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!
Relative Strangers (2006)
5.3/10
Director: Greg Gilenna
Starring: Kathy Bates, Ed Begley Jr, Neve Campbell, Beverly D'Angelo, Danny DeVito, Ron Li...
A tightly-wound psychologist (Ron Livingston) discovers he is adopted and sets out to find his birth parents with his loving fiancee, Neve Campbell.... Read more
Revolutionary Road (2008)
7.3/10
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Ryan Simpkins, Ty Simpkins, Ka...
Sam Mendes directs his wife Kate Winslet and her 'Titanic' co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio in this searing adaptation of Richard Yates' novel about 1950s s... Read more
Revolutionary Road ( Blu-ray ) (2008)
7.3/10
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Shannon, Richard Easton, T...
Sam Mendes directs his wife Kate Winslet and her 'Titanic' co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio in this searing adaptation of Richard Yates' novel about 1950s s... Read more
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)
7.5/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Ken Takakura, Nakai Kiichi, Shinobu Terajima, Jiamin Li
Ken Takakura gives a career-defining performance as an old Chinese fisherman who has been estranged from his son for many years. When he receives a c... Read more
Roseanne: Season 1 (1988)
7/10
Director: Various
Starring: Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Alicia Goranson, Sara Gilbert, Mich...
Based on the caustic stand-up of its soon-to-be star Roseanne Barr, this series was a welcome antidote to sugary contemporaries like 'Full House' and... Read more
Running with Scissors (2006)
6.2/10
Director: Ryan Murphy
Starring: Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin, Jill...
Based on the memoir of Augusten Burroughs, this dysfunctional '70s family comedy/drama has an outstanding ensemble cast with Annette Bening as the del... Read more
Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
8.5/10
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson
Liv Ullman stars in this exploration of the relationship between two people over a twenty year period. Winner of the National Society of Film Critics... Read more
Secrets and Lies (1996)
7.7/10
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Timothy Spall, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Claire Rus...
A 27 year old black London Optometrist decides to seek out the woman who gave her up for adoption after she was born. The search leads to a surprising... Read more
Shotgun Stories (2007)
7.3/10
Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Michael Shannon, Douglas Ligon, Barlow Jacobs, Michael Abbott Jr, Natalie Canerd...
An intimate family drama and a tragedy of biblical proportions, this Southern gothic meditation on revenge and broken families is an understated stunn... Read more
Six Feet Under: Season 1 (2001)
8.7/10
Starring: Peter Krause, Michael C Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Freddy Rodriguez,...
From Alan Ball, the Oscar-winning writer of "American Beauty", comes a series that digs where others fear to tred. When a bus kills Nathaniel Fisher,... Read more