TOKYO TRIBE (Japan, 2014)
Directed by: Sion Sono
Starring: Ryohei Suzuki, Dais Young, Nana Seino, Shunsuke Daito, Takuya Ishida, Yui Ichikawa, Mika Kano, Shota Sometani, Shoko Nakagawa, Ryuta Sato

Just when you thought that Sion Sono’s work couldn’t get any crazier and more imaginative—after 2013’s Why Don’t You Play in Hell?—Tokyo Tribe comes along. A berserk hip-hop musical action drama about warring gangs in a near-future Tokyo told almost entirely in rap, the film is populated by a gallery of offbeat and over-the-top characters, all competing for the control of the dystopian megalopolis, and eventually forced to unite to fight a bigger evil. Based on the popular manga series Tokyo Tribe 2 by Santa Inoue, Tokyo Tribe has a large cast that includes Shota Sometani as the movie’s MC, Riki Takeuchi (Takashi Miike’s Dead or Alive) as the sleazy Lord Bubba, Ryohei Suzuki (Hentai Kamen: Forbidden Superhero) as a blond-haired testosterone-charged gang leader, Nana Seino (Danger Dolls) as the main heroine, and rapper-actor Dais Young. So let Master Sono transport you to a world full of killer rhymes, B-boy battles, high-kicking girls, pervy silliness, wild action (choreographed by Tak Sakaguchi, working under a pseudonym), and packed with so many baroque visual flourishes that the entire movie feels like Versailles stabbing you in both eyes, as you keep asking for more.