MovieChat Forums > Tôkyô zonbi (2005) Discussion > Let's think too deeply about this!

Let's think too deeply about this!


So having seen Gozu and Ichi the Killer, I'm fairly convinced this is not a straight forward zombie movie. I'm going to venture a guess that many of the characters, devices, and themes were representative of something on an entirely different level.

It seems like that Mitsuo's cancer wasn't real, and only seemed to be a problem during certain times of intimacy between the two protagonists.

Another thing, the food Fujio takes from the store is THE ONLY food they have in their shanty town.

I find it perplexing that only women watch the gladiators fight, as well.

There seemed to be unusual levels of homo eroticism in the film, as well as several instances of childhood sexual abuse.

I haven't come up with a cohesive set of symbology for the movie, but I imagine this is much like both Ichi the Killer AND Gozu, in that this is entirely an allegory relating to some sort of psychological mountain that one of the characters, likely Fujio, has to climb.

I've heard Gozu, which is utterly abstract and depressingly confusing, is a story about a guy coming out to his friend or self, and Ichi the Killer revolves around a rape during childhood.

I wonder if Mitsuo's cancer represents a fear of loss, the zombies represent a callous, uncaring, or incapable of understanding world, and Mitsuo in general is a more enlightened self (or maybe just a lover?) who Fujio is afraid to actualize a relationship with. The daughter of Fujio and her silence is perhaps the crippled family life that he experiences and as he comes around to the idea of normalcy, things become as such. The truth behind the family life was that they accepted him, but his own self loathing prevented him from seeing how their love manifested. The not-nutritious food is perhaps a coping mechanism --- some basic level escapism. They use the food wrappers to patch holes in the walls, reinforce support beams, and eat. They are a cure-all, that doesn't really do any good. It seems helpful at the time, but in the end won't solve anything.

In the future dystopia, men don't have any real place in society, it seems, except for the prince and his wheelchair pusher, and the boxing manager/announcer, and the armed guards. Women are menacing and debasing and hardly understand the beauty behind the encounter between Mitsuo and Fujio while in the ring. Mitsuo seems to be so afraid of commitment to Fujio that he pretends to be one of the callous "zombies" for so long, even Fujio can't see past the act.

Huh.
Or, it was just a cracked out zombie movie with lots of random elements and good plain fun. Anyone else want to take a crack at this with me?

Namaste!

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