Map of the Sounds of Tokyo

never heard of director Isabel Coixat before and was pleasantly surprised

This film from 2009 is now available on DVD in the US from IFC. The writer-director,Isabel Coixet, also did "Elegy". The lead actress, Rinko Kikuchi, was in "Babel" andthe lead male, Sergi Lopez, was in "Pan's Labyrinth". I can state the basic plot in onesentence A hit-woman falls in love with the man she's contracted to murder. And hereis the rest (a few, mild plot spoilers). The beginning of the film was confusing to mebut this makes it easier to follow from the start. A wealthy businessman, CEO of a largeJapanese corporation, Mr. Nagara, grieves the suicide of his (apparently only) daughter,Midori. He blames her boyfriend. His right-hand man says he will take care of it. Hecontracts with a killer to murder the boyfriend (David). The killer, Ryu, works at afish market but is a free-lance killer in her spare time. The story is told from the(improbable) point of view of an older Japanese male who frequently has lunches with Ryu.He's hopelessly enchanted with her but she tells him nothing about her personal life. Heis a sound recorder by profession and he enjoys taping the sounds of Ryu (hence, the title).Ryu locates the target but then becomes enamored of him and doesn't want to do the job.David explains to Ryu that his girlfriend committed suicide, and he can't get over her--hethinks about her every day. She was chronically depressed but he was much in love with her.I thought this would be some kind of fast-paced sexy action film. It is not. It's not at allfast-paced, there are no chase-scenes and a very minimal amount of shooting (apart from thecamera, that is) and it's really more of a sad love story.Despite the title, the visuals really predominated in this film. The director/script writerfavors minimal dialog and maximal visual imagery in this film. The cinematography and theimages are great. The visuals are the strongest part of this film, although with thecharacters, there are so many long close-ups that it got a little annoying. The images ofTokyo and various interior images however, are really beautiful.The sound track has a number of songs, none of which I particularly cared for. They're mostlysolo-singer, sad love songs.There is partial nudity, basically from the hips up. Rinko Kikuchi looks very good in partialnudity. This DVD is unrated, but should be considered "R" based on partial nudity, someexplicit language, not really for violence.I recommend it for interesting images, not so much for plot or dialog. Don't look for anaction movie here. The cinematography is lovingly done.

Good film

Interesting movie. Some of the performances were very impressive, but others were very average. Some very explicit scenes but these weren't really well done, and the movie would have been just fine without it. Don't buy the movie just for those.

A well acted and realistic portrayal of two complex characters. Minimalistic dialog works in this film. Rinko Kikuchi's character Ryu embodies the contradictions inherent in Japanese culture. Sergi Lopez as David plays the lost and grieving soul with great empathy.

A hit person with a heart after the contract is finished. Nice twist. I now have a much greater appreciation of the Japanese film industry. I liked this movie.

The premise was excellent…Part-time fish monger/ assassin turned love-struck partner of the wine merchant…..I especially love the love hotel settings in the 'densha'…..great movie!!!!!

It's a movie I watched it.

si te gusta el cine (vamos no el mainstred) pues que vamos a decir mirate todo lo la magnifica directora y no te dejes esta joyita en el camino, calidad de udio como de video muy trabajadas, pero se hecha en falta unos buenos contenidos extras aunque a mi flin. lo importante es la obra y en este caso magnifica no defrauda

Der Film ist echt super Rinko Kikuchi spielt ihr rolle einfach perfekt die Schauspielerin ist meiner Meinung nach Top👍🏼hoffe es kommen noch sehr viel Filme von ihr

Maravillosa recreación del encuentro entre Occidente y Japón, que toca todos las aristas de la sensibilidad nipona de forma accesible para un europeo. Magistral.

la peli esta bien, pero tampoco apasionante, es buena para una tarde de domingo! sorprendentemente el sonido no es muy bueno la verdad...

Ein sehr erotischer, spannender Thriller, ungewöhnliche Filmorte, interessante Einblicke in die japanische Welt der Erotik und hervorragende Schauspieler! Vor allem der Anfang ist sehenswert, auch eine Art Sushi zu essen