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!
Everybody's Fine (2009)
7.1/10
Director: Kirk Jones
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Robert De Niro, Sam Rockwell
When recently retired widower Robert De Niro's grown children cancel a family reunion, he decides to take an impromptu cross-country journey to reconn... Read more
Warm Spring (2002)
6.6/10
Director: Wulan Tana
Starring: Tian Chengren, Zhang Yan, Hao Yang, Yu Weijie
Directed by Wulan Tana this poignant drama is the tale of young orphan Xiao Hua, who after fleeing the clutches of an abusive foster parent, finds a s... 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
City Island (2009)
7.4/10
Director: Raymond De Felitta
Starring: Alan Arkin, Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer, Ezra Miller, Domini...
Vince Rizzi (Andy Garcia) is an upstanding family man who works as a corrections officer, but secretly longs to be an actor. Ashamed to admit his aspi... Read more
Donnie Darko (2001)
8.1/10
Director: Richard Kelly
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Duval, Jena Malone, Katharine Ross, Mary...
Dark and disturbing, destined-for-cult status tale stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a gifted but troubled 80s high school student whose adolescent horrors tak... Read more
Donnie Darko ( Blu-ray ) (2001)
8.1/10
Director: Richard Kelly
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Katharine Ross, Mary McDonnell, No...
During the presidential election of 1988, a teenager named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) sleepwalks out of his house one night, and sees a giant, dem... Read more
American Beauty ( Blu-ray ) (1999)
8.4/10
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Annette Bening, Chris Cooper, Kevin Spacey, Peter Gallagher, Scott Bakula, Thora...
Five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director and Actor, went to this lacerating, darkly funny look at decay in contemporary suburbia. Kevin Sp... Read more
Crimes of the Heart (1986)
6.4/10
Director: Bruce Beresford
Starring: Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Tess Harper
Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek and Diane Keaton star as flaky Southern sisters who are uneasily reunited when Spacek is arrested for shooting her politic... 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
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