Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Family Game (1983)
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A subtly cruel satire on the Japanese obsession with corporate and academic success which blends striking visual compositions, pithy dialogue and absurdist humour. Matsuda plays a young private tutor hired by ambitious parents to cram their youngest son into the 'right' school. The father works all the hours God sends, while the wife busies herself with obsessive cleaning. Both are alienated from their sons, for whose benefit they are supposedly making these sacrifices, and the presence of the tutor opens up the cracks which the formalities of parental love and filial duty are meant to paper over. The juxtaposition of meticulously framed images with terse, ironic dialogue and explosions of slapstick violence exposes the frustrations generated by an unhealthy preoccupation with material aspiration and social status. Sogo Ishii ripped into similar issues with a chainsaw in Crazy Family, but Morita dissects equally tellingly with a scalpel.Author: NF
Cast & crew
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
Producer: Shiro Sasaki, Yu Okada
Cast: Yusaku Matsuda, Ichirota Miyagawa, Junichi Tsujita, Juzo Itami, Saori Yuki full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 107 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing






What do you think?
Post your review now