February 02, 2004
Movie Review: "Tokyo Godfathers"
Saw "Tokyo Godfathers" Monday night. This is the latest anime feature by Madhouse studios and acclaimed Japanese director Satoshi Kon, who directed two other excellent full-length animated films, "Millennium Actress" and "Perfect Bue." The latter is arguably a must-include in the canon of great, serious anime from the decade that started with "Akira" in the late eighties.
Despite the ever-increasing number of stunning anime distributed in America in recent years, "Tokyo Godfathers" stands out from most of this theatrically released output, such as "Cowboy Bebop" and "Metropolis." An exception being last year's Academy Award-winning Hayao Miyazaki film, "Spirited Away," itself a masterwork in a class by itself.
"Tokyo Godfathers" is a tale about a homeless trio suffering through early winter in snow-covered and otherwise normal hyper-consumerist Tokyo on Christmas eve. When they stumble across an abandoned infant buried in a garbage heap, their adventure begins. They try to take care of the crying babe, whom they name Kiyoko, and figure out whether to go to the police or search for the child's parents, a troubled young couple who have gone out of their way not to be found.
Our homeless heroes are a bearded, midlle-aged drunkard named Gin, a similarly-aged transvestite called Hana, and a teenage girl, Miyuki, a runaway who seems to have left home more out of spite after a family dispute rather than hard times.
As Gin, Hana and Miyuki set out to find Kiyoko's parents, they detour through the Tokyo underworld, from yakuza warfare to immigrant slums and a trannie karaoke club--all the warts of Japanese society otherwise hidden. During the search, three "Godfathers" confront their pasts and the misfortunes that led them to living rough on the streets.
Also unlike many recent anime films imported to US cineplexes, "Tokyo Godfather" dwells firmly in the world of the real rather than the fantastic or sci-fi. The film's Tokyo is like that in Sofia Coppola's "Lost Translation"; it's Tokyo as contemporary city with real (albeit anime-real) people facing real problems: alcoholism, gambling debts, and dysfunctional families.
Tokyo Godfather narrative does have it's share of minor miracles, as well as one big miracle, that lend it a supernatural element and nip at the movie-goer's requisite suspension of disbelief, but which isn't entirely outside the realm of the possible. The effect is a charm.
Seeing Tokyo as winter wonderland in the movie reminded us that it doesn't snow in Japan's capital as often or reguarly as here in New York. But when it does Tokyo's nighttime neon glow gives a snowed-in metropolis a whole new look and feel, one we loved to see again someday. For Japan's homeless though, it can only be brutal, as elsewhere.
Our favorite seen in the movie takes place on a crowded subway where two teenage girls are in a frenzy typing text messages (or playing games) on their cellphones. The action is just part of the scenery and has nothing to do with the story, but it's, as are the way the opening credits in Japanese have been inserted into the urban landscape as advertising on buses and various street signage. Masterful cinematic touches from yet another anime master.
-- Ivan Corsa + The Kid From Kyoto
RESOURCE LINKS
+ Tokyo Godfathers / The Official Sony Pictures Web Site
+ Satoshi Kon Biography / Filmbug
+ Tokyo Godfathers Review: Roger Ebert / Chicago Sun-Times
+ Tokyo Godfathers Review: A.O. Scott / New York Times
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+ Tokyo Godfathers Review: James Hoberman / Village Voice
+ Hayao Miyazaki Biography / Nausicaa.net
Posted by at February 2, 2004 03:09 PM
