George Santayana once said that family is one of nature’s
masterpieces. Personally I prefer the words of Friedrich Nietzsche. He claimed
that family is like bad wallpaper; messy, clinging, and of an annoying and
repetitive pattern. Whichever way you look at it, family is family, you can
choose your friends but the rest is more or less a matter of bad timing. In his
first film, writer/director Daihachi Yoshida introduces us to one of cinema’s
most dysfunctional families. Eriko Sato (Cutey Honey) and Aimi Satsukawa star
as warring siblings in the 2007 Japanese comedy drama Funuke Show Some Love,
You Losers!
Kyomi (Aimi Satsukawa) has a problem with cats, though to be
fair she does have a really good reason. One sunny day she watches
in horror as her parents are killed trying to save a black cat from oncoming
traffic. Kyomi’s older sister comes home for the funeral, which causes tension
within an already unstable family unit. Sumika (Eriko Sato) left town to
follow her dream of becoming a famous actress, the only problem being, nobody
had the balls to tell her she wasn’t any good at it. She certainly has the
looks, but the same can’t be said for genuine acting ability.
Her father tried to tell her it would come to nothing when
she first asked for financial support, so she attacked him with a knife.
Luckily for him she’s none too hot with kitchen utensils either. Unfortunately
for stepbrother Shinji, her follow through is quite extraordinary,
inadvertently stabbing him in the head instead. It soon emerges that Sumika’s
fresh faced sister isn’t all sweetness and bubblegum either.
Kyomi is an up and coming manga artist and her stories about
a near psychotic, busty wannabe actress willing to do anything – including
prostitution – to become famous is making waves of titanic proportions in the
comic book world. She wins a local competition and soon enough everybody in
town is aware of her sisters shady, somewhat exaggerated past. Which means
hello to family shame and goodbye to wannabe starlet Sumika. When the money
runs out she returns home to claim her inheritance.
Funuke certainly won’t appeal to everybody and the trail of
dark humour trickling from its veins proves a bleak selling point. Sumika is
not the most likeable protagonist but credit to Sato for managing to evoke
sympathy from a role that doesn’t deserve any. She’s a horrible person after
all, but Eriko finds the right balance between hateful and pitiful, aided by
the knowledge that most of the other characters have emotional defects too (Shinji’s new wife Machiko proving the only exception). She
plays her part like a lovesick puppy and no matter what anybody does or says to
her, she always finds a little something to smile about. She’s not very bright, but her optimistic outlook is a shining light on the blackest of nights.
The volatile insults Shinji throws at his doting wife might
not drown him in viewer sympathy, and the feelings he conceals for hate-filled
Sumika only serve to make him less likeable, but Masatoshi manages to
create a character so pathetic, so undeniably rubbish that it’s hard not to
love him a little. The same can be said for all of the characters here, they bring
with them a vulnerability that is both instantly appealing and effortlessly
engaging. Direction is solid throughout and any doubts about the generous
running time are laid to rest with flourishes of style and verve. One moment in
particular – involving comic book panels – is impeccably timed.
A humorous movie, but not in a laugh out loud
kind of way, you’ll have to dig deep to keep the spark of interest alive.
The fact that most of the characters are damaged goods means that it’s hard to
make a connection. That said, Funuke brings with it an air of freshness that
could well be its saving grace. Performances are strong, direction is solid, and
the dysfunctional storyline is deliriously entertaining. Show some love, why
don’t you? AW
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