I've not seen any of this director's work before - it reminded me very much of Mike Leigh using observational narrative to tell a story whilst painting a picture of real life, warts and all. Very engaging, generates a lot of sympathy for the characters in the 'family' with all their difficulties and creative responses to those problems. I imagine it might be a fair depiction of less-privileged life in a modern Japanese city, it certainly came across that these were real people. And then there is the increasing undercurrent of uncertainty about what exactly is going on here as the narrative elements develop which provides a dramatic tension that keeps you engaged. In the end (trying to write this without making a spoiler) we are confronted with a deep question about what exactly a family is. Well worth watching, I can imagine a very similar story being told in a more familiar (English) milieu which makes this a truly great international film.