jinkblt This is a film which oozes with social commentary. Apparently, this was originally written to be made with a completely French cast and crew, but was changed by the Director into a Japanese/French hybrid cast and crew. This is apparent by the French songs sung by the characters.***minor spoiler below*** On its surface, this film is about a young vigilante, intent on scaring badly-behaving people good by putting on thick glasses and shooting a horribly inaccurate (but precise) gun. A girl discovers more behind the man deemed "Four-Eyes" by the media. However, a plot description doesn't do the film justice. It's really a commentary on a disenfranchised generation of youth, lost in a sea of urbanization and "advice" from the older generation. In this context, I find this film beautiful, not to mention great acting and cinematography by all involved. Definitely worth watching, especially if you have an interest in Japanese culture.

MartinHafer I love Japanese films, so it was hardly surprising I tried this film. In many ways I really liked it and can't understand some of the reviews that were so hard on the movie--though I will admit, there are some plot problems now and again.The main character is the 17 year-old sister of a detective who is investigating a string of shootings. This girl, once she sees the composite photo of the suspect thinks it's the strange guy she saw on the subway. BUT (and here we come to my biggest complaint about the movie), she decides to look for the guy himself instead of telling her brother!! This reminds me of the stupid teenagers in slasher movies that decide to check and see if the guy in the hockey mask REALLY is dead--instead of just running away!!! However, she is lucky that although he IS the guy in question, he isn't exactly that dangerous. I liked this part a lot--particularly the twists that occur that make you realize you haven't exactly been seeing what you thought you saw. This was pretty clever.By the way, if you do watch this movie, do NOT watch it because Beat Takeshi is in it. He's only in a small role and is barely in the movie at all.One final comment, this movie is like "suspense-Lite"--not the deepest or most suspenseful movie with a strong edge towards the younger audience. This also keeps the movie from rising to the next level though its freshness and originality help it to rise slightly above the norm.

son_of_minya This film, more than any other, has me convinced the critics are completely clueless. It is a perfect blend of everything great about French, Hong Kong, and Japanese storytelling.Hinano Yoshikawa is vulnerable--and beautiful--throughout. Saying her acting was bad is like saying Juliette Lewis was bad in Cape Fear. If she really is so clueless in real life, well that was just genius casting. Shinji Takeda also gives a great, naturalistic performance.The last 15 minutes is often criticized or misunderstood. This is really a case of French "who cares what it means, it's beautiful" meets Japanese "you should know what it means, we don't have to explain it." From an American screenwriting craft POV, one may say that it diverges too much from the preceding story, but...I was rapt to the screen and deeply satisfied when the credits rolled.Critics of this film--and you should watch for this in the future--use phrases such as "something like" and "more or less." In criticizing Kitano's cameo, in particular, it is clear they have no idea what they're talking about. Anyone who is a big enough fan to have actually seen Kitano hit someone on the head with a giant hammer--purposely--will know that this is a classic Kitano performance.

andreas.voigt I always thought there were no good love movies in this world. Films like "Thorn Birds", "Gone with the wind", "Titanic" and "Love Story" with all that crying-suffering&dying stuff full of exaggeration never really touched me. Another reason I don't like these movies is that they completely lack in style.However: The 90s have been extremely generous to us, giving us three excellent love movies full of style & magic: "Los Amantes del Círculo Polar", "Der Krieger und die Kaiserin" and this gem."Tokyo Eyes" is full of cool music, excellent camera work, cute scenes, and good storytelling, creating a mood that absorbed me right from the beginning. It's not pretentious in any way and it didn't annoy or bore me for a single second (As most other love movies do). The last five minutes are fantastic and contain one scene that in my opinion is one of the best in movie history (at least in terms of camera work). Shinji Takeda does a great job as "K" and Hinano Yoshikawa covers her missing acting skills by cuteness beyond good or evil. The cameo by Takeshi Kitano is nice as well.P.S: Though I wouldn't consider this movie to be utterly weird or totally different from standard Hollywood movies, some people may find it too slow-paced, lacking in action or even pointless.10 points out of 10.