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!
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
7.4/10
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, William Baldwin, Anna P...
Writer/director Noah Baumbach's semi-autobiographical tale of a disintegrating family set in 1980s Brooklyn is full of melancholy wit and sympathetic... Read more
The Unsaid (2001)
6.7/10
Director: Tom McLoughlin
Starring: Andy Garcia, Sam Bottoms, Trevor Blumas, Linda Cardellini, Teri Polo, Vincent Ka...
Andy Garcia stars as Kansas psychologist Dr Michael Hunter who quits his practice following the suicide of his teenage son. Disturbed by the death, wi... Read more
The Upside of Anger (2005)
6.9/10
Director: Mike Binder
Starring: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Al...
Joan Allen is a tour de force as a bitter boozehound whose cheating husband has deserted, leaving her with four daughters. Kevin Costner matches her... Read more
The Vicious Kind (2009)
7/10
Director: Lee Toland Krieger
Starring: J K Simmons, Adam Scott, Brittany Snow, Alex Frost
There's nothing like a first love to bring family tensions to a boil in this riveting dark comedy! In a startling performance, Adam Scott stars as Cal... Read more
The Virgin Suicides (2000)
7.2/10
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Danny DeVito, James Woods, Josh Hartnett, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Michae...
Writer/Director Sofia Coppola's acclaimed debut feature, based on Jeffrey Eugenides' novel, traces the tragic ends of five beautiful young sisters in... Read more
The War Of The Roses (1989)
6.8/10
Director: Danny Devito
Starring: Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Marianne Sagebrecht, Sean Astin
A wickedly delightful screwball comedy about how Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner take their divorce to the battlefield and the house comes off the... Read more
The War Zone (1999)
7.4/10
Director: Tim Roth
Starring: Ray Winstone, Tilda Swinton, Freddie Cunliffe, Lara Belmont
A dramatic, emotionally raw look at a working-class family in England's countryside being torn apart by incest. Actor Tim Roth's directorial debut fol... Read more
The Way Way Back (2013)
7.4/10
Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, Amanda Peet, Allison Janney, Steve Carell, AnnaSoph...
During a vacation in a Northeast beach town, a lonely teenage boy, Duncan (Liam James), comes into his own over the course of a summer through an unli... Read more
The Way Way Back (Blu-ray) (2013)
7.4/10
Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, Amanda Peet, Allison Janney, Steve Carell, AnnaSoph...
During a vacation in a Northeast beach town, a lonely teenage boy, Duncan (Liam James), comes into his own over the course of a summer through an unli... Read more
The Weather Man (2005)
6.6/10
Director: Gore Verbinski
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, Hope Davis, Michael Rispoli, Gil Bellows, Gemmenne...
This darkly funny and moving tale of mid-life crisis stars Nic Cage as Dave Spritz, a successful weather man who feels his life is slipping away, refl... Read more