Tokyo Godfathers (2003): B+

While neither as visually nor as thematically intricate as Millennium Actress, Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers – a reimagining of John Ford’s weepy Western 3 Godfathers in which three homeless friends attempt to return an abandoned baby to its parents on Christmas Eve – is nonetheless a delightfully rambunctious holiday fable about the vital importance of family. Crotchety drunk Gin, motherly transvestite Hana, and young girl Miyuki have each fled their dishonorable pasts for a life on the streets, yet an opportunity for redemptive familial reconciliation arrives when they discover an infant discarded in a trash heap and embark on a week-long quest throughout Tokyo to track down the child’s mother and father. Kon’s colorful, irrepressibly antic animation makes up for its lack of facial and background details via energetic, vibrant action sequences, culminating in a climactic chase through the snow-covered streets that’s a marvel of high-strung humor and tension. The film’s narrative is too convoluted by half, and the director’s trademark talent for blending dreams and reality is largely absent (save for a few tantalizingly quick moments). But even as a lesser Kon effort, Tokyo Godfathers remains a delightful film bursting with meticulously drawn lead characters – all three of whom mask their shame and disappointment through hysterical bickering – traces of whimsical fantasy (“Kiyoko,” the baby they find, is something of a Christ-like miracle child), and outright bizarreness.

Comments

[Michael Gilson]

One nit pick with this review, the action takes place over the span of a week, not a single night. The movie begins on Christmas Eve and ends on New Years day. Other than that I whole heartedly agree with this review, and if anything recommend the movie even more strongly.

[nschager]

Noted. Thanks.