Tokyo Pop

Fran Rubel Kuzui's 1988 film follows a young rock singer in New York who is not valued by her own band. After a postcard arrives from Japan she takes what money she has to Tokyo and ends up performing with a Japanese rock group. Its value lies less in the story than in what it recorded. The streets of Tokyo at the end of the eighties, the small venues and the underground music scene were all filmed directly. Diamond Yukai is a real musician and the band scenes reflect that. The usual traps of the cross-cultural narrative are present: Japan sometimes becomes an exotic backdrop and the heroine's gaze stays at the centre. Even so the film uses fewer stock devices than most of its contemporaries and shows genuine interest in the music scene. Who it's for: those curious about Tokyo in the eighties and about the music film. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a balanced perspective in cross-cultural narrative; the film largely looks from outside.