After viewing this movie I checked out the director's thoughts on it, and it somewhat mirrored my own, so I think I // got \\ the director on this one!
The economic situation, especially the last 10 to 20 years in Japan, generally places the onus on the individual, given the culture and self-perceptions - - while indeed the individual, as made perfectly plain in the beginning of this movie, has no control over their corporation offshoring their job to China - - and the disrespectful treatment of the about-to-be-laid-off employee!
Perfectly illustrated throughout the remainder of the film, somewhat capturing the ensuing societal breakdown following extreme economic downturn.
[Reminded me of an primary school friend, named Todd, who was from a lower-middle class background and small {two-child} family - - as opposed to my rockbottom, orphanage existence - - whom I looked up to as being the most success-oriented fellow I knew at that time. He asked me in 5th grade what my GPA was, and I had no idea what he was talking about! He would go on to get his CPA, MBA and law degree, and enter the realm of executivehood, but suffered during one of those '90s jobless recovery periods, when he couldn't even score a job at McDonald's, and subsequently committed suicide! Really sad about the effects of financial downturns, but really beyond the control of the individual, no matter how superior she or he is.]

This is a 2008 film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
The first half of the story looks okay, but the last half appears unnatural and unbelievable.
Especially, the robbery incident looks foolish and pathetic and seems to ruin the whole story.
After all, the screenplay is in a bad shape.
I feel like I've wasted two hours at the end of the film.

interesting both for its view of Japan and the universal family story.

Beginning with a portentous rainstorm and wrapping up to the gentle strains of Debussy, writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s jet black comedy (a very Japanese take on Laurent Cantet’s "Time Out" ) uses one family’s financial downfall to illuminate issues of Japan’s outdated patriarchy and the dehumanizing face of economic downsizing. A grandiose cinematic vision shackled by an uneven tone (slapstick, pathos, and irony make for uncomfortable bedfellows) and a few overly staged tangents (a night of madness seemed like it was lifted from a different film altogether). But the evocative cinematography is nicely done—a storm-obscured window dominates one frame while a sobbing character is picked out in shades of gold by the rising sun—and the spare soundtrack of two-fingered synthesizer chords sounds appropriately low rent. Kurosawa (no relationship by the way) may have been aiming for Ozu, but he got a twisted Capra with a few drops of Miike instead.

Good movie although need parental guidance to children watching it.

If you don't know much about Japan and its culture then this might be interesting for you. The first half wasn't bad but then the melodrama kicked-in and well by the end of it I was just hoping it would end.

Very good movie. Original story.. Great acting.. I recommend it!

An interesting movie into Japanese culture showing how repressed and unemotional they are dealing with life.

This film gave a reasonable surface story, but I felt, it didn't 'invest' in the characters, leaving me to not care about any of them too much.

This story could only happen in Japan. If you want to know about Japanese 'man pride' then this is an eye opener for you. Please don't judge the 'head of the house' by North American standards, but see it as 'loss of face' in the Japanese psyche.