Rotterdam 2025 Review: TRANSCENDING DIMENSIONS Sees Toshiaki Toyoda Play the Hits

In the Q&A after Transcending Dimensions, Toyoda mentioned that this might be his last feature film, as he felt like he transcended himself with this film. What does a transcendent Toyoda-film look like? As usually loud, violent and surreal, with a lot of returning themes and images.

The most significant returning puzzle piece is the Wolf Shrine that featured largely in the short film series he made since 2019. Even though IMDb and several other sources only list four shorts, Toyoda told me in an interview (which will be up on the website soonish), that there are in fact six.

The first three are direct critiques on the government and the media during the covid pandemic, and after his infamous arrest for having an antique non-functional gun in his home, an heirloom from his grandparents. The last three movies are a reminder to the world that he is still here and go into the theme of rebirth, another Toyoda staple. Transcending Dimensions follows suit, largely focussing on the theme of spiritual reawakening.

Also back is the cult leaders vs. criminals theme of I'm Flash and the theme of isolation to seek transcendence of Monsters Club. If Transcending Dimensions feels like him playing the hits, they still hit hard.

The first 40 minutes especially feel inspired. The command and control of the camera is as usual Toyodas strongest suit, here filming a suicide in a way that feels truly like a new approach. When after 40 minutes the opening credits begin, Sons of Kemet starts blasting, and we travel to the edges of the universe, this feels like Toyoda in his element.

That the rest of the film sometimes feels repetitive is a small detriment to what otherwise feels like the perfect Toyoda-film. Every five minutes there is a shot or scene that truly transcends anything you've ever seen. There is a levity to the film that at times had been missing in the past few years. The film is at times hilarious, deliberately so. Transcending Dimensions is not the film to start with, for newcomers. It builds too heavily on its predecessors. But if this truly proves to be Toyoda's final film, he goes out with a bang.