Why ‘Tokyo Godfathers’ is One of My Favorite Christmas Films

On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents. Tokyo Godfathers is the acclaimed holiday classic from master director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue), with script co-written by the legendary Keiko Nobumoto. For those unfamiliar, Kon was “a kind of the Stanley Kubrick of animation” as noted by a commenter on one of my favorite video essays about his work here.  I’ve always been enamored with the way Nobumoto wrote humanity and personalities into the animated projects she worked on. Some of my favorites include Cowboy Bebop and Wolf’s Rain. Off jump, Tokyo Godfathers is a classic. It’s a critically acclaimed film, it’s a tour de force in the world of animation by way of Japan, and it has sincerely one of the best narratives about family in a film.  Tokyo Godfathers (2003) also has one of the high honors of being one of my favorite Christmas movies. What makes a film a Christmas movie? Depending on how you might define it in your own understanding: The Christmas Story (1983), The Nativity Story (2006) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) are a few films that may make the cut. In the same breath, Die Hard (1988), Mean Girls (2004) and Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (2001) may also make the cut. In my heart of hearts, this tragicomedy has always been a Christmas classic from the first time I watched it years ago, and I will tell you why. Tokyo Godfathers is one of t…