Survival Family

A sudden, worldwide loss of electricity brings modern life to a halt. Tokyo lies largely in ruins, and anything that depends on power no longer works. Yoshiyuki Suzuki decides that he and his family cannot stay in the city, and they set out to find somewhere they can survive. The Suzuki household, accustomed to the comforts of contemporary Tokyo life, must manage without the conveniences it has always relied on. The film mixes adventure and comedy with family drama as the Suzuki family travels on.

Survival Family was directed and written by Shinobu Yaguchi, and it followed Wood Job! in his filmography, arriving before Dollhouse. Fumiyo Kohinata plays Yoshiyuki Suzuki, with Eri Fukatsu as Mitsue Suzuki, Yuki Izumisawa as Kenji Suzuki and Wakana Aoi as Yui Suzuki. Saburo Tokito and Norika Fujiwara appear as Toshio and Sizuko Saitoh. The production was handled by TOHO, Fuji Television Network, dentsu and Altamira Pictures, with Hidehiro Ogawa, Shintaro Horikawa and Takao Tsuchimoto producing.

Released in Japan in February 2017, the film runs 117 minutes and found a modest audience relative to its worldwide theatrical earnings of about 5 million dollars. Viewer response has been consistently positive: on IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from roughly 3,400 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.3 from about 150 votes. Both figures point to a warmly received film rather than a broad blockbuster, with the two audience ratings agreeing closely on its quality.