A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s An Alcoholic (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Kenji Katagiri
	Actors: Tamae Andô, Shogou Hama, Kenta Hamano
	Country: J
	Genre: Drama, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 13.06.2020, NCF2020, 14" computer screen
Synopsis: Saki’s father hasn’t come home sober for years. He prefers to fall asleep in the hallway and she, her mother, and her sister have to drag him into the bedroom. When his friends come to visit and play Mahjong, bottles of whiskey are emptied, while the mother just prays apathetically. Throughout her childhood and adolescence, Saki wonders what’s wrong with this man who seems to care less about his family than he does about the next sip.
Review: The best movie seen at the Nippon Connection 2020 online Festival. We love to see in Japanese movies the characters socializing around food and drinks, be it a a party, a Karaoke or at home. With this movie, everything is in the title. "My Dad’s An Alcoholic" refers to the comedy moments we were expecting from the father, like when he comes home drunk always with the same crackers in his pocket, how he cries "thief" when his family undresses him, how he wobbles his head to fall short of the table (or of any obstacle his two daughters put in between)... I laughed a lot at those moments, emphasized by a nice upbeat little music. "A Life Turned Upside Down" refers to the rest, including big questions like "why does he have to drink so much?", "why does his wife let him do?", or "does he care about his daughters at all?", questions often shown as bubble above the daughter's head, as it probably happens in the head of children facing adults' behaviors they cannot understand. The whole movie is told from the point of view of the oldest daughter, and we can see the destructive impact of her father's lifestyle on her, how she dropped out of school to stay close to him for example. But the magic in this movie is that in spite of everything, he still is her father and her life forever bears his mark (like how she loves to eat the aforementioned crackers to feel at home). The movie also cleverly shows the father as a happy somnolent drunk, he doesn't beat up is family which would have categorized him as a bad guy, instead of maintaining the questions open. A touching but sometimes sad movie about family, with drops of humor at the right moments to relieve the tension. Brilliant.
Rating: 8 /10