Familyscapes
The concept of ‘nuclear’ family does not dominate in our societies as it once did. The realm of the family space is one that is messy, complicated, and with many moving parts, an image that spans beyond the scope of what used to be perceived as the ‘traditional family’ composed of a mother, father and their children. The films selected in Familyscapes present seven examples of unconventional or down-right unfit households, affirming yet again the truth of Leo Tolstoy’s opening line in Anna Karennina: ‘Happy families are alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’.
Another Year is the portrait of a Chinese family, struggling to get by in an overpopulated country, where it is not uncommon for a family of six to share a one bedroom apartment. In such confined quarters, quarrels and conflicts between family members are expected to happen. The film captures family dynamics between different generations over a year, highlighting the veracity of representation not only specific of Chinese society, but the universality of family life.
Another example of a complicated family landscape is Communion, in which the one responsible for keeping the family together is neither the father, a sort of kindhearted but entirely useless adult who spends most of his days drunk, nor the mother who is absent and mostly indifferent, but the teenage daughter. Also portraying a broken up family, the director of He She I investigates in a linear narrative the progression of the failed relationship between her parents, given that they split before her birth, in an attempt to grasp the history of a family that never was. Dealing with a similar family that had collapsed, You Are Still Somebody’s Someone is a sensitive and personal exposition of a damaged paternal bond, driven apart by the father’s forsaking his family.
Facing different obstacles to family fulfillment Extended Family considers two examples of non-nuclear families, extending the definition of the term to cases of same-sex parents and family members that form a broader group. An idea of an extended family is taken even further in Phoenixxx, where the two protagonists share an almost sisterly bond, despite not being related in any way.
Finally, Close ties is a wistful look at a relationship of forty years, a rarity amid broken up and dysfunctional families. Yet, even seemingly perfect families are subject to problems and conflicts and the protagonists of Close ties are not an exception.
Curatorial text and films presentations by Rauca Iacob