Dysfunctional Families
Perhaps because it's something nearly all of us can relate to (apart from The Bradys), messed-up families have always been a popular subject for filmmakers in all genres. Whether you're playing it for laughs ('Arrested Development', 'Go For Zucker'), drama ('Kramer vs Kramer', 'Nil By Mouth'), or thrills ('The Quiet Family', 'Olivier, Olivier') the family dynamic is a deep well of ready-made love/hate relationships, seething resentments and hidden secrets. What more could a filmmaker, or a film-watcher, ask for!
Life as a House (2001)
7.5/10
Director: Irwin Winkler
Starring: Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen, Jena Malone, Mary Steenbu...
Shortly after being fired from his job of 20 years, divorced architect Kevin Kline learns that he only has a few months to live due to cancer. Against... Read more
Life is Sweet (1990)
7.5/10
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner
Another slice of working-class life focusing on an endearing couple and their iconoclastic twin daughters - one of whom is waist-deep in self-loathing... Read more
Life is Sweet (Blu-ray) (1990)
7.5/10
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Alison Steadman, Claire Skinner, Jim Broadbent
Another slice of working-class life focusing on an endearing couple and their iconoclastic twin daughters - one of whom is waist-deep in self-loathing... Read more
Little Children (2006)
7.5/10
Director: Todd Field
Starring: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Noah Emmerich, Gregg Edelman, J...
Based on Tom Perrota's novel, and adapted for the screen by himself and director Todd Field, this darkly wry drama of suburban malaise, judgement and... Read more
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
7.8/10
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dan...
A charming black comedy about life, death and junior beauty contests. Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear head an eccentric family that includes a potty-mo... Read more
Little Miss Sunshine ( Blu-ray ) (2006)
7.8/10
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Starring: Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Paul Dan...
A charming black comedy about life, death and junior beauty contests. Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear head an eccentric family that includes a potty-mo... Read more
Ma Mere (2004)
5.1/10
Director: Christophe Honore
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel, Emma De Caunes, Joana Preiss, Jean-Baptiste Mont...
Isabelle Huppert plays Helene, a woman who becomes uncomfortably attracted to her teenage son. Following the unexpected death of her husband, Helene... Read more
Madea's Family Reunion (2006)
5.1/10
Director: Tyler Perry
Starring: Tyler Perry, Blair Underwood, Lynn Whitfield, Boris Kodjoe, Henry Simmons, Lisa...
Tyler Perry adapted his play, directed and also played three characters in his sequel to 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman', in which pistol-packing grandma... Read more
Magnolia (1999)
8/10
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Jeremy Blackman, Tom Cruise, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William...
Paul Thomas Anderson's third feature film is an exhilarating, almost reckless display of cinematic ambition. Weaving together more than a dozen charac... Read more
Margot at the Wedding (2007)
6.1/10
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Jack Black, Ciaran Hinds, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Turturro, Fl...
An insightful dramedy starring Nicole Kidman as Margot, an acerbic short story writer who attempts to reconnect with estranged sibling Pauline (Jennif... Read more