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!
My Year Without Sex (2009)
5.8/10
Director: Sarah Watt
Starring: Matt Day, Sacha Horler, Sonya Suares
A kind of love story about a family dealing with all the big questions and even more of the small ones. Set over one messy year, Ross (Matt Day) and N... Read more
Dead Like Me: Life After Death (2009)
6.1/10
Director: Stephen Herek
Starring: Ellen Muth, Callum Blue, Sarah Wynter, Jasmine Guy, Britt McKillip, Cynthia Stev...
Following on from the cult TV show, this feature-length film finds George and her colleagues with a new boss whose focus is merely on moving souls thr... Read more
Big Love: Season 3 (2008)
6.2/10
Starring: Bill Paxton, Chloe Sevigny, Harry Dean Stanton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ginnifer Goo...
Passion. Jealousy. Treachery. Greed. Everyone has something to hide in the scandalously entertaining third season of 'Big Love'. Bill Henrickson (Bill... Read more
A Christmas Tale (2008)
7.1/10
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Devos, Hippolyte Girardot, Mathieu Amalric, Melvil...
In Arnaud Desplechin's beguiling concoction, Catherine Deneuve brings her legendary poise to the role of Junon, matriarch of the troubled Vuillard fam... Read more
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
I've Loved You So Long (2008)
7.6/10
Director: Philippe Claudel
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius, Laurent Grevill, Fre...
An intricate and intriguing French film that stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Juliette, a woman who has just been released from prison. Lea, her much you... Read more
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
6.7/10
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger, Mathe...
Alternately heartbreaking and acidic dysfunctional family drama stars Anne Hathaway as Kym, a recovering drug addict who has checked out of rehab and... Read more
Rachel Getting Married (Blu-ray) (2008)
6.7/10
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger, Mathe...
Alternately heartbreaking and acidic dysfunctional family drama stars Anne Hathaway as Kym, a recovering drug addict who has checked out of rehab and... Read more
100 Feet (2008)
5.5/10
Director: Eric Red
Starring: Famke Janssen, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pare, Ed Westwick
Marnie (Famke Janssen) is in prison for the murder of her abusive husband, but is granted early release on the condition she remain under house arrest... 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