A Family

Kenji loses his father in 1999 and, drifting on the street, comes under the protection of a yakuza boss. Twenty years are followed in three periods: the years when the organisation was strong, the tightening of the law, and finally 2019, when a man leaving prison belongs nowhere. Michihito Fujii wrote and directed. Go Ayano plays Kenji, Hiroshi Tachi the boss. At the centre is the situation created by Japan's anti-yakuza regulations: a registered member cannot open a bank account, rent a home or find work, and that continues for five years even after leaving. So the film inverts the classic mob narrative: it is a story of falling outside the system rather than rising inside it. The time jumps are marked visually, each period given its own colour scheme and camera style. Go Ayano's ageing character carries the weight. Who it is for: viewers who like Japanese crime cinema and drama carrying a critique of the system. Who it is not for: anyone expecting action; there is little violence and the subject is deprivation.