Tokyo Godfathers

  • Title: Tokyo Godfathers
  • IMDB: link

It’s funny how a child can bring people closer together, and pull them from the depths of desperation.  In the movie Tokyo Godfathers, by the same person of Paprika and Millennium Actress, three homeless friends happen to be in the right place at the right time.

One Christmas eve, the three friends were digging through some trash for presents for one another when they discovered an abandoned infant.  The child was crying, cold and hungry, so the three did the right thing and took it in for the night.

Hana, the cross-dressing homosexual, wanted to keep the baby for his own since it made him feel motherly.  But when Hana could not figure out how to make it stop crying Gin took over, saying that he once had a child and knew what to do.  Miyuki, the runaway, just wanted it to shut up.  In the morning Miyuki and Gin wake up to Hana and the infant gone.  When they came upon Hana, he said that he wanted to keep it from going through what he went through, being abandoned and shuffled around from one foster home to another.  That is when they decided to use the clues they found in a bag next to the infant in order to find the parents.  Armed with pictures and a business card to a club, the three set out on an adventure to rescue Kiyoko, the newly named infant, from never being loved.

Hana considered Kiyoko to be a present from God, and the infant was special like Jesus.  I bet one would think that if they lost a few of their marbles and just sat through an hour or two of a Christmas mass at church.  A few things happen to make Hana’s idea a little more believable, but at the end, you really see what Hana was talking about as he saves Kiyoko from death.

The three work together to get Kiyoko back to her rightful parents, well at least they thought the clues left next to the infant were the correct parents.  It’s interesting how sequence of events unravels, so watch it and find out.

To be honest, I only got bored in the middle before it got crazy, but I would say it is an interesting flick to see.  The only reason I watched this anime is because it was made by the same people as Paprika and Millennium Actress.  I really enjoy his flicks, the outrageous ideas he has, and the artistic way everything pans out.  Satoshi Kon is one hell of a writer and director.