Katayama (Kim Sujin), a movie director, wants to make a documentary
about pornstar Yoko (Ichiho Matsuda) and her family, and she sees that as
a great way to escape her niche and move on to films for a larger
audience. Thing is, Yoko's family isn't exactly in a happy state, her dad
(Yan Sogil) and mum (Hiroko Asayama) have seperated long ago because she
cheated on him and he beat her, their son Kazuki (Shinobu Nakajima)
couldn't be less interested in family affairs and their other daughter
Motomi (Eri Yu) has distanced herself from her folks long ago after her
parents have left her emotionally scarred and unable to commit to anyone
in a relationship. Yet the whole family is somehow forced to take part in
the dorumentary, which was actually at first intended to be a scripted
affair, but soon the emotions of all involved get out of hand and old
conflicts erupt anew. And while both dad and mum try to use the film to
present themselves in a favourable light, their on-cam actions show them
to be nothing short of despicable, especially when mum tries to get dad to
sign over his house to her for utterly greedy motives, even though they
have been seperated for years, and dad reunites the family only to then
disappear and leave them with the debts he has amassed over the years.
It's only when the family members (without dad, he ahs made good his
getaway) sees the finished product that they notice they have been had by
director Katayama, but then again, even their finding out is captured by
cameras ... From a strictly aesthetic point of view, Kazoku
Cinema isn't much of an achievement, its directorial effort and
camerawork are flat and functional even regarding its subject matter - but
as a media satire, the film is wonderful, a great and biting satire on all
the reality shows that plague television nowadays, and on everybody's
desire to get his or her fifteen minutes of fame, no matter what - and in
the case of Kazoku Cinema, these 15 minutes are merciless ... Of
course, on closer inspection, the film could have done with a bit more
hindsight and less obvious clichés, but while watching it, there's barely
a boring minute ...
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