North Shinjuku 2055 
北新宿2055 「Kita-Shinjuku 2055」
Release Date: 2021
Duration: 30 mins.
Director: Daisuke Miyazaki
Writer: Daisuke Miyazaki (Script),
Starring: Kan a.k.a. GAMI, Tatsuya Nagayama,
Daisuke Miyazaki is a filmmaker who is wired into the styles and concerns of younger generations and one who is able to present them in a myriad of ways, be it a conventional coming-of-age story in the shadow of American culture with Yamato (California), Tourism’s Singapore-set quirky travelogue, or Videophobia and its tech-induced existential-erasure nightmare. Moving swiftly on, his latest is a speculative sci-fi short with a surprising style that imagines the titular Tokyo territory becomes an isolated community by the year 2055.
Set in the year 2055, we eavesdrop on an interview between a journalist (Tatsuya Nagayama) and an informer named K (Kan a.k.a. GAMI) who discuss how and why North Shinjuku grew distant, both culturally and rules-wise from the rest of the capital. Using his childhood and occasional history lessons of runaway samurai and yakuza turf wars, K gives a deep cut of the area’s close-knit community and its dealings with wider society. A fascinating and imaginative conversation then ensues which details how North Shinjuku has always been a place made up of marginalised people, be they the working class or immigrants, all of whom exist together in the face of discrimination and in resistance to capital.
As the two talk, their interview takes on the form of a duelling conversation as the journalist has his negative preconceptions of the place being crime-ridden and hostile to outsiders and K pushes back by detailing bonds between people. Their disagreements help to give direction to what is essentially a flow of A LOT of exposition and for preparing a sting in the tail of the story that is hinted at in the opening moments but might be forgotten about by the viewer. With so much dialogue going on, the deep and measured tones of GAMI’s street expert and the more insistent probing of the journalist are perfect as they are easy to listen to and their back and forth is kept lively. They are complimented by sound effects drawn from the surrounding city environment, sirens and the rhythmic bump of passing trains, before the film ends on a banger of a final track that will sweep audiences away. The soundscape fits perfectly with the visuals of the film, which are a surprise.
Told almost entirely via black-and-white photographs with some live-action footage to punctuate things, the images on screen may mostly be still, but they are shuffled through at a fair clip. Each photograph consists of the two speakers or very evocative shots of the urban landscape and those who dwell in it. Both of the lead actors fit their roles perfectly visually as well as aurally with GAMI cutting a fearsome figure and Tatsuya Nagayama looking like an inquisitive journalist. The subjects of the street photography are also perfect as they are caught in really compelling compositions and framed interestingly – sometimes they aren’t always in focus or in the centre of the picture, there is motion blur as they are carrying out the actions that the narrators are talking about, be it criminal activities or living their everyday lives. Sometimes the photograph itself is damaged and that adds to the character of the material as does linking them together with what looks to be actual historical photographs of districts in Tokyo, which is a nice touch to create a chain of continuity from the past to Miyazaki’s imagined future.
Could it work in another format? It would not be as interesting or original if it were a book or a series of photographs because those mediums lack the different layers of a film and so they just wouldn’t hold attention in the same way. A conventional film might not be so interesting and would most likely be budget-breaking, this conversation done with standard coverage of a master shot and then lots of close ups/shot-reverse-shot etc and all of the setting up and shooting that entails. It would also not be as interesting as we have seen variations on this sort of story like with Shion Sono’s Tokyo Tribe and Takashi Miike’s City of Lost Souls.
Overall, this is an engaging vision of a future Tokyo where the cultural aspects are well thought through and play on our current era’s examples of socio-political dimensions like discrimination and immigration. It deviates from typical depictions of a science-fiction future and its style is stirring – each little element from diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to the types of images on display – is so much fun that it captures the imagination and takes us into another world, as all good films should.
North Shinjuku 2055 plays at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 11 and March 16!