Werner Herzog's Family Romance, LLC is having a free virtual preview on Mubi in many countries on July 3, 2020. Following this preview, it will be showing exclusively on Mubi in the many countries in the series Luminaries.The curious staging of Werner Herzog’s Family Romance, LLC., can be best understood through an event that occurred in November of 2018, when Japanese public broadcasting station Nhk aired a documentary special on Family Romance, a family rental company founded by Yuichi Ishii. The 30-minute special featured a man who hires a wife and kids after his wife’s death. To the audiences’ dismay, however, Nhk—and the New Yorker, which also produced a lengthy profile on Ishii—later found that even the man himself (including other clients featured) was an employee of Family Romance. In its follow-up investigation of the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that phone calls to Ishii and his company were left unanswered,...
- 7/3/2020
- MUBI
"You create illusions to make the lives of your clients better." Mubi has released a new official Us trailer for the docu-drama film Family Romance, LLC, the latest narrative feature from beloved prolific German filmmaker Werner Herzog. This premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, and we also posted a review from this year's Rotterdam Film Festival (Iffr). This was shot in Japan, with Japanese actors, in the Japanese language. And it's about a special business that can help provide romance, or friends, or family, or followers – all for money. The main story follows a man who is hired to impersonate the missing father of a 12 year old girl. Starring Yuichi Ishii and Mahiro Tanimoto. It's another of these strange Herzog social commentaries about disconnection and love and how we fabricate connection to find some happiness in life. Mubi is also hosting a "virtual premiere" + an extended online Q...
- 6/25/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Within the ranks of the great masters of cinema, the works of German director Werner Herzog stand out as perhaps one of the boldest body of work of a filmmaker. While still largely known for his collaborations with actors Klaus Kinski, Herzog’s work has moved far beyond masterpieces like “Fitzcarraldo” or “Nosferatu”, focusing on works of great thematic variety as feature films as well as documentaries. In his new work, “Family Romance, LLC” blends both feature film and documentary while telling the story of the real existing agency Family Romance, managed by Yuichi Ishii, who is also the star of the film. Through its various stories, some comedic, some more dramatic, Herzog explores the issue of modern relationships and lonesomeness in the 21st century.
“Family Romance, LLC” is screening at Nippon Connection 2020
For many years now “Family Romance, LLC” has been in business, offering the service of renting out...
“Family Romance, LLC” is screening at Nippon Connection 2020
For many years now “Family Romance, LLC” has been in business, offering the service of renting out...
- 6/16/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Mubi has acquired the SVOD and TV rights to Werner Herzog’s feature “Family Romance, LLC” for North America, Germany, Latin America (excluding Brazil), Turkey, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The sale was negotiated by Film Constellation.
The film stars Yuichi Ishii, the real-life CEO of Family Romance LLC, a company that rents out human surrogates for his clients’ every need—a family member for a social event, someone to take the blame for a mistake at work, a stranger to help you relive the best moment of your life.
In the film, a mother asks Ishii to impersonate her long-absent husband, and reconnect with her teenage daughter. The situation becomes a tangled net of transaction and emotion.
The film, written and directed by Herzog, used a tiny crew, with Herzog serving as cameraman. It was produced by Roc Morin.
It premiered in the Special Screenings section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival,...
The film stars Yuichi Ishii, the real-life CEO of Family Romance LLC, a company that rents out human surrogates for his clients’ every need—a family member for a social event, someone to take the blame for a mistake at work, a stranger to help you relive the best moment of your life.
In the film, a mother asks Ishii to impersonate her long-absent husband, and reconnect with her teenage daughter. The situation becomes a tangled net of transaction and emotion.
The film, written and directed by Herzog, used a tiny crew, with Herzog serving as cameraman. It was produced by Roc Morin.
It premiered in the Special Screenings section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival,...
- 6/10/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Had you searched the words “Family Romance” a few weeks before the Cannes Film Festival you would have come across a site for a Tokyo-based business. You would also have found a 3,500 word New Yorker article examining that business’ obscurity. Family Romance, the article explained, is “one of a number of agencies in Japan that rent out replacement relatives.” Kids flown the coop? Someone stiffing you on the grandkid front? Recently bereaved? Fear not, the good people of Family Romance have you covered.
The site still makes the first page of Google, at time of writing, although by now it’s nestled amongst articles relating to Werner Herzog’s latest film. As openhearted as it is characteristically bizarre, Family Romance, LLC is a fascinating dive into that world, a movie that’s neither documentary nor docudrama exactly, but a kind of documentary-once-removed. It’s as if Herzog has made a...
The site still makes the first page of Google, at time of writing, although by now it’s nestled amongst articles relating to Werner Herzog’s latest film. As openhearted as it is characteristically bizarre, Family Romance, LLC is a fascinating dive into that world, a movie that’s neither documentary nor docudrama exactly, but a kind of documentary-once-removed. It’s as if Herzog has made a...
- 5/22/2019
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
For most of his career, Werner Herzog has oscillated between narrative and documentary features, injecting his idiosyncratic worldview into both of them. With the odd microbudget “Family Romance, LLC,” he brings those two modes together for his strangest movie of the decade, and that’s saying something for a guy whose 3D documentary on cave paintings ended with albino alligators.
A scrappy drama shot on the fly during a stopover in Japan, Herzog’s minor-key story revolves around Japan’s bizarre rent-a-family business, a concept so Herzogian it’s a wonder the filmmaker didn’t dream it up on his own. While the movie’s rough production values and meandering plot never quite gel, “Family Romance, LLC” is a fascinating convergence of filmmaker and subject, providing the rare opportunity for Herzog to bury his observations in the material at hand.
To some degree, however, the movie is a hybrid narrative...
A scrappy drama shot on the fly during a stopover in Japan, Herzog’s minor-key story revolves around Japan’s bizarre rent-a-family business, a concept so Herzogian it’s a wonder the filmmaker didn’t dream it up on his own. While the movie’s rough production values and meandering plot never quite gel, “Family Romance, LLC” is a fascinating convergence of filmmaker and subject, providing the rare opportunity for Herzog to bury his observations in the material at hand.
To some degree, however, the movie is a hybrid narrative...
- 5/22/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The Cannes Film Festival, cinema’s most esteemed yearly event, begins this week. While we’ll soon be on the ground providing coverage, today brings a preview of what we’re most looking forward to among the eclectic line-up, ranging from films in competition to select titles on the various sidebars. Check out our most-anticipated features below and follow our complete coverage here throughout the month. Make sure to also follow our contributors on Twitter: Rory O’Connor, Giovanni Marchini Camia, Leonardo Goi, and Ed Frankl.
20. Family Romance, LLC (Werner Herzog)
The recent narrative output of Werner Herzog hasn’t been stellar, but for his next feature, the intrepid director is stepping far outside his comfort zone. The Japanese-language Family Romance, LLC follows a family in which a father goes missing, and a man is hired to impersonate him. Starring non-professional actors Yuichi Ishii and Mahiro Tanimoto), with music by Ernst Reijseger,...
20. Family Romance, LLC (Werner Herzog)
The recent narrative output of Werner Herzog hasn’t been stellar, but for his next feature, the intrepid director is stepping far outside his comfort zone. The Japanese-language Family Romance, LLC follows a family in which a father goes missing, and a man is hired to impersonate him. Starring non-professional actors Yuichi Ishii and Mahiro Tanimoto), with music by Ernst Reijseger,...
- 5/13/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"Every day... I must play many different roles." A teaser trailer has debuted online for the next Werner Herzog film, and it's not at all what you're expecting. Family Romance, LLC is the latest film directed by Herzog, and it's not a documentary like most assumed (since it just came out of nowhere). It's actually a narrative feature film, and will be premiering at the Cannes Film Festival later this month. Just wait - it gets even better. This was shot in Japan, with Japanese actors, in the Japanese language. And it's about a special business that can help provide romance, or friends, or family, or followers – all for money. The main story follows a man who is hired to impersonate the missing father of a 12 year old girl. Starring Yuichi Ishii and Mahiro Tanimoto. This looks a bit odd, like it's some gonzo filmmaking about how fake our societies are becoming,...
- 5/10/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Film Constellation has unveiled the trailer for Werner Herzog’s Japanese-language narrative film “Family Romance, LLC” ahead of the movie’s world premiere in the special screenings section at the Cannes Film Festival.
Written and directed by Herzog, the movie follows a man who is hired to impersonate the missing father of a 12-year-old girl. Herzog, who shot the film last spring and summer in Tokyo and Aomori, Japan, with non-professional actors, is keeping the plot details under wraps.
“Family Romance, LLC” was produced by Roc Morin at Skellig Rock and features music by Ernst Reijseger. The movie marks Herzog’s comeback to the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival after many years. His last entry in the official selection dates back to 2002 with the omnibus feature “Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet,” which he co-directed.
Herzog last attended Cannes in 2017 to receive the Carrosse d’Or award from the...
Written and directed by Herzog, the movie follows a man who is hired to impersonate the missing father of a 12-year-old girl. Herzog, who shot the film last spring and summer in Tokyo and Aomori, Japan, with non-professional actors, is keeping the plot details under wraps.
“Family Romance, LLC” was produced by Roc Morin at Skellig Rock and features music by Ernst Reijseger. The movie marks Herzog’s comeback to the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival after many years. His last entry in the official selection dates back to 2002 with the omnibus feature “Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet,” which he co-directed.
Herzog last attended Cannes in 2017 to receive the Carrosse d’Or award from the...
- 5/10/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
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