Mahiro, a shy 12 year old girl, slowly opens up over time, accepting Yuichi as her dad. The staff are As Ishii himself explains: “I’m lying to Mahiro, but Mahiro is lying to me.” Such is the nature of many family relationships. 894646. It will be released exclusively on Mubi starting July 4. ★★☆☆☆Werner Herzog needs to slow down. Family Romance is a Tokyo-based company that offers the perfect stand-ins for absent family, friends or admirers – available to rent for any occasion. Herzog tells the story of a Tokyo company that offers stand-ins for absent family and admirers in this thought-provoking tragicomedy shot like a documentary, Last modified on Fri 10 Jul 2020 10.03 BST. Herzog lets us know it's the sinuous relationship we have with each other as human beings that can't be faked with any artificial means. Registered in England No. Dustin Chang is a freelance writer.

There are Herzogian touches and dashes of humor everywhere: in the middle of a session, an old blind oracle gets a loud phone call and, of course, Herzog doesn't call 'cut' or pan away from her, but stays with her until she turns off the phone.

The filmmaker is obviously making a tenuous connection here with impersonality and dehumanization of the face-to-face service industry and the preposterousness of its theatricality and performance. Shot in Japan, with Japanese actors, in the Japanese language, Oscar-nominated auteur Werner Herzog brings to the screen a unique angle to recurring themes around people chasing impossible dreams.

It's probably Herzog's insistence that Yuichi stops by at Robot Hotel, to ask its owner about incorporating the technology to his business. It might be staged, but it has a scrappy, fly-on-the-wall feel. Werner Herzog’s disarmingly moving, meditative and elliptical latest follows the employees of a real Japanese company called Family Romance, LLC. According to its director, Werner Herzog, this surreal, strangely moving tragicomedy, based on Elif Batuman’s 2018 New Yorker article about Japan’s rent-a-family industry, is not a documentary. Family Romance also services 'web influencers' as hired actors posing as paparazzi, following the client on the street, taking pictures in busy streets. Family Romance, LLC certainly plays out like a documentary, with some of the real-life subjects playing themselves. Family Romance, LLC is structured toward Yuichi struggling with his role as a lie. They have creepy male and female robot attendants at the counter, as well as robotic fishes in the fish tank. Sitges 2020 Review: VICIOUS FUN, The Name of The Movie Says it All, Now Streaming: ILS (THEM), Terror That Jangles the Nerves, Review: SYNCHRONIC, The Science of Altered States, Review: REBECCA, Latest Adaptation of Du Marnier's Novel Pales in Comparison, Review: THE WITCHES Brews Up a Deep, Surprising Potion, MINOR PREMISE: New Teaser Trailer Promises a Sci-fi Wallop, Sitges 2020 Review: THE SHOW, Alan Moore's Darkly Comedic Foray Into Feature Films, Review: ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN, Origin Story for Kids, Busan 2020 Review: VESTIGE Ponders the Ineffable with Grace and Mystery, Benjamin Umstead, Los Angeles, California.


Please visit Mubi to get an invite. There’s an intriguing central narrative here, about the company’s chief executive Ishii Yuichi (played by the real company’s chief executive Ishii Yuichi). A man is hired to impersonate the missing father of a twelve year old girl. I wish he had taken more time to smooth over the cracks of this fascinating Japanese-language drama about a Tokyo-based company, Family Romance, LLC (which exists in real life), that hires out actors as “surrogate family members” to lonely, distraught or simply devious customers (my favourite is the rail worker who needs a stand-in to take a dressing-down from the big boss). Though his recent 'documentaries' might not be grandiose enough for some, especially when compared to such classics as Aguirre, The Wrath of God or Fitzcarraldo, I think he is an unsung chronicler of existence in his recent films, not only considering the extent of extreme and obsessive tendencies exhibited by humans, but also rapidly changing technology and its philosophical implications.
“You create illusions to make your clients feel better – you should feel good,” a colleague insists. He expresses his fear of getting caught by 'playing many roles' in a fox shrine adorned with fox statues all wearing cute red scarves.

Watch the trailer for Family Romance, LLC. Kevin Maher. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. He is hired to play her long absent daddy because she is bullied in school for not having a father.

Family Romance, LLC review — Herzog wastes an opportunity. We see her sheepishly passing by many times, among crowds enjoying the cherry blossom festival in a public park. One of Ishii’s jobs is to perform the role of 12-year-old Mahiro’s long-absent father. Herzog's stance as a filmmaker has always been that films are all an illusion, therefore, there are no distinctions between a narrative or a documentary. Jump to: Production Companies (1) | Distributors (6) | Other Companies (2) Production Companies. Family Romance is a company that provides rental services for human relationships. Inevitably, Mahiro becomes attached. Later, the vulnerable pre-teen’s mother invites Ishii to live with them. As the 'lie and deception' on Mahiro continues, Yuichi is having an existential crisis. Where does this relationship take them in the future? All content © 2004-2020 ScreenAnarchy LLC. The poet must not avert his eyes'.

And it's a fitting concept for Werner Herzog, who has always been a filmmaker in both narrative and non-narrative forms, documenting vagaries of human life since the 1960s. Werner Herzog's new film, straddling the line between narrative and non-narrative forms, is now available on Mubi.

The veteran German director of Fitzcarraldo and Grizzly Man recently boasted that he can now make films at a breathtaking pace, often writing the script in a week and editing in barely a fortnight. They finally meet and talk. Family Romance is a company that provides rental services for human relationships. Foxes are known in Japanese folklore as shapeshifters and Japanese people pray often to them when they want change in their lives. Family Romance, LLC is available on Curzon Home Cinema, BFI Player, Mubi, Showcase and through modernfilms.com, Werner Herzog: 'I'm fascinated by trash TV. Do you feel this content is inappropriate or infringes upon your rights? Showing all 9 company credits. Blending fiction storytelling with documentary-style visuals, FAMILY ROMANCE, LLC is a striking meditation on truth and artifice in the age of loneliness. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. Thursday July 02 2020, 5.00pm, The Times. Yet Yuichi Ishii, the real-life head of Tokyo-based rental company Family Romance, portrays a version of himself.

Family Romance, LLC movie reviews & Metacritic score: Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion.

Both this metatextual casting and Herzog’s use of handheld camera emphasise the film’s hybrid quality. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. The master filmmaker is, again, searching for that ecstatic truth.

The genuine emotional service Ishii provides as a stand-in father is treated with solemnity, but so is the transactional reality of the performance. Family Romance, LLC (2019) Company Credits. The scenarios are scripted and there’s no narration or acknowledgment of the gonzo film-maker’s presence. Family Romance, LLC — Werner Herzog’s film enters a strange world of performers. As Ishii reflects on the ethical limits of his work, there is the uncomfortable sense that his conundrum is real. Yuichi asks the robot hotel manager, "Will robots have dreams?". Family Romance, LLC enjoys a free virtual preview on Mubi July 3, with Q & A with Herzog afterward.