Funuke - Show Some Love, You Losers!

Directed by: Daihachi Yoshida

Starring: Eriko Sato, Aimi Satsukawa, Hiromi Nagasaku, Masatoshi Nagase

Synopsis:

Four years ago, little Kyomi drew a manga comic strip based on a shameful moment of family history, which embarrassed her parents and traumatised her sister, Sumika when it was published in a popular magazine. Following the tragic and untimely death of their parents, Sumika, now a struggling actress in Tokyo, returns to her family’s small home in the countryside, in the midst of a sweltering summer. Her return is the catalyst for old grudges and dark memories returning to the surface, leading to a distressing retribution.



Review:

Third Window Films have released a number of excellent thrillers over the past year or so, including one of my favourite, Guns and Talks. Funuke , and its companion release Fine, Totally Fine , are quite removed from the type of movie we generally review at Flash-Bang, but there is a tenuous linking theme, in that both movies deal with people trying to escape their reality through the medium of either film or manga.

Young Kyomi was at the scene of her parents’ death – they had run out into the road to try and save a cat, only to be run over by a lorry – and her sorrow is made worse by the news of her sister’s return to the homestead. It’s not long before the audience see’s why, when Sumika gives her a rather unsuitable gift.

There are a lot of unsettling relationships within the family. Their brother, Shinji, has married a 30-year old virgin called Machico, whose incessant chirpiness brings its own tension to the household. It would also seem that Shinji and Sumika have a past, too.

Former swimsuit model- turned actress Eriko Sato turns in a wonderful performance as Sumika – a complete self-centred bitch who blames her younger sister for all her failings (even though we see one of her awful auditions where she attacks the producers), but strikes up a rather sweet correspondence with a film-director who she hopes will put her in his next movie. She also gets involved in a blackmail scam in order to repay some loansharks from Tokyo, showing her callous nature to the tilt.Aimi Satsukawa plays Kyomi as a timid mouse, literally suffering for her art as she passively accepts the abuse of her sister.

Meanwhile Hiromi Nagasaku plays Machico with a forced cheerfulness, believing it is her duty to please her husband – and the fact that he hasn’t slept with her yet tells her she has so far failed to be the dutiful wife! There is a hilariously painful moment when she gives Sumika a “knowing wink”, only for her to end up writhing in pain because some spilt broth has gotten under her contact lens.

Shinji, played by Masatoshi Nagase is a fascinating character. At first he seems to be a just an abusive thug of a husband. We see him ordering her about, and admonishing her for getting involved with “his” family’s problems. But the more the film goes on you realise that he is full of self-loathing – he’s pressured by the death of his parents and the debts they have left him, his past with Sumika (and a dubious promise he made her, which she’s holding him to) and the woman he’s been cajoled into marrying.Everything comes to a head with some devastating revelations which force the viewer to re-evaluate their assumptions about certain characters, and the final scene actually manages to be quite sweet and good natured considering the bitterness which had gone before it.

Verdict:

No action, no horror. Just a family falling apart due to individual wants and needs, with an ending that manages to be both twisted and oddly touching. And as such it is highly recommended.

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)