Eiga Sai 2018: Survival Family is a lighthearted family movie. No, really

For a film that takes place in the middle of the collapse of modern society as we know it, Shinobu Yaguchi's Survival Family is quite the entertaining affair. Known mainly for directing comedies like 2001's Waterboys, Survival Family features his trademark humor as well, but incorporates other genres into the mix. It's part disaster film, part family dramedy,  part satire, part peri apocalyptic road trip. It highlights how modern society in Japan has grown reliant on modern technology and the concept of benri, roughly translated as 'to make something convenient.' 

We see a glimpse of that complacent society in the film's opening scenes, where the Suzuki family leads a relatively normal life in the middle of Tokyo. The patriarch, Yoshiyuki (Fumiyo Kohinata) is a workaholic dad who leaves most of the household duties to his wife Mitsue (Eri Fukatsu), who, in her reliance towards convenient foods and appliances, has lost the ability to cut a fish properly. Their son Kenji (Yuki Izumisawa) is a girl-obsessed techie college student, while their daughter Yui (Wakana Aoi) is a prissy princess overly concerned with her phone and her friends.

When the apocalypse happens, it comes into the picture like a thief in the night. For some unexplained reason, the power goes out, and all electrical devices become useless. There are no riots or overly dramatic scenes of chaos; instead, there is an overwhelming sense of confusion and denial until it becomes clear that the lights aren't going to go back on. Soon even basic utilities start to run out, straining even the renowned Japanese capacity to hold it together in the face of adversity. The city begins to run out of people as families head for the provinces in search of food and water. The Suzukis head for their family home in Kagoshima, more than a thousand kilometers away.

The scenes showing this major societal shift reveals itself gradually, but steadily: the prices of basic commodities spike as inflation reaches insane levels. Theft and looting become commonplace. Feral dogs begin to roam the countryside. Money and some forms of material wealth soon become useless as citizens shift to a barter system. 

Here's where the road trip aspect of the movie kicks into high gear: while Yoshiyuki struggles to fill a role he hasn't really filled in a long time (as the head of the family,) his wife does most of the heavy lifting, using her long dormant domestic skills to save the family's hide multiple times. Faced with their father's impotence, the two children step up to help as well, with mixed results. The family's dysfunction is made even more apparent when they are contrasted with a family that has done pretty well for itself; while the 'good' family has learned to survive off the land, the Suzukis have resorted to cat food and battery water. Owing to the road trip structure, the Suzukis develop over the course of the trip, even as things grow ever more dire.

Despite this, the film is surprisingly lighthearted as far as disaster movies go. It's so unusual in terms of tone that it stands out compared to the overwrought Hollywood disaster movies that we are used to. As satire, it shows how the Japanese - the old generation and millennials alike - have gotten out of touch with traditional ways and simple living, a theme that Yaguchi himself has explored with 2014's Wood Job! And, it's a testament to the tenacity that a family can exhibit when it comes together as one.