ZAMEK Culture Centre

A middle-class family in Tokyo lives according to the prevailing social order: the father is fixated on career advancement, the mother is concerned with appearances, the elder son is the model of filial virtue, while the younger must catch up. To improve his grades, the parents hire a private tutor. Instead of harmony, however, disruption ensues – the teacher becomes a catalyst for chaos, exposing the emptiness of rituals and the absurdity of educational pressure.

In his renowned psychodrama, Yoshimitsu Morita captured with precision the atmosphere of 1980s Japan – a decade of prosperity, emerging class aspirations, and social pressure to subordinate one’s entire life to the ideal of success. Behind the glass façade of the family home, around a dining table that is little more than a stage prop, the director dissects the family as an institution in a world where education breeds conformity and success becomes the only currency. “The Family Game” is a cult film, hailed by Kinema Junpo as the best work of the decade, and remains a touchstone for cinema, critically examining the family within Japanese society. It is a satire that has lost none of its relevance: as sharp, funny, and bitter today as at its premiere – formative, not without reason, for a later generation of cinematic humanists.

The film will be screened in a restored 4K version.

THE FAMILY GAME, reż. Yoshimitsu Morita, Japan 1983, 107’