Tokyo Godfathers

Endearing oddball anime from Satoshi Kon, this is adapted from a minor John Ford western, Three Godfathers, but is most notable for its exquisite painting of contemporary Tokyo, high and low. Though it was a kick to learn after the fact that the homeless trannie was based on the John Wayne character. And also to be reminded that Satoshi Kon made Millennium Actress, another anime that stands out in my memory. So the Ford provenance explains why this story is set on Christmas day, but can’t explain the other engaging oddities of the film, the mix of humor and pathos that also recalls Chaplin and Capra, or the particularly Japanese social commentary. The transvestite would-be madonna and two other homeless creatures, a bum who drank and gambled away his family, and a teenage runaway girl, find an abandoned baby and go in search of its parents, with various adventures along the way, the wackiness combined with breathtaking animation. (2004, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-73, RT-88.)