I would be lying if I thought I would be covering Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers (2003) during the Christmas period. The reason being that I had no idea that it was a Christmas film, and if not for a chance discovery through a YouTube video I would have gone on not knowing this was a Christmas film. Upon learning this I rushed to get it watched. After all, Perfect Blue (1997), and earlier film from Kon, is one of the best films I have seen this year so the chance to watch more of his work was something I would jump on. Would it live up to the high expectations I had going in? The film follows three homeless people who find an abandoned baby in a dump. In their journey to find the babies’ parents and discover why they would dump the child; they have to open up about their past lives and mistakes and work out how they are to move forward into a new future.
In short, this did live up to my expectations. While I wouldn’t put it above Perfect Blue in terms of quality, it is still a magnificent film full of beautiful animation and a great script. And any doubts that this was a Christmas film were quickly dashed. The iconography of the season is all over the place, and the mention of Christmas or use of Christmas music is used throughout. The film does span a timeframe stretching until the New Year, but there is more Christmas feeling in this film than there has been so many other of the films I have done so far. And the time of year lends a hand to how beautiful the film is. Due to my previous recent experience with Kon’s work, I was always expecting this to be brilliantly animated and it does not disappoint. The animation is at its best when showing off the environments and setting of Tokyo, covered in snow. It is exquisite in both the more extravagant and more downtrodden moments. As there are several of these. After all, we are following homeless characters, so a lot of the film is set in alleys or parks where the setting feels dirtier and grittier, and Kon manages to capture this while keeping the film a superb visual spectacle. It is also extremely exaggerated at times, but in a way that totally matches the comedic and light-hearted tone of the film.
Another thing I didn’t expect from this film was just how funny it was going to be. Again, this comes from the previous film I had seen which, while it had its laughs, was a psycho-thriller that was much more surreal and serious in nature. This film almost feels like a complete 180 of that. It has several slapstick moments, boosted by the great animation on the characters, which got several laughs out of me. But the real big laughs came through the dialogue. It is a really great script. Each character has their time to shine, and the actors deliver the laughs superbly. The comedic timing is spot on, and I had several big, out-loud laughs. But it is not just in the comedic moments where the characters shine. The narrative structure also adds to this, as it has several incidents occur that seem that they may become more heavily involved in the overall narrative, but instead are just used to explore more of these characters personalities and have them open up about themselves. And the film is as effective in the darker and more emotionally striking moments of the film as it is in its comedic moments. Despite how funny it is, it does cover some hefty issues such as suicide, addiction, abuse. One of our main characters is also a trans woman. Now, I am not the right person to be commenting on how the character of Hara is representative of the trans community; it feels way ahead of its time while also slightly problematic at parts. But as a whole character, Hara is great and the fact that she is trans becomes unimportant quite quickly into the narrative. She is definitely the most memorable character and Yoshiaki Umegaki does a great job of bringing the character to life, as do all the actors.
Having added Tokyo Godfathers to the films I have currently seen for these Christmas reviews I need to retract my statement from earlier this month where I expected the majority of the films, I would watch this December would be shit. After all, four of the ten I have currently watched I would argue are great films. Would this be the best of the lot so far? It is definitely knocking on the door to be. A hilarious, often moving, and beautifully animated adventure through Tokyo at Christmas time, I can’t help but recommend it. And with it recently being added to Netflix there is no time like the present.
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