Familia (2024) Movie Drinking Game
Take a Drink: for intimations of or references to domestic violence
Take a Drink: for terrible, terrible decision-making
Take a Drink: every time something the fascists do together reads a bit homoerotic
Do a Shot: surprise, it’s Dad!
By: Henry J. Fromage (Two Beers) –
“Familia” translates to ‘Family’ in Italian, which no shit, right? It’s both a sadly ironic and a fitting title for this story, though.
Familia follows a family across decades, one whose volatile, volcanic father leaves and rejoins it as his violent nature and criminal activities dictate, and his two sons seek to escape the what may feel like predetermined paths this sets them on.
A Toast
Director Francesco Constabile throws us right into the traumatic throes of the fracturing of this family due to domestic violence, which starts with the separation from the father, but as he with threatening and terrifying ease reinserts himself into the household, all of of them splitting apart.
This might have colored the two sons’ attitudes about politics and women, as we see them as grown men thrashing to metal among a bunch of other shirtless, black-tattooed, head-shaven youths. Yep, they grew up to be Neo-Fascists, never straying from “might is right” like too many disaffected youth elsewhere.
This is an extremely well-acted film, with the father played by Francesco Di Leva in particular absolutely chilling and yet strangely empathetic in his own backwards way. It’s also evocatively shot, with all other production values up to par. The calling card here, though, is its always sadly believable exploration of the tragedy of continuing to hope someone will change and ignoring the red flags indicating they haven’t, and likely won’t ever.
Beer Two
What, the Fascists are also sexist?!? These characters are all complicated, flawed individuals, but man it’s hard to care about the girlfriend who chooses to hang out with Neo-Nazis.
Verdict
Familia is a story of the sins of the father also staining the sons; the insidious ripples of destruction emanating from domestic violence.
