The Crazy Family

Gakuryu Ishii's 1984 Japanese film follows a family coming apart in the house they have just moved into in the suburbs. The father takes a family curse as the reason everyone is turning strange and sets out to correct it; the attempt goes as far as digging up the floor of the house and finally to complete destruction. Ishii came out of punk and the film's rhythm comes from there: fast cutting, shouting, exaggerated playing. Its target is the idea of the ideal family and home ownership in eighties Japan: the house bought on credit, the pressure of examinations, the father's position. The comedy turns steadily into horror and the final section nearly reaches catastrophe. The shifts of tone are deliberate and uncomfortable. Who it's for: viewers who like Japanese independent cinema and black comedy. Who it's not for: anyone wanting measured storytelling, or avoiding domestic violence and implications of suicide.