FUNKE is the sort of thing Ozu would have made, if he were alive today. After the death of her two parents, when they both try to save a beloved cat, Aspiring actress Sumika (Eriko Sato) returns home to the village of Ishikawa. She hates the place but has to attend her parents’ funeral. Things are not happy in the family as we find out. Her younger sister Kiyomi (Aimi Satsukawa), hates her and their feud, over the damaged reputation of Sumika’s from a knife attack on her brother Shinji (Masatoshi Nagase), sees bicker and schemes galore. Hoping to inherit a sizeable sum, Sumika is forced to stick around when legal delays ensue. Her hold over everyone becomes more charged and disturbed, as her drama becomes everyone elses.

Director Daihachi Yoshida eye for the absurdity of Japanese society is hilariously pointed. It might start as a Japan society parody piece but FUNKE charts a witty, if not some times absurdly unpleasant course. The pivot points of the rivalry between two sisters and a brother with a brow beaten wife, underline sexual and cultural politics like few before or since have.  Rural Japan comes off as a ghost town of aged emptiness. Fusing manga comics and Japanese theatre into the mix, also seemed to invigorate the whole. I mentioned Ozu above, the great documenter of the Japanese middle classes, Yoshida achieves this aim with a wit that the great director would have relish. Niegh, he would have adored.

Making Of
Deleted and Extended Scenes