Family Game: Rigidity of Structure
Yoshimitsu Morita's classic fifth picture, Family Game, displays a profound, extreme sense of rigor and organization in family life in postwar Japan. It accomplishes this satirical and comedic feat through stylistic and narrative elements, making a mockery of the "interdependency" – as Keiko McDonald writes – of education and home life during this era in Japan.
Stylistically, the movie uses many techniques that clearly mock the very structure that the family, and thus the film, is based on. Specifically even, symmetrical, and organized camera angles make one feel as if they are trapped within this cycle of pressure and overbearing control. Similarly, Morita uses zooms when focusing on the protagonist, the younger brother of the family in focus, to further this sense of entrapments and distinguish his mindset from that of the rest of the family.
The protagonist is a failing student whose progress and accomplishments are continuously dwarfed by those of his overachieving brother. The family is forced to hire a tutor for the boy, who offers a level of narrative contrast to the mainframe of the boy: though the tutor aligns more with the beliefs and ideals of the family – whereas the younger brother couldn't care less about school and traditional ideas of success – he still finds some sort of deep fascination with the young boy.
Interestingly, the young boy's true passion is far more focused on fun and art, as he is quite literally obsessed with roller coasters, enters joke answers during exams, and draws compulsively during class rather than taking notes. This mindset is not only foreign and frustrating, but somewhat captivating to the tutor, whose mental and emotional training is such that he has no way to express this other than abusing the boy.
Stylistically, the movie uses many techniques that clearly mock the very structure that the family, and thus the film, is based on. Specifically even, symmetrical, and organized camera angles make one feel as if they are trapped within this cycle of pressure and overbearing control. Similarly, Morita uses zooms when focusing on the protagonist, the younger brother of the family in focus, to further this sense of entrapments and distinguish his mindset from that of the rest of the family.
The protagonist is a failing student whose progress and accomplishments are continuously dwarfed by those of his overachieving brother. The family is forced to hire a tutor for the boy, who offers a level of narrative contrast to the mainframe of the boy: though the tutor aligns more with the beliefs and ideals of the family – whereas the younger brother couldn't care less about school and traditional ideas of success – he still finds some sort of deep fascination with the young boy.
Interestingly, the young boy's true passion is far more focused on fun and art, as he is quite literally obsessed with roller coasters, enters joke answers during exams, and draws compulsively during class rather than taking notes. This mindset is not only foreign and frustrating, but somewhat captivating to the tutor, whose mental and emotional training is such that he has no way to express this other than abusing the boy.
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