Pornostar

Toshiaki Toyoda's 1998 Japanese film is set in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. A young man named Arano begins killing yakuza without explaining why; he carries a knife and speaks to nobody. After the killings a small-time gang wants to use him, but he recognises no hierarchy and quickly becomes a danger to everyone. The film does not build a crime story; it describes the aimlessness of the young in the city and violence becoming a means of expression. The camera moves through the streets of Shibuya and loneliness inside a crowd is its central visual idea. The telling is fragmented, the dialogue sparse and the use of music pronounced. It was Toyoda's first feature. Who it's for: viewers who like Japanese independent cinema and city films of the nineties. Who it's not for: anyone expecting motive and explanation; the film offers none at all.