ANIME
Tokyo Godfathers 12
Japan | 2003 | 88 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Satoshi Kon
An unusual
offering for Christmas: an anime from Satoshi Kon. The narrative is set just
before Christmas time in Tokyo. Three homeless people search for presents in
the city’s piles of garbage and find a new-born baby discarded amongst the
rubbish. The three have banded together as a ‘found family’ to support and
protect themselves. They are Gin, a male alcoholic, Hana, a transgender woman,
and Miyuki, a teenage girl who has run away from home. The baby they name Kiyoko,
from the Japanese translation of Silent Night. The story follows them on
their adventures as they search for the baby’s real mother, adventures that are
filled with incredible coincidences, even miracles.
Kon himself
said, "This film is an attempt to restore, in a healthy way, the 'miracles
and coincidences' that have been pushed into the other world by the weapons of
scientific logic." He has also made clear that he did not intend to
portray homeless people as representatives of weakness and unhappiness, or as a
hindrance to society, rather the three are symbols of everyone's weaknesses and
regrets. They are unhappy, not because they are homeless, but because their
lives have lost their former ‘glow’, and that happiness lies in the process of
‘recovery’, as the narrative depicts. In this context there are perhaps
comparisons to be made with Vittorio De Sica’s film Miracle in Milan
(1951).
2 December 2024 MONDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £8.00|£5.00 (up to age 25)