Tokyo is Dreaming
Encyclopedia
Tokyo is Dreaming is a 2008 documentary film
by Peter I. Chang
which depicts life in the Japanese capital
and is accompanied by a score from Calexico's John Convertino. As a non-narrative portrait of the bustling metropolis, the documentary is a modern-day take on the City Symphonies that flourished in early 20th Century cinema with films such as Man with a Movie Camera
.
In a review of the film for the U.K.'s Empire, critic David Parkinson noted, "As a street performer juggling knives is escorted out of a park by a combination of keepers and the police, Chang crosscuts between images of a nationalist rally and newsreels from the Tojo militarist era and draws some chilling similarities. He also makes striking contrasts between a variety of futurist objects and Tokyo's modernist architecture, with the segment seeming to conclude that the steel and glass structures in which citizens spend so much of their lives have reduced them to goldfish floating without much cognisance in an aimless existence.
on May of 2010.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Peter I. Chang
Peter I. Chang
Peter I. Chang is a Taiwanese-born mixed-media artist, illustrator, and filmmaker. He has often collaborated with the author Mitch Cullin who is also his domestic partner....
which depicts life in the Japanese capital
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and is accompanied by a score from Calexico's John Convertino. As a non-narrative portrait of the bustling metropolis, the documentary is a modern-day take on the City Symphonies that flourished in early 20th Century cinema with films such as Man with a Movie Camera
Man with a Movie Camera
Man with a Movie Camera , sometimes called The Man with the Movie Camera, The Man with a Camera, The Man With the Kinocamera, or Living Russia is an experimental 1929 silent documentary film, with no story and no actors, by Russian director Dziga Vertov, edited by his wife Elizaveta...
.
In a review of the film for the U.K.'s Empire, critic David Parkinson noted, "As a street performer juggling knives is escorted out of a park by a combination of keepers and the police, Chang crosscuts between images of a nationalist rally and newsreels from the Tojo militarist era and draws some chilling similarities. He also makes striking contrasts between a variety of futurist objects and Tokyo's modernist architecture, with the segment seeming to conclude that the steel and glass structures in which citizens spend so much of their lives have reduced them to goldfish floating without much cognisance in an aimless existence.
Film festival screenings
Tokyo is Dreaming received its world premiere at the 5th Berwick Film Festival in 2009 and had its U.S. premiere at Phoenix Art MuseumPhoenix art museum
The Phoenix Art Museum is the Southwest United States' largest art museum for visual art. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western...
on May of 2010.