If you are looking for something new for your to-watch list of Christmas Movies let me recommend the late Satoshi Kon’s most light-hearted and magical movie Tokyo Godfathers. This movie follows three “wise” men in the form of three homeless Japanese people who find a little bundle of miracle abandoned during Christmas Eve and spend the whole movie trying to unite the baby to its parents.
So they embark on the adventure that not only ends with them being successful in what they set out to do but also allows all of the main characters to reunite themselves with their own estranged pasts as well. It has everything you would expect from a heart-warming Christmas movie and some more mainly because of how well-rounded, fleshed out, tragic and self-aware the main characters are.
As it is a Christmas movie, their journey goes along the right path due to numerous almost miracle-like coincidences that keep you right on the fence about whether these are actual miracles or very random probable events that just somehow come together. This I think is what makes this movie so special – just this slight hint of magic in the air.
To be honest, this movie does deal with some pretty heavy stuff – homelessness, addiction, mental health issues, violence but the movie never allows the dark stuff to overpower it, the animation, especially the physical gag and humour just balance the tone of the movie.
This movie, in essence, is really about the spirit of Christmas and the fun part is that there is a self-awareness regarding this which allows the movie to use, subvert, and even deconstruct the Christmas movie tropes. Like how miraculously they find the baby or when someone dressed as an angel comes to save one of the characters in their time of need. The movie is very smart in the use of these Christmas motifs and usually it seems like even the characters in the movie are aware of it.
Lastly, while making us believe in the spirit of Christmas and showcasing the humanity and love that people, even at their worst, can have for each other – this is not a movie that completely forgoes making any kind of commentary on the real-life society we live in. Even the soup kitchen where we meet our main characters first has the homeless people attain the sermon first before getting anything to eat. And there are various different instances where the movie does not shy away from how cruel the world can be.
But at its core, the movie is a celebration not just of Christmas but of the connection we humans have with each other which this movie tells us is worth celebrating.
