Family Romance, LLC.

...you will not understand how 'real' this film is. It may appear banal or even boring if you don't appreciate how sensitive the Japanese are. For a society and culture as creative as Japan, the idea you would like to have someone who could 'fill in the gaps' in your life is quite possible. Werner Herzog was apparently influenced by an article in the NYT. I haven't read the article but I will try to find it, it is probably as interesting as the film. Wonderful images and roles.

BTW, if you haven't visited Japan, put it on you list of things to do, if possible.

The film is a bit slow in places and there are some boring bits, but the concept itself is interesting. A man has an company who rents substitutes for fathers, businessmen, etc. He begins forming a relationship with the daughter of a wealthy, Yuri Kagami-esque woman who is a divorced widow, by pretending to be her father. Unfortunately it goes against his own company policy. Will he tell Mahiro the truth or become her actual father? The last few minutes of the film are the best. There's a little bit of insight into Japanese racism, as Mahiro befriends a little girl for having dark skin.

The photography is beautiful. The vistas of Tokyo are stunning. It's definitely worth watching.

It's been a while since I haven't heard about Werner Herzog. And now, this. Do Japanese people hire fake fathers or other friends? I wouldn't know. Do they travel long distances to consult with an oracle woman? I wouldn't know either. Is there an emergent industry of pretending you're dead, in order to see what it's like? How could I know? Are robots likely to take over from humans in ways we can't fathom yet? For sure. Can we pretend to fight without weapons? Absolutely. Do we need to save face in various situations? You can bet on it. Would we hire someone to take the blame and prosternate to the boss's feet instead of us? Don't answer no; you'd be lying. Stark interiors, formal attitudes, rigid dialogues- and a world of turmoil within. Is it reality? Is it a nearing, ominous future? Is it Japan? Is it not? Who cares, it's a good film. Who would have thought in 2019 that we would be quarantined globally in 2021? And yes, somewhere in south-east Asia I witnessed a situation in which two young men fell on their knees in front of an older guy- presumably their employer- and showed their deepest remorse and practically kissed his feet in public; they didn't stand up before the man touched their shoulders. Not a scene for European eyes.

I'm gonna be brief here: everyone could have done a documentary about this topic. We're talking about a japanese agency specialized in renting substitutes for dead family members! Herzog gives us coordinates and help us to ask the right questions to understand our apparently weird world. What is the role of the illusion? What connection does it have with the robotics and cinema? Is it totally evil? There's no judgment in the director's eye. Only representation, critical look and, of course, illusion.

I wanted to like this movie. The story is great and asks some serious questions about how we "act" in our everyday lives. However, the movie is quite hard to watch with many incredibly awkward scenes. It also looks a bit homevideo-y and the script is a quite thin.