Gyakufunsha Kazuko

The Crazy Family
Die Familie mit dem Umgekehrten Düsenantrieb

Japan 1984
produced by
Banmei Takahashi, Kazuhiko Hasegawa (executive), Shiro Sasaki (executive), Toyoji Yamane (executive) for Art Theatre Guild, Directors Company
directed by Sogo Ishii
starring Katsuya Kobayashi, Mitsuko Baisho, Yoshiki Arizono, Youki Kudoh, Hitoshi Ueki, Kazuhiko Kishino, Toyoko Koumi, Akira Ogata, Iwao Hayashizaki, Nobuhiro Gomori, Yoshinori Inoue, Hirona Takahashi, Kunihiro Ide, Alex Ablamov
written by Sogo Ishii, Norio Kaminami, Yoshinori Kobayashi

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Kazuhiko (Katsuya Kobayashi) moves his family - wife Saeko (Mitsuko Baisho), constantly learning-for-his-exam son Masaki (Yoshiki Arizono) and wannabe-actress daughter Erika (Youki Kudoh) - to a nice little house in the suburbs, and everything should be fine and dandy ... only it isn't, first Kazuhiko almost loses his mind over white ants living under the house, then his always learning son starts behaving weirder and weirder, and finally grandpa (Hitoshi Ueki) comes for a visit, and since Kazuhiko's brother has thrown him out of his house, grandpa plans to stay with Kazuhiko and family forever.

Thing is, grandpa isn't exactly easy to have around the house, and since they have no guest room, he sleeps in one room with Kazuhiko and Saeko shares another room with Erika - which soon creates tensions. Ultimately, Kazuhiko has the idea to build a basement beneath his house - and immediately starts digging right in the living room, which causes way more problem than it solves, especially when he discovers another nest of white ants and almost burns down the whole house in the process of killing them.

Ultimately, Kazuhiko comes to the conclusion that all of his family really are sick, so he nails all doors and windows of the house shut and proposes group suicide - to which the others simply don't agree, and ultimately they all arm themselves (mostly with kitchen utensils and common tools) and are at each others throats, and violently so, until an explosion almost blows everyone to kingdom come. Somehow this knocks the sense back into all of them - and they come to the conclusion that the house as such is the cause of all their problems, so they work their hardest to turn it down (and in the finale it collapses like a house of cards). Then they move beneath a highway bridge (with their furniture and everything) and lived happily ever after.

There is one word to describe The Crazy Family: crazy. It takes a basic plot familiar from many a sitcom - grandpa moves in with the family and causes complications - and takes it to such extremes  that the idea one has seen a thousand and one times suddenly seems all fresh and new. Of course it helps immensely that director Sogo Ishii pulls no punches and does not shy away from taking queues from trashy science fiction and action cinema, but without dumbing the film down or turning it into a mere parody. And depending the films relative age, The Crazy Family has stood the test of time remarkably well. A deserved cult classic that is at the same time the ultimate party movie.

Recommended.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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