carrie Hamilton's talents, nothing more. I mourn her passing.