A Review of The Family Game by Yoshimitsu Morita Essays -- Kazoku Gemo

I watched The Family Game (Kazoku Gemo) by Yoshimitsu Morita. While initially hesitant I wound up loving the movie. It was a satire that succeeded both in being a pleasure to watch and also at times absolutely hilarious. The Family Game is basically a satire about Japan’s new middle class in the 1980s. The film intermixes industrial imagery between scenes which give the film a bleak feel. At the lowest level this is a movie about Shigeyuki Numata, a clearly intelligent student who (unlike his brother Shinichi) is largely unconcerned about his academics and does poorly in school. Shigeyuki’s father, a white-collar worker who is evidently comparatively affluent (but by no means â€Å"rich), relents to finding his son a tutor (e.g. what Sugimoto describes as â€Å"shadow education†). Yoshimoto takes on the challenge of increasing Shigeyuki’s grades and is relentless and demanding in his approach. However, on a more abstract level this is a film with much lar ger aspirations. The Family Game explores the problems with the educational systems in Japan, a dysfunctional Japanese family, gender roles, ...