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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!

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

6.9/10
Director: Christine Jeffs
Starring: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub...

Rose (Amy Adams) had a bright future ahead of her, but several failed relationships and one child later, she is squandering her potential in the subur... Read more

Tadpole (2002)

6.2/10
Director: Gary Winick
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, John Ritter, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Iler, Aaron Stanford

Returning home from his posh boarding school for Thanksgiving, intellectual 15-year old Oscar Grubman intends to declare his love for his stepmother,... Read more

Ten Empty (2007)

5.3/10
Director: Anthony Hayes
Starring: Daniel Frederiksen, Geoff Morrell, Lucy Bell, Tom Budge, Brendan Cowell, Blazey...

When his mother died tragically after a protracted mental illness, Daniel left home; now ten years later he is returning to his father's house to be G... Read more

Terkel in Trouble (2004)

7.1/10
Director: Stefan Fjeldmark, Kresten Vestbjerg Andersen, Thorbjorn Christoffersen
Starring: Voices Of, Adrian Edmondson, Bill Bailey, Olivia Colman, Johnny Vegas, Toby Step...

Inspired by the stand-up routines of popular Danish comedian Anders Matthesen, this twisted CGI-animated feature centres around the complex life and h... Read more

Terms of Endearment (1983)

7.4/10
Director: James L Brooks
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson

Winner of five Oscars including Best Picture, the story of the changing relationship between a mother and daughter over the years, mixes humour and he... Read more

The Architect (2006)

5.6/10
Director: Matt Tauber
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Viola Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Hayden Panettiere, Sebastian...

Anthony LaPaglia plays architect Leo Waters, living an outwardly perfect life in the suburbs, while on the East Side of Chicago the residents in one o... Read more

The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)

6.7/10
Director: Rebecca Miller
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Jason Lee, Jena Ma...

Daniel Day-Lewis is Jack, an ex-political activist who lives with his daughter Rose (Camilla Belle) on what was once a thriving island commune. Jack... Read more

The Blue Lagoon (1980)

5.7/10
Director: Randal Kleiser
Starring: Brooke Shields, Christopher Atkins, Leo McKern, William Daniels

In the Victorian period, two children are shipwrecked on a tropical island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple l... Read more

The Child ( L'Enfant ) (2005)

4.2/10
Director: Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Starring: Jeremie Renier, Deborah Francois, Jeremie Segard, Fabrizio Rongione, Olivier Gou...

Sofia and her boyfriend Bruno are two irresponsible teens living on the bottom rung of the social ladder. When Sofia falls pregnant and gives birth t... Read more

The Chumscrubber (2005)

7/10
Director: Arie Posin
Starring: Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, Justin Chatwin, Glenn Close, Rory Culkin, Tim DeKay,...

When disaffected teen, Dean (Jamie Bell), discovers the body of his friend hanging in his bedroom, he doesn't bother telling any adults as he doesn't... Read more