When a gangster on the run shacks up with a Japanese porn star, the week that they spend together is tender, combustible and highly erotic. Tokyo Elegy takes advantage of the medium's ability to capture intimacy as well as its hallucinogenic potential through digital manipulation.

Unlike traditional forms of storytelling, Kerkof paints a movie more along the lines of a tone poem (in fact, the material is inspired by verse by Tricia Warden and Jack Henry Abbott). Its success as erotica depends on its individual audience. Those inclined to enjoy mainstream art films will have no trouble immersing themselves in its unconventional narrative, which avoids literal/verbal explanation in favor of visual clues. The viewer becomes awash in an ocean of imagery, including a jailbreak, club hopping, spontaneous floor sex and a real tattoo session. Crime equals lust equals devotion - and meaning becomes a cumulative rather than linear experience. Pre-nom for Best Alternative Video.