Drama and details distinguish 'Tokyo Godfathers'

You could never accuse Japanese animation director Satoshi Kon of pandering to the common denominator. While other masters of anime might occupy themselves with epic fantasies or apocalyptic futures, Kon's third film is an adaptation of an oft-told tale about homelessness and hope. Talk about bucking trends!

As he demonstrated with "Perfect Blue" and the recently screened-in-Seattle "Millennium Actress," Kon doesn't merely distinguish himself by animating intelligent, richly detailed stories with grown-up dramatic impact. He goes a step further, visually crafting his stories as if animation were just another mode of live-action filmmaking, resulting in a unique style that's unmistakably anime (featuring hyper-expressive characters with that traditional anime "look") while being delicately based in hard-knock realism.

The tale of "Tokyo Godfathers" is a familiar one, with previous film incarnations based on the vintage saga by Peter B. Kyne, most notably John Ford's semi-classic 1948 Western, "3 Godfathers." This time, Kon sets the action in Tokyo's Shinjuku district during a harsh and snowy (present-day) holiday season, where a homeless trio (an alcoholic ex-bicycle racer, a former drag queen and an adolescent runaway) discover an abandoned infant in their resident garbage heap. After a bit of requisite bickering (the flamboyant drag queen harbors dreams of motherhood), they decide to find the baby's parents, thus beginning an eventful odyssey that brings a promise of hope to New Year's Eve.

Movie review Showtimes and trailer *** "Tokyo Godfathers," directed by Satoshi Kon, from a screenplay by Kon and Keiko Nobumoto. 91 minutes. Rated PG-13 for brief violence, mature themes and language. Varsity, through Thursday.

It's conventional plotting compared to the narrative ambition of "Millennium Actress," and that would seem to disadvantage "Tokyo Godfathers" as a potential Oscar nominee for 2003's best animated feature (up against "Finding Nemo" and "The Triplets of Belleville"). Still, what matters most is Kon's keen eye for visual and character-based details, and the way they accumulate to enhance a satisfying story that's greater than the sum of its parts.

Note, for instance, the shot of a convex traffic-safety mirror to establish a typical Tokyo intersection, where some exciting action is about to take place. Or the quiet spinning of junk-metal artwork, cobbled together as "lawn decorations" by characters who can't afford a house, much less a lawn. Or the simple observation that a friendly doctor wears a steel leg-brace, suggesting that his compassion arises from his own particular disadvantage.

These details, and many others (including the peaceful but life-threatening fall of snowflakes) make up a genuine auteurist influence, sometimes broad (the drag queen borders on garish stereotype) but more often rewardingly in service to the story, which finds ample room for comic and tragic character development.

Every version of this story has been sentimental, and Kon's rendition is no exception.

But there's nothing wrong with a happy ending when it's been earned through genuine ordeal. "Tokyo Godfathers" ends with a minor miracle that any Hollywood honcho could appreciate, but it's good ol' fashioned humanity that makes it worth a smile.

Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net