Meet The Asada Family, a touching and sensitive comedy, in theaters since January 25.
Directed by Ryôta Nakano, La Famille Asada tells the story of a small troupe like no other where everyone has a secret dream. The father would have liked to be a firefighter, the big brother a Formula 1 pilot and the mother would have imagined herself as a yakuza wife!
Masashi, he realized his own: to become a photographer. Thanks to his work, he will allow everyone to realize that happiness is within reach.
This feel-good comedy, reminiscent of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s feature films like A Family Affair, is inspired by a true story: that of Japanese photographer Masashi Asada.
The filmmaker Ryôta Nakano based himself on two books of photographs on the nature of the bonds that weave a family and the unequaled power of photography. The first album in question brings together family photos: that of the photographer himself.
The latter had fun staging his own family in his photos. Himself, his brother and their parents are sometimes dressed up as firefighters, members of a rock band or employees of a restaurant.
In the second album behind the film, Masashi Asada talks about his experience in a group of volunteers after the tsunami that hit eastern Japan in March 2011. Faced with the scale of the disaster, how could a photographer help people well?
This is the question that the artist asked himself, until he met a young volunteer who was carrying out a relatively unexpected job. His mission was to rescue family photos and albums lost in collapsing houses. He collected them, cleaned them, and returned them to their owners.
“From the first pages, I burst out laughing and at the same time it warmed my heart. To make these one-of-a-kind photos, it must have taken blind trust and full cooperation from the photographer’s family. , and I said to myself that it was surely hiding a beautiful family history”confides the director Ryôta Nakano.
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Like his compatriot Hirokazu Kore-eda, the filmmaker places the family at the center of his feature films. If this theme is so close to his heart, it is in particular because of the loss of his father at the age of 6 years. The future director and his older brother were brought up by their mother.
“I also have two cousins who lost their parents and who I practically grew up with, so I think I’ve always asked myself: ‘What is a family?’ Today, I still don’t have the answer to this question.” Nakano confesses.
“I have the impression that I will never find her. And it is because no subject is so complex and exciting that I continue to film the family”says the filmmaker.
Touching family portrait, The Asada Family was released in theaters on January 25.