Tokyo Godfathers

Title: Tokyo Godfathers
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Mystery, Drama, Anime
Starring: Toru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto
Director: Satoshi Kon
Language: Japanese

Its one of those casual conversations that continued to plague the mind I was having recently: why are there so few decent christmas films? Racking my brains for something more than just "Die Hard" or "Gremlins," it was only until I saw my shelf and remembered this lesser known Satoshi Kon flick yet to be watched that I saw hope or another entry to the list.

If you've seen much of his other work, you'd notice a strong theme in how they're devised, but not here. With this film he's gone for a more accesible tone of film making, telling us a simple (for Satoshi Kon) tale of three homeless people in tokyo on the journey to the end of the year, discovering a newborn baby on christmas eve and resolving to become its carers until the real parents can be found.

As we get to know our homeless characters; the elderly man who sent his family into poverty; the gay man who shamed his mother; and the young girl who ran away from home, we come to care for them in their plight, running away from the families they once knew rather than bear the shame of what they've done. Living life on the fringes, forgotten by society, they are brought together by this new life, forming a dysfunctional family, and in trying to offer this child the best they can, find themselves being forced to confront their fears.

Unveiling more would be robbing the film of its impact as it's all in how it steadily unfurls that it finds its greatest strength. Its a winding tale filled with heartache for these complex characters with their humanity left all too exposed, filled with morality about the forgivefulness of others, unconditional love, and above all, the importance of family. But it's never done in a cliche manner; it never feels as though its rubbing your face in his views or comes across like so many tired and predictable stories with the same theme.

At its core is a sense of realism to the plights they face, never believing that their stories are beyond the scope of realism or just a little too coincidental. The animation is as you'd expect from such a feature, and whilst it's far from this man's finest work, for those tired of the usual trash on during the holiday season, "Tokyo Godfathers" offers something a little different.