The Kobayashi family finally are able to move out of their tiny, cramped Tokyo apartment to the suburban house of their dreams. But things are not as perfect as they seem: the house is infested by termites and the family starts going crazy. As the Kobayashi's house begins to crumble, so does the sanity of its inhabitants. Father Katsuhiko takes it upon himself to keep them from the asylum… at any cost.
Die total verrückte Familie, Gyakufunsha Kazoku, Die Familie mit dem umgekehrten Düsenantrieb, 역분사 가족, The crazy family, 역분사가족, 逆喷射家族, A Família de Injeção Reversa.
Germany12
Berlin International Film Festival
Sweden
Göteberg Film Festival
JapanR15+
UK18
USA
France
Hungary
Germany
France
Germany
Hungary
Japan
Sweden
UK
USA
When it comes to Japanese cinema, people often think about family dramas. Yasujirō Ozu and Hirokazu Kore-eda are the first two directors who immediately come to mind. Ozu cemented himself as the master of the family drama with his silent films and his entire output during the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema. Hirokazu Kore-eda has made many contemporary family drama hits, with most of his movies getting wider releases and garnering universal acclaim during their festival runs. While these two are arguably the most prolific directors for this slice of cinema, many other distinguished directors from Japan have approached the genre from various angles.
There is Takashi Miike's transgressive Visitor Q (2001), a grossly fascinating and funny commentary on the…
“So that means Grandpa is moving to the doghouse?”
Sogo Ishii taking the piss of the most venerable of Japanese film genres. Pretty relaxed by Ishii standards, for a while it is almost mellow. Alternative title: Ozu Chainsaw Massacre.
Reportedly named after the 1982 incident involving the Japan Airlines Flight 350 whose captain, later found to be suffering from deep depression, deliberately crashed the plane by putting one of the engines into reverse thrust, The Crazy Family (Gyakufunsha kazoku, or “The back-jet family”) is a supremely irreverent satire on Japanese family values and their larger sociocultural implications. Made at the cusp of the economic bubble years, the film features an eccentric nuclear family (and a grandparent) that literally goes off the deep end after escaping their cramped apartment for an American-style suburban house, which eventually turns into a full-scale battlefield.
Similar to the humor, director Ishii Sogo’s aesthetic approach is also maximalist, echoing the visual and sonic rhythms, not…
The circle is too small for craziness. One enters the blue triangle of knowledge and wields the chainsaw of love, escalating into glorious Family Sunday absurdist set-pieces that everyone wished to have. Your sons and daughters at the punk's amusement park. The insecticide smoke grenades, holy fiery commands and the familial survival of the fittest anarchy blew up. Irreverence. When the hardcore synths start playing, the rebellion lead to a new norm...
Film #90 that was recommended to me -- now subject to loose, arbitrary ranking! (Recommended by Squill 🦑)
This... just might be the best movie I've ever seen. I'm shying away from fully committing to that because it's such a large claim, unseating the lovely The Passion of Joan of Arc that has occupied that spot for multiple years now. This new favorite certainly could not be any more unlike that one.
There are shades of Teorema here, another favorite of mine, in a family going mad. Where Pasolini earlier explored a bourgeoisie family coming into contact with an outsider that forces them to change, this time, the outsiders are the family themselves, and they're closer to the upper middle…
Another zany flick from Gakuryu Ishii! This time he's rolling up his sleeves to mold one of the weirdest comedies I've ever seen. Like Haneke's Seventh Continent if it stubbed its toe then fell down the stairs through an 80's slapstick romp. Wut??? Exactly.
Katsukuni and his family have finally moved into the house of their dreams, but Katsukuni is worried about his wife, son and daughter all suffering from what he calls the "civilization-sickness". His father ends up moving in, pushing the family to a higher level of stress as they try to figure out where to store the old man. Katsukuni has the bright idea to just dig up a hole in their living room floor to turn…
Good lord. The Crazy Family is absolutely unhinged. But not unhinged in the way Sogo/Gakuryū Ishii's early punk stuff is. Instead, it is a slow burn of mid-80s societal suffocation that reaches an unbelievable crescendo of chaos. The desperation to be normal and have a nice house and family explodes into mad battles against termites, World War II flashbacks, and attempted familicide by power tool. Ishii's style is so unpredictable, from jaw-dropping long takes to frantic stop-motion cutting. It is a constant stressful thrill. And in amongst this shrieking madness, there is an incredible emotional power with beautiful quiet moments and an ending that I found oddly affecting. For such a fucked up film, The Crazy Family is worryingly relatable…
Thematically similar to Schatjes (Ruud van Hemert, also 1984) of which the tagline reads: A family declares war - on itself!
This is a better movie.
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Der Martyrs unter den Comedyfilmen.
Gesehen auf Gozu's "Rare Gems Festival Vol.3" 2020
Der deutsche Titel “Die Familie mit dem umgekehrten Düsenantrieb” klingt zunächst lustig aber mit entsprechendem Hintergrundwissen wird einem das Lachen vielleicht doch im Hals stecken bleiben.
Kurzes Wikipedia Trivia: Seit ein Pilot in einem Anfall von Wahn im Flug den Umkehrschub einschaltete und einen Absturz verursachte, ist der „umgekehrte Düsenantrieb“ in Japan ein geflügeltes Wort für plötzlich auftretenden Irrsinn mit katastrophalen Folgen.
Und genau dieser “plötzlich auftretenden Irrsinn mit katastrophalen Folgen” sorgt bei diesem Film von Sōgo Ishii für einen durchaus gelungene Genretwist mitten im Film. Die erste Hälfte stellt uns die Familie Kobayashi vor, die sich endlich ein eigenes Haus in der Vorstadt von Tokio geleitet…
Anarchic lampoon of familial domestic drama and early 80’s comic farce that probably should’ve topped out at 80 minutes, but it’s tough to say Ishii doesn’t bring the energy!
The most I have ever said "OH MY GOD" aloud in a movie theater. I don't know how they pulled off some of these sequences, but it's astounding on a technical level in addition to being completely insane. Eternally grateful to Japan Society for screening this. Grandpa 4ever.
One can't imagine whadduh heck even this film is. A total Crazy ass shit!!! indeed a film about crazy people, about psychopaths going at highest but which does not forget to paint the portrait of a generation through its satirical tone. Ishii is definitely a maestro, a visionary and avant grade author.
