Customer Reviews

Tokyo Godfathers

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I consider this movie a breakthrough. It is the first I've seen that equals - or passes - good live-action movies for subtle development and interaction of characters.

It took the first 30-45 minutes to get going, but that time was used to establish the characters and the setting. Be patient - it's worth the wait. After that, the movie is really about families. I don't mean the "Leave it to Beaver" kind, with Mom, Dad, and their children by each other. I mean the real families these days, where the ideas of Mom and Dad need to flex and where the children are unrelated to one or both. I mean a real family with real problems, holding together because everyone is struggling to hold it together.

The animation is good and the character animation are very good, but excellence is the norm these days. The plot and story are what make this movie stand out. As an aside, I was interested to hear a few English words adopted into the Japanese idiom, "homeless" and "godfather" being the most obvious. I was also interested to see that the Spanish speech wasn't subtitled - English speakers will need to puzzle it through, same as the Japanese listeners did.

This isn't an "adult" movie, but there's not a lot here for kids. That's fine. Kids have their own movies, and we need ours.

With such films as "Perfect Blue," "Millennium Actress" and now "Tokyo Godfathers, " Kon Satoshi has rapidly ascended to the ranks of the masters of animation in Japan, side by side with such dignitaries as Miyazaki Hayao, Takahata Isao, Otomo Katsuhiro and Oshii Mamoru.

Like his other films, "Tokyo Godfathers" takes place in modern Japan and part of the joy of the film is seeing the wonderland of Tokyo come alive in vivid animated splendor. To achieve this particular look, Kon filmed live scenes of Tokyo, then animated overtop of the backgrounds, to give his characters a completely realistic environment in which to live their fantasy. The overall effect is really amazing.

The characters are three homeless people, each with a hidden background of severe pain that buries their proverbial hearts of gold. They form a strange, nomadic family, with Gin, a decade-long veteran of the Tokyo streets with a sad and mysterious past, Hana, a slightly pathetic aging drag queen who wants to play the role of mother to the odd clan, and Miyuki, a hard, aggressive teenager who isn't quite sure about the decisions that lead her to this life. Add to that Kiyoko, a foundling baby abandoned in a sack of garbage and discovered on Christmas eve, and the family is complete.

As with "Millennium Actress," Kon effectively weaves together several stories into an complete picture, each thread joining together briefly as it touches the lives of one of the three characters, then separating as they part. However, in the world of "Tokyo Godfathers" there are almost no strangers, and each person met along the path contributes something to the Christmas miracle of Kiyoko.

"Tokyo Godfathers" is very touching and sentimental, as a proper Christmas movie should be. But it is the sentiment and love won through hardships and pain, and the film does not lack for an edge. And then there are miracles, and wonder.

A really excellent movie altogether. It would be a shame if more people didn't get the chance to see it.

I'll be the first to admit that my preference in anime and movies in general tends to be for the magic, the larger than life adventures, the epic battles and the surreal mind trips through other worlds. But anime isn't all magical girls, mecha, battle action and hentai-and Tokyo Godfathers isn't any of those things. Director and writer Satoshi Kon is a past master of dramatic tension and character development and those who have scene Millennium Actress or Perfect Blue may have more of an idea what to expect from this movie-but I suspect even they won't anticipate how the story twists and turns.

The setting is Tokyo at Christmas time. The characters are three homeless people: Hana, an aging drag queen, Gin, an embittered drunkard, and Miyuki, a smart mouthed teenage runaway. This unlikely "family" is about to find their lives forever changed by the discovery of a newborn baby abandoned in the trash. Sounds kind of depressing, doesn't it? The characters don't seem like they'd be likable at first, the animation isn't forgiving-these characters aren't idealized stereotypes. And then the "magic" begins. Satoshi slowly and subtly unveils his characters through the movie's unexpected twists and turns. What starts as a quest to return a baby, becomes a journey of self-discovery, adventure and redemption for these three remarkable characters. And by the end, you're breathlessly along for the ride. It's a movie that's a reminder of how incredibly good character development can be-and rarely is, even on the live action screen. For a viewer like myself, it was a surprising and touching treat. And belongs in any decent anime collection.

The animation style is gritty and realistic. Don't expect the typical big eyes or wild hair. Nor are there the stylistic chibi-cuteness moments, or wild takes that are so common in anime. It's not cute, and it doesn't try to be. This isn't an anime for the kiddies-there's tough stuff to deal with here. The nudity and sexuality of this story is pretty minimal-a few boob comments and a shot or two of babies breastfeeding. The violence isn't gory or showy-but when it's included it cuts right through the viewer. The real reason this isn't for kids is because it will take a mature audience to understand what's going on. I don't think most youngsters will appreciate the subtlety, or be ready for the types of issues presented. The message at the heart of this movie, however, is universal. It's about all the connections and permutations of family, about the ties that bind us and bring people to care. It's about small miracles.

If you are already an anime fan and you're willing to try something different from the usual fantasy or SF fare, this is a great place to start. If this is your first foray into anime, or you've been put off from the medium before, this is also a great place to start. If you're looking for curvy girls with saucer sized eyes and gumdrop colored hair, bouncy theme songs, cute fuzzy sidekicks and tricked out robot giants, find something else-this isn't the anime you're looking for. If you like this, you might also want to check out Satoshi Kon's other work, especially Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress.

Happy Viewing! ^_^ Shanshad

This second feature by Satoshi Kon, like "Ice Age", spins off of John Ford's 1948 western "Three Godfathers" as a Christmas allegory of three grown men trying to deal with an orphaned baby. This time, we have a runaway teenaged girl, an alcoholic ex-athlete and a middle-aged drag queen who form a kind of family in the underworld of Tokyo's homeless. The discovery of a baby in a trash dump takes them all over town for the week between Christmas and New Years (thus starting on a Christmas holy day and ending on a Shinto/Buddhist holiday), with the coincidences and miracles becoming more and more improbable yet ultimately satisfying.

This hasn't been dubbed into English, which is just as well, because the original voices are perfect, from the hysterics of the runaway to the completely unfeminine voice of the drag queen (if it HAS to be dubbed in future, better that Harvey Fierstein takes the role of Hana). And while this movie and the anime series "Witch Hunter Robin" give intriguing glimpses into post-Bubble homelessness in Japan, and a feature on the subject would have been a welcome extra, I can see why the DVD producers didn't dwell on it. Still, a great movie from a great director.

Every character has depth, a past, and, in the end, a bright future. You'll step into a world where chaos makes such sense. I saw this on a tired Monday night, and I left with a Friday feeling.

1. The directing was absolutely fantastic. Never thought that a japanese director would direct in such a marvelously way without showing any meaningless killings and tons of blood like most of the anime do (or meaningless, slow paced various scenes that most of the japanese-chinese movies have). The directing was too much for an anime and together with the state of the art technology the final result of both directing and anime was great.

2. Really funny, and humorus made me laugh more than a few times and again I laugh very hard with the "eastern asian" humor. This was clever and right to the point.

3. Nice dialogues that meant something and told the story correctly.

Overall this anime exceeded by far my expectations and I am looking forward to seeing more movies coming from this director. The last but a bit embarassing thing is that I hate the good christmass movies. I do so because they make me shed some tears (e.g Scrooged with Bill Marey etc). Imagine how embarassing is to shed tears with an anime. I am not even a girl damn it!!!

Bravo!!

The third film from Satoshi Kon (Millenium Actress, Perfect Blue) rachets the state-of-the-art of anime film-making up another notch. This movie is simply amazing. Every nauance and detail of the characters is astounding. Most live-action films do not contain this kind of depth of character and story. And of course, this being a Kon film, just when you think you know what's going on, he twists it on it's ear, and it becomes a very different film from what you were expecting!

Get it! Get it! Get it!

Contains some spoilers.

I just finished watching this movie. I'd been wanting it ever since I read an article in Animerica about it, but I didn't think it was out yet, so when I saw it in a Borders Bookstore today, I snatched it up as fast I could.

And...woah, I can barely describe it. Normal anime takes flawless beauties with high squeeky voices and makes them a magical hero. This movie takes a transvestite "uncle bag lady", a runaway teenage girl (who certainly doesn't look like almost every other teen you see in an anime), and an old pervy geezer who "used to race bikes", and makes them into heros.

One day, in the middle of an argument, the three hear the screams of a baby, and decide to investigate. What follows is a long heartfelt journey as they try to find Kiyoko's (what they name the little girl) parents. Throughout the whole movie, you'll find places where you'll be both bawling and laughing hysterically at the same time (which earns you a few odd looks from family members). At other points in the story, you'll be watching in wonder as the four of them (Hana [transvestite], Gin [old man], Miyuki [teenager], and Kiyoko) look like they really ARE a family.

Speaking of THAT--The characters are so true to life it's amazing. They all have their little quirks, their own personalites, their differences...It's AMAZING what Satoshi Kon and his fellows can do with a used plotline!

And as the last thing I can think of, for I must hurry and watch it again before my brain explodes-The music is so FITTING for this it's not even funny. You'd think the music would be depressing, but the sounds of something like hip-hop and dance music seems to fit the movie even better.

...Woah.

I've watched plenty of anime over the years. I'd consider this one to be among one of the more cool ones I've seen. I'd recommend buying this for a rainy day. I bought it used for about $11-$12. It's worth every penny.

I happened across this DVD in the bargain bin of a major video rental place. For $5 I thought, what the heck. I don't watch much Anime BUT I love foreign films and am up to trying new things.

All I can say is WOW! What a funny, thrilling, touching story of love and the power love has to work miracles.

I know that sounds hokey, but I think you'll agree when you watch how the films story falls neatly into place, almost like guidence from a "divine" hand.

The trio of heros, three homeless folks who stumble across an abandoned baby, are priceless and entertaining. You'll definately be rooting for the three and hope for a "happy" ending for them as well as the baby.

This movie is rated PG 13 but as a mom I think that some older children, with parental guidence, will learn a lot from the films story lines. That life is precious and we sometimes don't respect our own lives enough to realize that we deserve better. Besides minor violent scenes, the "drag queen" character, and one breastfeeding scene it's definately nothing compared to the violence/sexuality in US films. But use you're own discretion with your kids.

This animation speaks for itself-a visual feast.

5 stars!