The Family Fang

Bad-parent movies are a popular comedy genre that laughs at parents for not being perfect. The drama, thriller or horror versions are more about exploring the dark side of family life and the damage that adults inflict on their young. The offbeat satire The Family Fang (2015) has its funny moments but this is not a comedy. It is a portrait of psychological abuse conducted by parents in the name of art with sinister undercurrents always beneath the surface.

Internationally renowned Caleb Fang (Christopher Walken) and his wife Camille (Maryanne Plunkett) are performance artists dedicated to disrupting the conventions of normality. They stage impromptu happenings in public places simply to witness the sublime beauty of the resulting chaos. Their children Annie (Nicole Kidman) and Baxter (Jason Bateman) have been used as performance props since they were born and their adult lives bear the scars of parenting based on artifice and deception. As youngsters they busked a song "kill all parents so you can keep living" just to get crowd reactions, but they could not foresee the truth in the lyrics nor how their parents would control their lives into adulthood.

The story unfolds backwards with Annie and Baxter at their parent's empty home searching for clues to explain the sudden and violent of disappearance of Caleb and Camille. Police believe the worst but the siblings believe it is just another stunt. While trawling through videos and other memorabilia, they see their lives paraded before them. They realise that they have always been exploited and are victims of unresolved psychological abuse. Through flashbacks, they can see Caleb as a violent personality and Camille as meekly compliant while family gatherings were tension-filled events under Caleb's domination. When the siblings question the value of the performances the reaction is pure menace.

This is a dysfunctional family in both obvious and implied ways, and the film keeps us guessing whether the knotted ball can ever be untangled. The four characters are well defined with strong and believable performances, and the conflicts between young and old are frighteningly recognisable as the kind of things that happen in both normal and transgressive families. When Caleb says "parents damage kids, so what" it sends a shiver down your spine to realise that some people are not psychologically equipped to be parents. Annie and Baxter must confront the fact that letting their parents go may the only way to grow up. This is an original take on an age-old story that is also provocative and engaging.

This film tells the story of two siblings of behavioural artists Caleb and Camille, who have to play along to their parents cruel and traumatic pranks. After they grow up, they continue to deal with issues regarding the past, and even bigger issues in the present.

Wow. I have not expected the story to be so engaging and engrossing. It draws me in because it provokes people to think what is art and what is not art. I feel so sad for the siblings because their childhood years are traumatised repeatedly by the parents. The ending is intense and evokes much feelings in me. I liked "The Family Fang" and I would undoubtedly recommend others to watch it.

This is a very good work of fiction, well represented on the screen by Jason Bateman (who starred and directed it) and his stellar cast.

It's the story of a unusual family: you will find the story truly original, not only in its premises or in the sequence of events but also because in the end you'll be left without any moral teaching: everything will seem possible and acceptable.

I found it interesting but, to be sincere, not really catching or entertaining. If you are looking for a Comedy I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. If you think you are going to watch a drama you'll probably find it poorly moving. If you want to see something original, on the contrary, you could be satisfied I guess.

Annie Fang (Nicole Kidman) is struggling in her acting career and pushed into a topless scene. Her brother Baxter (Jason Bateman) is struggling with his award-winning writing and his idiot friends hit him with a potato gun. He convinces her to visit their parents (Christopher Walken, Maryann Plunkett). As young kids, their artistic parents (Jason Butler Harner, Kathryn Hahn) would perform surprise pranks on the public with them. Suddenly, their parents go missing and the siblings go in search for them.

The present-day scenes have some big names but I kept wondering if the movie would function better as a coming-of-age story with the kids and two outrageous parents. It's not that the present-day doesn't work. Kidman is wondrous. It's just that the flashbacks represent better potential. Of course, it would be a more standard movie. Going missing presents some additional interesting possibilities but the best resolution may be them actually being dead.

the basic virtue - it is an ambitious, interesting and original film by Jason Bateman.and, for him, it is a real good point. in same measure, it is an inspired analysis of parenthood. not the last, the good performances( especially the reasonable younger Caleb of Jason Butler Harner).

the sin - fragile balance for define the art as pretext for control of life of family.the roles are straitjackets. the thin line between comedy and drama.the sketches of immaturity, credible but not convincing.

short, a good film. especially for reflect. about family, its foundation , its values and the parenthood as significant part defining it.