Bad Family | |
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Promotional poster
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Directed by | Aleksi Salmenperä |
Produced by | Aki Kaurismäki |
Written by | Aleksi Salmenperä |
Starring |
Ville Virtanen Lauri Tilkanen Pihla Viitala Vera Kiiskinen |
Music by | Ville Tanttu |
Cinematography | Tuomo Hutri |
Edited by | Samu Heikkilä |
Distributed by | Sandrew Metronome |
Release date
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29 January 2010 |
Running time
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95 minutes |
Country | Finland |
Language | Finnish |
Budget | €1,600,000 (estimated) |
Bad Family (Finnish: Paha perhe) is a 2010 Finnish drama/black comedy film written and directed by Aleksi Salmenperä and produced by Aki Kaurismäki. The film tells the story of an overly protective and controlling father who suspects incest is taking place between his own son and daughter. These growing suspicions and concerns cause the father to become delusional and unrelenting in his quest to end the love affair between his children.
Distributed domestically by Sandrew Metronome, Bad Family was theatrically released in Finland on 29 January 2010. From 14 to 21 February 2010 it was screened at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.
In a review of the film, Jonathan Romney of Screen Daily called Salmenperä's storyline a "confident study of family trauma" and proclaimed the film "a compelling, sometimes darkly witty drama." Alissa Simon of Variety magazine stated that Bad Family has a "perversely fascinating start" after which the "darkly comic psychodrama goes plain psycho". She commended the "serious thesping by the three principals" for suggesting "psychological depth" but concluded that "the script eventually leaves them high and dry" and that "[Bad Family] loses its way at the midpoint, becoming a tonal roller-coaster that skitters to a stop."