The Crazy Family

The Kobayashi family finally leaves their cramped Tokyo apartment for a house in the suburbs, and the move quickly turns sour. Katsuhiko, the father, becomes convinced that his wife and children are losing their minds, and he decides the family needs a drastic cure. The household includes mother Saeko, daughter Erika, who is preparing for a singing audition, son Masaki, consumed by his exam studies, and grandfather Yasukune, whose arrival adds to the strain. The film follows the family's unravelling as everyday pressures give way to irrational behaviour.

This 1984 Japanese comedy-drama-thriller was directed by Gakuryu Ishii, working here between the early punk-inflected films that established him and a much later return to feature filmmaking with titles such as Isn't Anyone Alive? and The Box Man. The screenplay is credited to Yoshinori Kobayashi, Ishii and Fumio Kōnami, with Banmei Takahashi producing. Katsuya Kobayashi and Mitsuko Baisho play the parents, while Youki Kudoh, Yoshiki Arizono and Hitoshi Ueki appear as Erika, Masaki and Yasukune.

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.1 from around 1,300 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 7.1, from roughly 35 votes. The small number of votes on TMDB compared with IMDb suggests a limited but persistent following outside Japan, consistent with a film that circulated mainly among admirers of Ishii's work.