*SPOILERS*
FAMILIA is one of those movies that is deeply agitated, but tries to keep as stoic-a-face as possible. This nature makes the movie scary, as well as hilariously funny. The main character of the movie, Santigo hires a group of actors to play his family just for one day, that of his birthday. Well, if this alone sounds messed up, there is more to come.
In a way, Santigo's family (or the actors playing the part of Santigo's family) is disheveled. Particularly, there is incest amongst most of the members of Santigo's 'perfect' family. The steamy relationship between Santigo and his sister-in-law, or between Ventura (Santigo's brother) and Santigo's wife (who is actually Ventura's wife), and even between Santigo's supposed son and daughter, show that even as desired and planned by Santigo, his kin is not as perfect after all. All these shocking acts of spontaneous incestuous relationships are taken so frighteningly casually by Fernando León de Aranoa, that it seems as if such instances are a part of a 'normal' family.
The scary part of the movie is that every scene is predetermined by Santigo, including who should speak what, when, where and how. Even the death of his mother just before his birthday ends, happens as desired by him. And, at the end of his day, when Santigo applauds for the fantastic performance of his family and tells them that it is better to be a part of a dysfunctional family than live alone, it sends a chill through the spine. It is director Fernando León de Aranoa's way of tickling the fact of how our modern unbalanced lives try to hide our truths behind all the glitz of its seemingly 'perfect' exterior.
Though scary, it funny, how shamelessly León de Aranoa limns Santigo's half-crazed family. For instance, Santigo gets furious when he sees that his son is fatter than he wanted him to be, and brings the whole house down, screaming that he did not want a fat son with glasses. Also, during times when Santigo is not around, Ventura goes on about correcting his actors, on where they had gone wrong, or gone out of 'script'.
Probably Santigo's messed up 'enacted' family can be considered as a metaphor for the 'ideal' society of today, which, much like the his 'scripted' family, tries to be superciliously perfect, trying to hide its nether, lesser underbelly. FAMILIA is director Fernando León de Aranoa's clever way of teasing the modern materialistic hollow life: A perfect smirch on today's degenerating man.
RATING: 7/10
FAMILIA is one of those movies that is deeply agitated, but tries to keep as stoic-a-face as possible. This nature makes the movie scary, as well as hilariously funny. The main character of the movie, Santigo hires a group of actors to play his family just for one day, that of his birthday. Well, if this alone sounds messed up, there is more to come.
In a way, Santigo's family (or the actors playing the part of Santigo's family) is disheveled. Particularly, there is incest amongst most of the members of Santigo's 'perfect' family. The steamy relationship between Santigo and his sister-in-law, or between Ventura (Santigo's brother) and Santigo's wife (who is actually Ventura's wife), and even between Santigo's supposed son and daughter, show that even as desired and planned by Santigo, his kin is not as perfect after all. All these shocking acts of spontaneous incestuous relationships are taken so frighteningly casually by Fernando León de Aranoa, that it seems as if such instances are a part of a 'normal' family.
The scary part of the movie is that every scene is predetermined by Santigo, including who should speak what, when, where and how. Even the death of his mother just before his birthday ends, happens as desired by him. And, at the end of his day, when Santigo applauds for the fantastic performance of his family and tells them that it is better to be a part of a dysfunctional family than live alone, it sends a chill through the spine. It is director Fernando León de Aranoa's way of tickling the fact of how our modern unbalanced lives try to hide our truths behind all the glitz of its seemingly 'perfect' exterior.
Though scary, it funny, how shamelessly León de Aranoa limns Santigo's half-crazed family. For instance, Santigo gets furious when he sees that his son is fatter than he wanted him to be, and brings the whole house down, screaming that he did not want a fat son with glasses. Also, during times when Santigo is not around, Ventura goes on about correcting his actors, on where they had gone wrong, or gone out of 'script'.
Probably Santigo's messed up 'enacted' family can be considered as a metaphor for the 'ideal' society of today, which, much like the his 'scripted' family, tries to be superciliously perfect, trying to hide its nether, lesser underbelly. FAMILIA is director Fernando León de Aranoa's clever way of teasing the modern materialistic hollow life: A perfect smirch on today's degenerating man.
RATING: 7/10