Tekkonkinkreet (2006)

IMDb plot summary: In Treasure Town, life can be both peaceful and violent. This is never truer than for our heroes, Black and White - two street kids who claim to traverse the urban city as if it were their own. But in this town, an undercurrent of evil exists and has its sights set on the pair of brothers, forcing them to engage in battle with an array of old-world Yakuza as well as dangerous assassins vying to rule the decaying metropolis, Treasure Town.
Directed by Michael Arias. Starring Kazunari Ninomiya, Yû Aoi, Yûsuke Iseya, and Kankurô Kudô.

(Some vague spoilers about the changing tone of the movie.)

This movie is... not what I expected it to be. The first 20 minutes or so feel like a lighthearted adventure with some crime elements sprinkled in, but as the story goes on it gets darker and darker, and I got more and more sucked into the story. I'm still not sure I can at any point tell you exactly what *happens* in the story, but I can tell you that it *felt* heartbreaking and meaningful and intense and lovely. The relationship between the two young boys ends up being the heart of the movie, and everything else around them comes back to that. It's an odd movie, but I liked it, and it was a really nice way to finally close out my ridiculously ambitious movie challenge this year. I MADE IT, GUYS.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Tekkonkinkreet > The Madness of King George
Tekkonkinkreet > A Clockwork Orange
Tekkonkinkreet < Into the Woods (2014)
Tekkonkinkreet < Nativity!
Tekkonkinkreet < Four Lions
Tekkonkinkreet < Key Largo
Tekkonkinkreet < A Raisin in the Sun
Tekkonkinkreet > Murder by Death
Tekkonkinkreet > The Sting
Tekkonkinkreet > Sherlock Jr.
Tekkonkinkreet < A Doll's House (1973)
Final spot: #560 out of 2310.