Quote #5 - All quotes
Lachlan: What school does she go to?
Matt: My school.
Lachlan: Oh, Girls Grammar?
Lachlan: What school does she go to?
Matt: My school.
Lachlan: Oh, Girls Grammar?
Happy Family Plan (2000) review
Sorry this seems a little rushed,maybe I'll revise it later on. But I digress,
Happy Family Plan is a Japanese film released in 2000. It was directed by Tsutomu Abe. It follows the story of a struggling family (known as the Kawajiris) on the verge of poverty that gets one last chance by appearing on a Japanese game show. To win, the father simply has to play a piano piece from start to finish with no mistakes, which would be simple, except for the fact that the father has never touched a piano and has absolutely no musical experience prior to this.
The story undoubtedly focuses mostly on the father, and his struggles to do well for his family, and then later on learn the piano piece in one week. The father is also the most detailed character, which brings me to what I feel is movie's biggest flaw. It doesn't flesh out the rest of the characters as much as I would have liked. The parents and grandparents get adequate characterization, but the son, for example, seems to be there just to be there. The daughter gets a lot more development than the son, but still, I feel that her story specifically deserves more screen time.
There's also the "rivaling"� Hirose family. Here, there is a plethora of (well, really only three) characters that I feel got a little neglected by the plot. For example, the father of the Hiroses seems irrationally bitter, the son has a crush on the daughter which is never really explored (besides a few scenes showing him stand up for her against bullies). The mother of the Hiroses also helps the father of the Kawajiris with the piano, seemingly without any reason except for that she doesn't like her husband.
The film seems to want to focus on the father's struggles, as well as the struggles of the other family members and the Hirose family. As a film about the father's struggles, it actually does quite well. As a film about the struggles of all the family members and/or the Hirose family, it fails in my opinion, as it's unbalanced (some family members get far too much screen time, when others get far too little), and whenever it starts to show potentially interesting subplots involving any family member besides the parents or grandparents (such as the Hirose boy's crush on the daughter), it quickly ends them never to appear again.
While it sounds like I had a big problem with the film, I actually found it to be pretty enjoyable. The main plot involving the father is relatable and involving until the last minute, and the subplots of the other characters, while feeling "tacked on"�, are still relatively enjoyable. All I'm saying, is that I would have preferred it, either if it was longer and explored the characters and plot a little more, or didn't explore them all and just focused on the father's point of view for everything.
Posted by slimac55 on June 2nd 2011 | 1 comment | Tweet
Sorry this seems a little rushed,maybe I'll revise it later on. But I digress,
Happy Family Plan is a Japanese film released in 2000. It was directed by Tsutomu Abe. It follows the story of a struggling family (known as the Kawajiris) on the verge of poverty that gets one last chance by appearing on a Japanese game show. To win, the father simply has to play a piano piece from start to finish with no mistakes, which would be simple, except for the fact that the father has never touched a piano and has absolutely no musical experience prior to this.
The story undoubtedly focuses mostly on the father, and his struggles to do well for his family, and then later on learn the piano piece in one week. The father is also the most detailed character, which brings me to what I feel is movie's biggest flaw. It doesn't flesh out the rest of the characters as much as I would have liked. The parents and grandparents get adequate characterization, but the son, for example, seems to be there just to be there. The daughter gets a lot more development than the son, but still, I feel that her story specifically deserves more screen time.
There's also the "rivaling"� Hirose family. Here, there is a plethora of (well, really only three) characters that I feel got a little neglected by the plot. For example, the father of the Hiroses seems irrationally bitter, the son has a crush on the daughter which is never really explored (besides a few scenes showing him stand up for her against bullies). The mother of the Hiroses also helps the father of the Kawajiris with the piano, seemingly without any reason except for that she doesn't like her husband.
The film seems to want to focus on the father's struggles, as well as the struggles of the other family members and the Hirose family. As a film about the father's struggles, it actually does quite well. As a film about the struggles of all the family members and/or the Hirose family, it fails in my opinion, as it's unbalanced (some family members get far too much screen time, when others get far too little), and whenever it starts to show potentially interesting subplots involving any family member besides the parents or grandparents (such as the Hirose boy's crush on the daughter), it quickly ends them never to appear again.
While it sounds like I had a big problem with the film, I actually found it to be pretty enjoyable. The main plot involving the father is relatable and involving until the last minute, and the subplots of the other characters, while feeling "tacked on"�, are still relatively enjoyable. All I'm saying, is that I would have preferred it, either if it was longer and explored the characters and plot a little more, or didn't explore them all and just focused on the father's point of view for everything.
Posted by slimac55 on June 2nd 2011 | 1 comment | Tweet