Be sure to watch the edges of scenes, some funny and telling bits of business happen there. Watch, too, for the number 1225, as it comes up many times in many guises. Lastly, very late in the movie something falls from a pocket. Look closely at it. There's a joyous joke there if you catch it: maybe God's reward and maybe the setup for a second film. It flashes by so quick it's easy to miss!

This is a movie of small details briefly noted — an ad in a newspaper, a sigh, a building in a photo, an animal's telling name, pictures on a wall. Throwaway lines come back with deeper meaning. This movie rewards close watching and will easily hold up through repeated viewings.

Oh! Be sure to watch the credits for the loopiest version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony you will ever hear.

One warning: some gay viewers may be displeased by how Hana is shown and treated. He's called "homo," "fag," and "queer" throughout the movie. This may be painful, but it's consistent with Japanese society, which is much less tolerant of homosexuality, and a reminder of the disgraced state our heroes are in. But, the movie explicitly shows Hana is a person of bruised dignity and the one with the deepest well of love.

At the movie's open, we tend to want to keep these three homeless people at arm's distance. They are smelly, unlikable and screwed up. But as they work their way to baby Kiyoko's mother, their better spirits awaken, begin to fight through the layers of defeat and abuse and pain. We come to side with them and to cheer them on. They become heroes and we root for them to win, to find their redemptions.

It's hard for a movie to begin with bleakness and unlikely protagonists, then slowly work through comedy and drama to a place of hope that isn't false or melodramatic. Tokyo Godfathers succeeds in that task. Highly recommended.