Like any other big city, Tokyo does things to you. The three directors in the omnibus movie "Tokyo!" however, inflict their penetrating stare upon the city and don't flinch when the city gazes right back — they all give as good as they get. They know that what happens here is both unique and ubiquitous — "Only in Tokyo . . .", they seem to be saying, while in the next breath assuring us that the same stories could unfold almost anywhere in the world.
Thanks to them, Tokyo is liberated from the exotic (and annoying) Japanese-ness that had been the bane of other films made in or about the city ("Lost in Translation" is a fresh memory): For starters, there are no depictions of karaoke bars, women in kimono, sushi shop counters, shots of darkly clad salarymen marching over the crossing outside Tokyo Station looking completely depressed. To this trio, "Tokyo" is an individual city and private experience — their characters come off like genuine people instead of caricatures or icons.
Oddly enough, the city as shown in the film actually makes you want to live here, largely because the portrayals seem to have some real and personal importance to the directors. The sweetly nostalgic sensation recalls Woody Allen's "Manhattan" — a film difficult to sit through without fighting the urge to pack a suitcase and leave immediately for the Big Apple.