I am mostly drawn to movies that highlight the most wretched and broken souls. I live for stories about painful losses, desperate actions, and utter helplessness. The characters’ dark inner struggles and how they win or lose against them are what I appreciate the most in a film. Because of this, I browsed for something that I could watch not solely for this week’s prompt but also for the sake of watching and enjoying it. Then I stumbled upon an anime movie whose storyline caught my excitement and intrigue.
Tokyo Godfathers is a 2.4 million USD budgeted animated film directed by Satoshi Kon whose famous works include Perfect Blue (1997) and Millennium Actress ( 2001 ). It was released on November 8th, 2003 in Japan. It is a good mix of drama comedy and adventure. Its ratings are high: 7.8 / 10 on IMDb, 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 8.3 / 10 on myanimelist.net. Some of the awards it received were the Mainichi Film Concours Award for Best Animated Film in 2004 and Sitges- Catalonian International Film Festival Best Animated Feature Film in 2003. You'll see why.
This film presents the story of three homeless people, Gin (an alcoholic), Hana (a former drag queen), and Miyuki (a runaway teenager) who discover an abandoned baby in the streets of Tokyo on Christmas Eve. They later decide to take on a journey and search for the baby’s real mother. However, are they helping the baby or the baby is helping them?
The film is unconventional for a Christmas movie. There is no feature of bright colorful lights and luscious meals on the table. The colors are dull and dark, especially on the main characters’ side. There is an obvious contrast between the homeless leads and the rest of their world. The characters’ complexity is also one that carved the film's way into my heart. Each of them is a soul of conflicting ideals, shameful secrets, and regretful pasts. Their being together is a perfect example of a dysfunctional family. The dialogues are also excellent. Although filled with roasting (where the comedy usually comes in), the characters have something valuable to offer in their speeches. I am also in awe of Hana's haikus, pausing the movie just to savor the words.
Though released in 2003, the relevance of the film has lived before and even after its time. It speaks the reason for the season - the birth of Christ and what it means to us, people on Earth, especially the sick and lost ones. The abandoned baby has been analogized to the infant Jesus, and when the characters love and take care of Kiyoko (the baby’s name) it led to what I call a series of fortunate events aka the salvation of their souls. However, these fortunate events are not necessarily sweet and happy. In the movie, they bring discomfort and pain to the characters just like how healing inner wounds is uncomfortable and painful in reality. Some examples are when Miyuki discovers that she has been gravely mistaken about her belief, when Hana has to meet a person she is ashamed to face, and when Gin is put on the spot about his lies.
The movie also tackles common yet serious issues regarding families. This includes the destructive power of gambling and alcoholism not only to oneself but also to those one holds the dearest, rebellion caused by misunderstanding and miscommunication, the feeling of being unloved and unsupported by one's very own family, and the loss of loved ones. These are experiences we could relate to in varying degrees, so this film may give comfort to its viewers just like how it did to me.
Despite the relevance and masterful characterization of the film, it is not perfect. I had moments of disbelief when there were too many coincidences in the story. Surely, Kon intentionally structured those coincidences as part of the magic realism and absurdism of the film. However, I think it robs the characters of their chance to challenge their ability. The movie might want to say that life is full of miracles that we think of as coincidences. These random events are meant to happen to help us find our paths and fulfill our purpose. That is a kind and positive way of looking at it, yet this aspect of the film is flawed and is mostly at risk of being evaluated as a weakness rather than a strength.
Overall, the movie’s value still outweighs its weakness and I love it for shedding a special light on those who are in their darkest and lowest time. Kon has been effective in making the viewers (or at least me) feel sympathy for the homeless and hopeless people who we ordinarily see on the streets every day. Although their tales are too dark, they still have their humanity in them. They are capable of change, forgiveness, love, and sacrifice which constitutes the spirit of Christmas. If you want to watch an anime Christmas film that dwells on human's deepest emotions and highest limitations, then Tokyo Godfathers is worth your time.