What a Wonderful Family!

classified PG S

part of The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2023

Film

Please note: This was screened in Feb 2023

Director
Yoji Yamada
Cast
Isao Hashizume, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Masahiko Nishimura
Details
108 mins, & Subtitled, 2016, Japan
Primary language
Japanese

All his wife wants for her birthday is a divorce. This single sheet of divorce paper sends the ‘happy family’ into a panic. Hirata Shuzo (Isao Hashizume) and his wife Tomiko (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) have been married for fifty years. In an attempt to find a solution, they hold a ‘family conference’ to discuss the issue, but soon everyone starts revealing their secrets and dissatisfactions and the situation takes an unexpected turn.

The first comedy directed by master director Yoji Yamada and the first new entry in the Japanese award-winning It’s Tough to Be a Man series in twenty years. This film was lauded at the Japanese Academy Awards and explores the dynamics of a modern family in a comical way by exploring a ‘vintage year divorce’- a phenomenon which is on the increase in Japan.

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