Sogo Ishii
The Crazy Family

You are right, guys. I've been quite harsh with the last few films reviewed.
So, let's try to lighten up a bit. Let's talk about a comedy, for once!
However, as you know, I have a certain attraction to crazy films, especially those about dysfunctional families or people who suddenly snap and start hitting each other. I was reminded of what I consider Michael Haneke's masterpiece (which I have already reviewed here): "The Seventh Continent" (1989), a film that ranks among the top of my personal top-ten of all time. If I can consider that the most disturbing film I've ever seen, this one is instead among the most hilarious and entertaining. A comedy with wacky wheels, able to be a raucous pop mix of "Fantozzi" and Grand Guignol, blending it all with the crazy visual energy and irresistible humor of much Japanese underground cinema. Not to mention that '80s aura that I find extremely fascinating.

And to say that the narrative line of these two totally different films is, in some ways, very similar. Two sides of the same coin, one terrifying and the other jovial: the self-destruction of a family unit.

The Kobayashi family is about to take a big step: finally, they can leave their shack in the suburbs and afford a bourgeois cottage in the city. For the father, a chubby and naive employee, it is an achievement he takes great pride in. Following him are a spirited wife, a teenage son who, after failing, decides to buckle down with studies (using crazy and delirious methods) to enter the country's most prestigious university, a little daughter with dreams of becoming a singer, actress, and wrestler (!), and an intrusive grandfather. And then what is there? There's a dog, there are termites, and... chainsaws. Yes, because despite their efforts to integrate with the frantic city pace, the family members' obsessions multiply, revealing their madness and inability to cope with the world.

It talks about suicide, alienation, domestic violence, lack of communication, and presents a satirical and ruthless study of Japanese society and family. Material attachment to objects, bourgeois boredom, bullying...
Not easy themes, quite strong, which have always (and from the United States to Asia) inhabited cinema.

Sogo Ishii has managed the unthinkable: creating a shocking film (especially for how everything is treated with a joyful spirit) and, at the same time, very funny, adrenaline-filled, hysterical. Laughter mixes with reflection, the action scenes (there are many) often and willingly take on horror... thus creating a time bomb which gives no respite and which is loved immediately.
The credit is all to the director and his impressive visual talent: a mercurial director usually known for his cyberpunk works (in this genre, I lean more towards Tsukamoto) capable of great films and also of monstrous flops. Among those I have seen, this is my absolute favorite and the one where his anarchic and visual spirit finds its best outlet. The direction never falters, the choice of shots is very tasteful, and the pace gives the viewer not a second of boredom.

The acting is also outstanding, where universally recognized flaws like overacting and funny faces become a pure and out-of-this-world means of expression. All the actors are perfect, as are their characters, cartoon-like stereotypes/caricatures that, despite everything, become unpredictable and irresistible. 

I don't know what else to say, but: watch it.

Going around with philosophical explanations and in-depth analysis makes very little sense with "The Crazy Family": it must be seen.

A film that is rhythm, pure delirium, and love of cinema. We are talking about a work virtually unknown to us but which, in Japan, is considered a classic (it's among the primary sources of inspiration for Takashi Miike, and not only); one of those increasingly rare cases where pure entertainment manages to be balanced with depth, passion, and intelligence. 

KABOOM.