あらすじ

ある日突然、若菜家の母・玲子（原田美枝子）に「脳腫瘍」が見つかる。末期症状で、余命１週間をも宣告されたのだ。父（長塚京三）は取り乱し、長男の浩介（妻夫木聡）は言葉を失くし、次男の俊平（池松壮亮）は冷静を装う。母の記憶は脳の腫瘍のせいで曖昧になっていき、息子の浩介さえも誰かわからなくなるほどだ。振る舞いも少女のようになっていき、ひた隠しにしていた家族への不満や本音を暴露し、男たちはぐうの音も出ない。 さらに、父の多額のローンと母のサラ金通いが発覚、浩介は自分たちの家族がとっくに壊れていたことを思い知る。

つい昨日まで元気だった母と家族に突然訪れた事件。それは”普通の家族”に潜んでいた秘密や本音を表面化させたー家族になって２７年、培ってきたものは波風を立てないことと、見えない借金だった。

どうしたらいいか分からない。
けれど終わらせることなんてできない。
そして浩介と俊平は、「悪あがき」を決心するー。

©2013「ぼくたちの家族」製作委員会

Monday, March 23 @ 7:00 pm

bokutachi no kazoku (117 min) (2014)
ぼくたちの家族
Our faMILY

Shown in Japanese, with English sub-titles

Cast: Satoshi tsumabuki, mieko harada, sousuke ikematsu, kyozo nagatsuka
Director: yuya ishii

http://bokutachi-kazoku.com/ (Japanese)

STORY

Passing sixty, Reiko is a mother who frets about her radically-deteriorating memory. She easily forgets names of people and things. But this happens to everybody, or so her husband and two grown sons believe. When, however, that forgetfulness causes embarrassment for the family and ultimately concern for Reiko's mental health, a trip to the hospital ensues and yields tragic results: she has a brain tumor and likely has only a week to live.

"I'm terrified of seeing our family fall apart." These are Reiko's last words before lapsing into a dementia-like state that compels her to express her innermost thoughts and feelings about family and an old flame. Her husband and two sons are at complete loss as to how to deal with the situation as all the suppressed problems of an "ordinary family" come bubbling to the surface: the family's heavy debts, a dysfunctional lifestyle, the boys' disaffection toward their parents, and a pathetic reliance of the parents on their children.

With the light of life suddenly about to flicker out on Reiko, the question of "What is family?" looms up to demand an answer… from the father, mother, the two sons and the eldest son's wife. Here is a new family story for a new age, and it comes with an unexpected miracle.

Articles and Reviews

“Our Family is an almost unbearably moving portrait of a family torn asunder by a devastating health diagnosis and long-buried financial problems. Beautifully acted by its ensemble and directed with elegant restraint by Yuya Ishii, usually known for darkly satirical comedies, the film ratchets up its emotional tension in precise increments that illustrates that its filmmaker's stylistic change in direction is only for the better.” (The Hollywood Reporter) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/family-cairo-review-753392

“Yuya Ishii demonstrates a new gravitas and compassion in this spare, powerful drama…” (Variety) http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-our-family-1201159845/

Director and Actors at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) http://www.fccj.or.jp/events-calendar/film-screenings/movie-committee-blog/item/371-our-family/371-our-family.html