Tokyo Taxi (DVD) (Korea Version) DVD Region All

With big Asian blockbusters touting individual national superiority over their neighbors, it's refreshing to see Kim make a film that explores common aspects that bring neighboring countries closer. He plays up both differences unique to the respective nations (eating ramen with kimchi in Korea) and ironic similarities (English greetings) to give the film some of its biggest laughs.

To offset some of the less-than-believable aspects in the story, Kim also emphasizes the film's offbeat tone, eschewing reality (how hard could it be to find a highway in Busan that goes to Seoul?) for a surreal story filled with amazing coincidences and eccentric characters. With such cinematic style now a commonplace in Asian independent films, Tokyo Taxi is actually far more successful with its humor than using cinematic style to make it appear unique.

Tokyo Taxi is a more ambitious film than it appears to be. Kim first uses cultural stereotypes to set up his two protagonists: Ryo the rocker is a temperamental band leader who works in a ramen shop, while Yamada is a courteous taxi driver who makes taking any passenger a professional responsibility. However, when Kim moves away from the road trip in the second half, he also moves away from stereotypes and into developing universal qualities for the two men: Ryo is revealed to be a lovestruck young man, while Yamada reexamines the important things in his life. Kim recognizes that his road trip film needs to be more than just about the road trip, compensating for the lack of humor in the story's second half with character development that makes the film more involving.

In the opening of the film, Kim sets the story up with a Korean salaryman standing under the Tokyo Tower and posing a question about how he got there. While the actual answer to the question in the film is less than satisfying, it sets up a sequel that has potential to make even better use of Kim's eye for inter-cultural humor. The ending of Tokyo Taxi doesn't take advantage of that potential yet, but Kim should definitely consider it. My only request: someone give Kim more money for it.