Detroit Metal City (2008)
"Detoroito Metaru Shiti" (original title)

Soichi Negishi moved to Tokyo to chase his dream of becoming a musician playing stylish, Swedish-style pop. Instead, he finds himself leading the death metal band Detroit Metal City, or DMC... See full summary »

Director:

Toshio Lee

Writers:

Kiminori Wakasugi (manga), Mika Ohmori (adaptation)

Stars:

Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Yoshihiko Hosoda, Ryûji Akiyama

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ken'ichi Matsuyama	...	Sôichi Negishi / Johannes Krauser II
Yoshihiko Hosoda	...	Masayuki Wada / Alexander Jaggi
Ryûji Akiyama	...	Terumichi Nishida / Camus
Rosa Katô	...	Yuri Aikawa
Yasuko Matsuyuki	...	Boss
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adeyto	...	Kennie Il Dark
Ken Ayugai
Cynthia Cheston	...	Reporter
Niclas Ericsson	...	Journalist
Ryo Kato	...	Toshihiko Negishi
Jun'ichirô Kishi
Minami	...	Nina
Yoshiko Miyazaki	...	Keiko Negishi
Masami Nagasawa
Yoshinori Okada	...	Detroit Metal City fan

Storyline

Soichi Negishi moved to Tokyo to chase his dream of becoming a musician playing stylish, Swedish-style pop. Instead, he finds himself leading the death metal band Detroit Metal City, or DMC, as the costumed and grotesquely made-up "demon emperor" Johannes Krauser II. Although he hates the role and the things he has to do as a member of the band, he has a definite talent for it. Adapted from the hit Japanese comic book by Kiminori Wakasugi, the movie follows Negishi's antics as he tries to reconcile the two very different sides of his life and find out what it really means to achieve his dream.

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Plot Keywords:

metal | death metal | tokyo japan | based on manga | based on comic | 

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

23 August 2008 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Detroit Metal City

Filming Locations:

Nikkatsu Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dentsu, Hakusensha, Horipro

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

After the closing credits, a brief scene shows what happens to Toshi after his brother's visit home.

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Connections

Version of Detroit Metal City (2008)

User Reviews

Hilarious and charming

I saw this film during midnight madness at the Toronto film festival and right from the beginning moments, I knew I would be having a rollicking good time. The film is a charmer from start to finish. It's also one of the funniest films I have seen in a long time. My friend said he hadn't laughed so hard, possibly, ever. And that's not a stretch; the film was ridiculously funny. The audience completely ate it up. The film is a self-parody of the Japanese from beginning to end (Soichi dreams of making 'trendy' j-pop, wearing 'trendy' clothes and living in a 'trendy' apartment). It's like watching the Japanese hold a mirror up to themselves and mocking every detail. Watching Soichi try to reconcile his 'true' wannabe pop star self with his newly acquired and undesired status as death metal god is priceless. He spends his nights dressed as a 'demon' singing songs about rape and murder (the film mocks heavy metal in such a comical and respectable way that even serious metal fans can't help but roll with laughter), and his days on street corners singing sweet-sounding pop songs about love and, um, rainbows. Katsuyama had fantastic comic timing as Soichi, and completely won over the audience. It was a hoot to watch him totally commit himself to his metal persona while on stage, but being completely miserable and lovelorn (the girl he likes hates metal and knows nothing of his metal persona) after taking his make-up off. His two sides are completely different and you wonder if he'll ever just embrace his metal god status and give up his pop star dream. Of course, that's the journey the director wants to take us on. And it is one hell of a ride.

Some films are so ridiculous that it's just nonsense. DMC manages to be ridiculous and sublime at the same time. The film is a guaranteed good time and I can't imagine anyone watching it without a huge grin on their face afterward.