PR
Werner Herzog’s new film rolls into Cannes on a soggy Saturday night but it doesn’t take long for the drama to brighten our moods at the mid-point in a so-far rather middling line-up, the director in town with members of his own family who also worked on the movie to present the film as part of the special screenings sub-section of the 72nd festival.
Family Romance, LLC is a delightful, beautifully made film with Herzog handling his own camera on the streets of Tokyo, weaving through the bustling streets focusing his lens on Ishii Yuichi’s local business owner. Yuichi, playing himself, and his company offer family members for hire – you want mourners at a funeral? You got it? Want a gaggle of paparazzi to make you look like a celebrity photographic you as you walk the streets? Sure thing. Want someone to step into the role of an absent father for your lost 12-year-old daughter? Absolutely no problem. All of these crop up in Herzog’s experimental new effort, the majority of the film centering around a newly formed Ichii and Mahiro Tanimoto’s young ‘Mahiro’, who meet up in Tokyo’s Ueno Park on a late summer’s afternoon. Mahiro’s mother has employed the services of Ichii to step-in as Mahiro’s father – one who left the family home following a divorce when she was still a baby.
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The two slowly form a bond, the majority of the film’s tight 89 minute running-time charting that growing relationship, while also dipping into some of the other clients that have employed the services of ‘Family Romance, LLC’ – a company, we should add, Ichii actually set-up himself a few years ago.
There are many interesting sub-plots, but we stop there as Herzog’s beautiful little movie should be experienced knowing as little as possible. There is a very raw approach to the filmmaking style – the director opting for a free, handheld camera for much of it, though he has wonderfully employed the use of drones to capture some superb, sweeping vistas of the city using drones.
I fell for Family Romance, LLC in a big way. It was unexpectedly lovely, very well put-together, and utterly charming throughout. A very different piece from the German filmmaker; an impassioned work with the director relishing in his creative freedom, and getting to work with members of his own family in the process to – his son captured those wonderful drone shots, and his wife was stills photographer on the shoot too. An absolute joy to watch.
Family Romance, LLC was reviewed at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. It is awaiting a confirmed release date.
