Family Therapy

It is probably impossible to watch this film and not be reminded of Parasite (2019), a film so close in themes (class, family, facade, survival, meaning) that it's like they both entered a contest from each country with the same themes and here was another entrant.

The craft in this film is exquisite. Camera, actor performance, set design, sound - all top notch. But that's where it ends - effective set pieces fall apart, themes get muddled, time drags on for no reason. There is something missing here - a strict collaborator, perhaps, asking "why" at critical points in production.

It is clear everyone on cast and crew was 100% committed - Marko Mandic could be the Slovenian Toshiro Mifune, Mitja Licen turns liminal spaces into paradise on screen - and so it's a real letdown about how this deep dive into the stresses of an uptight upper class family are handed to us in a bizarre Prix Fixe menu that turns out to be far, far short of the mark.

I hope at the next big meeting about the next big project from this team, the word "WHY" is on the whiteboard a lot more.