This is far removed from the Japan we normally see in the media -- the relentlessly middle-class Japan, full of rule-keepers. The family at the centre of this cracking drama are rule-breakers, an underclass that I suspect the Japanese are loathe to acknowledge, one that lives beneath the gaze of the authorities.There is grandma (theoretically the only person living in their cramped hovel), her daughter, son-in-law, a grandson and a granddaughter. The younger generation do odd bits of work but mostly they steal the food and clothes that they need.When they pick up a five-year-old girl on the street and take her home for food and warmth, they soon realise that she is covered in bruises and scars. When they try to take her home the next day, they can hear her parents screaming abuse at each other and the mother saying that she never wanted the child. They quietly take her home again, change her hairstyle and name and she becomes part of the family.It's soon clear that most, if not all, of these people are not related by blood, but have chosen to be a family -- people who will look after each other in order to survive.As the drama unfolds, it raises important questions not only about what family is but what goodness is. The Japanese equivalent of the Daily Mail would hate and demonise these people, yet I felt in my heart that are good people.One of my films of the year.
Susan Kelly ● 2688d