Madhouse - Blog Posts
I bet you’ve never heard of this anime before!
Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ) by Satoshi Kon.
A masterwork by the late storytelling master, Satoshi Kon.
For those who don't know, Satoshi Kon is the same director who worked on films like Paprika, Perfect Blue, and the mystery/psychological thriller/supernatural anime masterpiece Paranoia Agent. Unfortunately, on August 24, 2010, we lost this creative mind to terminal pancreatic cancer. If you ask me, we're probably never gonna get anything close to the creepy works this guy managed to craft ever again.
Tokyo Godfathers is a really good example of a tragicomedy, and it is one of the most disturbing Christmas films you'll ever encounter (without relying on pure shock value) solely because of the subject matter. While animated, it really focuses on making the setting as realistic and as gritty as a wacky story like this can be, leading to this unsettling, off tone in a familiar, yet urban setting that really made me feel uncomfortable. What makes this movie disturbing is how realistically the developed characters and setting are. These are just average, everyday people - the kind you may have encountered or known in real life - dealing with a stressful/unfortunate situation, while also dealing with the preconceived notions about who they are from the people around them and each other. There are fantastical elements to this movie, to be sure. But I'd say that the grounded nature and focus on mental health and identity are just downright heartbreaking and genuinely hard for me to watch.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what background you come from, what horrible thing has happened in the past or what society says about who you are. The things that make us truly human is the empathy we can have for one another. This isn't your traditional Christmas film, but it's most certainly one of the best I've ever seen. It's not only disturbing, heartwarming and more than earned the right to be labelled as a modern classic, I think it's one of Satoshi Kon's greatest projects that he's ever worked on. To me, this film exemplifies his filmography the best and shows how an artist really can create something that is stunning, beautiful and eerie all at the same time. He has a perfect filmography. Let us never forget.
The biggest mistake is that anime, in general, is often misunderstood. It has created timeless adult masterpieces.