esrosedotblog

BOURGEOIS JAPANESE

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Kazoku gêmu / The Family Game (1983)

It takes a while to get what is going on here but the film is so beautiful and interesting to look at that one goes along with it.

A dysfunctional (alcoholic father) family hires a tutor for a son who has stopped trying; a cardinal sin in a middle class Japanese family where the accomplishments of the sons bring honor to the parents. Never mind if anyone is happy.

There is a big cash bonus if he is successful.

The tutor throws the dynamic off balance in many ways. He listens to the mother who is never heard. He does not kiss the father's ass.

He creates an atmosphere where the older son who has made the best high school can say that he wants to drop out and pursue his interest in art.

He is not a nice guy. Tough love. It works.

The family gets a son who passes his high school tests and makes it into a good high school.

The tutor makes the big yen that the dad has promised if the kid can get to first in his class.

But, at the end, we see that not a lot has changed.

Interesting.

Darkly funny.

It helps if you have a handle on Japanese culture. I have a grasp of part of the handle.

There is some great stuff in here that takes us beyond 'understanding the culture'.

A lot of the action takes place at the dinner table. All the family sits on one side of the oblong table. No one faces another. When the tutor joins them; he sits in the middle.

Only once, an emotionally open neighbor comes to visit and asks to sit across from the wife.

At the end, the tutor, having done his job and gotten his cash, starts a food fight and upends the table.

So much for family stability.

Nice job for the round eyes to get the picture.

I liked it a lot. It was great to look at and always surprising. Novel.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix 5. It would be a 4 but I think that I missed a lot and am willing to give the benefit of the doubt. It did win best Japanese picture in its year.

I also want to encourage my Netflix algorithm to name me some more Japanese comedies or modern work.

Gaming the system.