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 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
Mommie Dearest (1981)
6.7/10
Director: Frank Perry
Starring: Faye Dunaway, Steve Forrest, Diana Scarwid, Mara Hobel
Based upon the best-selling book by the adopted daughter of film legend Joan Crawford, Christina Crawford literally blew the lid off the private life... Read more
Dead Like Me: Season 1 (2003)
8.1/10
Director: Kevin Dowling, David Grossman, Peter Lauer, Robert Duncan McNeill
Starring: Mandy Patinkin, Rebecca Gayheart, Cynthia Stevenson, Jasmine Guy, Callum Blue, E...
The hit series about a group of 'reapers' - the undead who escort souls from their old life to their afterlife. Mandy Patinkin stars as the leader of... 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 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
Go For Zucker (2004)
6.8/10
Director: Dani Levy
Starring: Henry Hubchen, Hannelore Elsner, Udo Samel, Golda Tencer, Steffen Groth, Anja Fr...
Zucker (Henry Hubchen) was a big wheel in East Germany before the wall came down, now he's a pool hustler with a disintegrating family. However his e... Read more
The Heiresses (2018)
6.8/10
Director: Marcelo Martinessi
A 30-year-long relationship is rocked by money issues as one half is jailed for fraud and the other finds a new lease of life. Read more
Treading Water (2001)
5.7/10
Director: Lauren Himmel
Starring: Angie Redman, Nina Landey, Annette Miller, Robert Harte, Shawn Nee
Casey lives on a boat with her loving girlfriend, Alex. Her parents are openly hostile to her 'lifestyle' but have begrudgingly invited Casey to Chri... Read more
In My Father's Den (2004)
7.6/10
Director: Brad McGann
Starring: Matthew Macfadyen, Miranda Otto, Emily Barclay, Colin Moy, Jodie Rimmer, Vicky H...
Paul (Matthew Macfadyen), a prize-winning war journalist, returns to his remote New Zealand hometown due to the death of his father, battle-scarred an... Read more
Milou en Mai ( May Fools ) (1989)
7.2/10
Director: Louis Malle
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Miou-Miou, Dominique Blanc
An entertaining comedy of manners set against the backdrop of the 1968 student uprising in Paris, the film follows the Vieu-sacs as they converge on t... Read more