Tonight, I am recommending everyone watches -
directed by the late Satoshi Kon (2003)
I know what you're thinking - it's animated and subtitled. Please don't run away from this film. It is the best film you haven't seen for a few very important reasons.
Those into classics will notice similarities between this and the John Wayne film "3 Godfathers" - about three outlaws who find an infant baby and travel across the country trying to reunit it with its' family. Satoshi Kon admitted he was a fan of John Wayne and Akira Kurosawa - this is where inspiration for the film comes from.
This story tells of three homeless - a schoolgirl runaway, a washed-up dad, and a transgender she-male - who find an abandoned baby in a dumpster and try to reunite her with her parents. And of course, they confront some personal demons along the way. All on Christmas Eve.
This movind film comments not only on the growing population problem Japan has, but also how they treat their homeless and their elderly, and also portrays a lot of the 'nightlife' - prostitutes, swingers bar, the Yakuza - in a very normal light. There's no obvious good guys or bad guys. Everyone simply exists, which is what I think is wonderful about a lot of Satoshi Kon's work - its' realism. There's nothing glamorous or exaggerated. Except that, "Tokyo Godfathers" has an extremely funny script (with underlying tragedy).
"Tokyo Godfathers" veterans' can make a fun drinking/game trying to spot all the times that Satoshi Kon has inserted the date (Dec 24th) into the film ;)
Please don't miss this film at any cost.
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