Movie Review: The Family Fang

Narrator:  Imagine you’re dead. Feel yourself go numb. Start with your fingers, move to your hands, your wrists, right on up to your elbows. Everything is dead. If we can imagine our own death, but still manage to come back to life, then it proves we can survive, anything.

This was one of the best and possibly overlooked movies of 2015 (which is why I am just now reviewing it in 2016) in my humble opinion.  Jason Bateman is not only an incredible actor, but an extremely talented director. I was never a fan of arrested development (probably because I never watched it).  However, after seeing Bad Words and now The Family Fang, I have a whole new respect for Jason Bateman

The story line: Annie and Baxter, the adult children of the controversial husband and wife conceptual performance art couple famous for their quirky macabre public performances, have never got over the fact that their parents kept using them during their childhood in their often gory and disturbing satirical public performances. They often clash with their now elderly parents over this and blame them for their problems in their adult life. However, the two become worried when they're told by the police that their parents have gone missing during their trip outside of town. The brother considers the possibility that something horrible might have happened to them, but the sister is convinced that it's just another one of their stupid games or twisted conceptual performances. She convinces him that they should go and look for them themselves.(IMDB 2016)

This is one of those powerful, "didn't see it coming" movies with an interesting story.  It popped up in my Starz watch list and being it was Sunday and raining, I decided to bundle up and give it a watch. I was a little sleepy after breakfast and dozed off, but after my nap, I just restarted it and was I glad I did. 

It is a little hard to relate to, from my perspective, as I have no brothers and sisters.  However, anyone that feels that their life isn't perfect, or that you were slighted as a child or that life is unfair, well, you should probably watch this.  I have always been a big fan of life imitating art. Its probably the reason I go see so many movies, to validate my own existence and to know that others go through the same thing, so when a movie like this shows up, I watch it, I appreciate it; I connect. 

I saw Bateman, just last night in the holiday humor movie "Office Christmas Party".  Watching Jason go from comedy to drama, just confirms to me what a great actor he truly is.  (Office Christmas Party is pretty damn funny and I would highly advise going to see it if you haven't) 

Sometimes you go through life and your well adjusted and semi- normal, and then there are those of us that realize we played a part in our adults  ́ 'Parent experiment". We spend years of our life analyzing the whys, who's, hows and what should I have done better. This movie is truly for the latter. It's an effort to connect the disconnected with the connected.  Its an effort to make sense of some of the madness that exists in our world. It's about realizing that life isn't perfect and at some point you have to get up, realize that your life, regardless of your past, is truly up to you.  Sure you can carry that cross, but no one gives a shit, so move on.

I appreciated Kidman and Batemans acting styles and they seemed to work well in this movie together.  The movie is 1 Hour and 45 minutes long and worth it. Remember: If we can imagine our own death, then we can survive anything.

Until next time....

Baxter Fang: Don't be afraid. Own the moment. If you're in control then the chaos will happen around you and not to you.