Name: What a Wonderful Family!
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Isao Hashizume, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Masahiko Nishimura, Yui Natsukawa, Tomoko Nakajima

Audience Member

A long married couple in a fresh hurdle. I thought it would be purely a Japanese style comedy, and it was, but also capable to reach out the world audience. Except the Japanese cultural influence, the story and its characters, how it all were designed can be compared to the films from the rest of the world with a similar theme. If you are a film fanatic or even common people are very familiar with this kind of storyline. So when a film talks about the family issues, some of the clichés, especially basic ones are unavoidable. But this is first such film from Japan for me, so I enjoyed every bit of it rather getting disturbed by any deja vu moments. The advantages were the film characters and the cast. Everybody was so good, particularly the veteran actor in the lead. I might be wrong, but it does not look like a B film from Japan. If you research about its popularity online which is less known, but received much better. This film was released last summer and I'm definitely a bit late, but on the right path as its sequel is going to hit the screens in a couple of weeks from now. Since I liked this, I am expecting the next part as well. It's about one big family. When a young couple just got into a fight and talking about divorce, they are going to receive an even bigger surprise when their parents announce their separation after 50 years of marriage. Now everybody from the family turn their focus on them. Some would try to fix it and some are concerned about what's behind it. But seems nothing is getting better. So all these years living together in happy and sad stages of life, now how the family is going to cooperate is prioritised in the remaining parts. ?Words don't matter. Feelings do.? I don't know what the different between this and 'Tokyo Family'. From the cast and crew to the storyline seems alike, except one is a comedy and the other's a drama. The only way to clarify that, I've to watch that film. By the way this is one of the best family films of the year. It stays up to the expectation of its title name. But not entirely a fun film. Preference for comedy was given only in the initial parts. At some stage it turns into a meaningful one with better dialogues. It might be an under-noticed film, but surely worth checking it out. The end might be too predictable, even though a very fitting solution. I did not mind that, but for some people, that would be a turning point on rating the film. I hope they won't take it very serious, rather to analyse what the film accomplish and according to respect it. How the issue concerns the whole family and from their individual perspective, there are some narrations. But it does not go much deeper than that to explain thoroughly which never required. The overall focus always stayed with the main couple and their daily activities. To reveal how far they have come from without noticing how their relationship shaped all these years. It was awesomely written screenplay, particularly at reusing the essential details to give a better new look. Almost all parts of the film maintained with the same level of rhythm, except the mood that transforms towards stretching the conclusion. It is almost a must see, but I stick with a simple recommendation for those who love drama over a comedy. 7/10

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Yôji Yamada

Director

Isao Hashizume

Actor

Kazuko Yoshiyuki

Actor

Masahiko Nishimura

Actor

Yui Natsukawa

Actor

Tomoko Nakajima

Actor

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What a Wonderful Family: Trailer 1

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Panos Kotzathanasis

Asian Movie Pulse

"What a Wonderful Family" is a great sample of contemporary, Japanese, social cinema and a testament of how elderly actors can be implemented in a present-day film.

Apr 6, 2019

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Yago García

Cinemanía (Spain)

... adorable. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3.5/5

Mar 1, 2019

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Miguel Muñoz Garnica

El antepenúltimo mohicano

Beyond its humor and some other mockery of its expectations, still underlies that love of the filmmaker for family and home as desirable elements. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/5

Aug 16, 2017

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Synopsis

The patriarch of a family is enjoying his retirement until his wife of 50 years announces she wants a divorce. Panic stricken, the couple's three adult children are forced to deal with their own relationship problems.

Director: Yôji Yamada
Screenwriter: Yôji Yamada, Emiko Hiramatsu
Production Co: Shôchiku Broadcasting Co., Shochiku Company
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2018

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