I saw this short film on its own but read that it was originally planned as one of four short films that would fit together to create a 90 minute film. This (so far) has not been made and I would suggest that part of the barrier to it being produced would be that within minutes of the first screening the makers would get a letter from Jim Jarmusch's lawyers. Of course this is a homage to him but it doesn't feel like it is "inspired" or a homage so much as it feels like a film with a desire to do what Jarmusch makes look easy (on his day) but really just succeeding in trying to ape him in the hope it comes off.
Assuming that the goal was to make a London version of the film Mystery Train, the section of Fish would have been the one with the Japanese couple because that is essentially what this short is. We have a Japanese girl at a party while her uncle tries to find his way home across London without any directions or money. The constant Tom Waits music never lets us forget where we are supposed to be but it is a shame that the material doesn't really rise to the same level. So the film is basically a series of encounters between the Japanese uncle and the streets of London but none of them really have a great deal of color or intrigue to them and mostly they come off a bit dull. It doesn't help either than for some reason the film isn't secure in its sense of place so, although we are in London, the characters the uncle meets seem to aspire to be Americans because I guess that seemed cooler to the makers of this short. Accordingly the performances mostly seem a bit stilted and awkward, although Kajioka is pretty natural and engaging as the uncle.
Maybe there could have been something here and maybe as a feature film with the other parts it would come together really well, but on the evidence of this it must be said that it really seems to chase the spirit of Jarmusch so much that it forgets to be anything of its own and, ultimately, when it does get as close to homage as it can, the end result is to remind you how much better the inspiration did it.
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