General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

A Family (2021 film)

A Family (ヤクザと家族 The Family, Yakuza to Kazoku) is a 2021 Japanese crime drama directed and written by Michihito Fujii, following a man named Kenji Yamamoto across three periods of his life, 1999, 2005, and 2019, after he chooses the yakuza way.¹^•² It was released in Japanese theaters on January 29, 2021, distributed by Star Sands and KADOKAWA.³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	ヤクザと家族 The Family (Yakuza to Kazoku The Family)¹
Director and screenwriter	Michihito Fujii (born 1986), whose 2019 film The Journalist won Japan Academy Prizes including Best Picture²^•³
Release	January 29, 2021 (Japan); streaming on Netflix from June 18, 2021³^•⁴
Running time	136 minutes (some listings give 135)¹^•²
Lead cast	Go Ayano as Kenji Yamamoto, Hiroshi Tachi as boss Shibasaki Hiroshi, Machiko Ono as Yuka Kudo¹^•⁵
Music	Score by Taro Iwashiro; theme song "FAMILIA" by millennium parade³
Recognition	Hayato Isomura won the New Actor Award at the 45th Japan Academy Prizes (2022)³

Spoilers

Story

The film spans three periods in the life of a man named Yamamoto, who chooses the yakuza way.² In 1999, after his father dies of a drug overdose, the desperate Yamamoto saves the Shibasaki gang boss Hiroshi from a crisis; Shibasaki reaches out to him and the two pledge to become surrogate father and son.⁶^•² In 2005, the short-tempered but earnest Yamamoto rises through the yakuza world amid an escalating feud with the rival Kyoyo-kai, meets a woman raised in circumstances like his own, and eventually makes a decision to protect his own "family."⁶ In 2019, after serving a 14-year prison term, he finds the Shibasaki gang reduced to a shadow of its former prosperity under the effects of the Anti-Organized Crime Law; he tries to leave the gang and begin a new life with the family he loves, before an incident changes everything.⁶

The Anti-Organized Crime Law referenced in the story is Japan's anti-gang legislation, whose first version took effect in 1992 and whose second in 2012; the production notes describe it as having greatly weakened organized crime's covert influence over businesses and communities.⁷

Production

Fujii wrote the script himself and described the film as a work that portrays yakuza being excluded by a changing era from the perspective of family rather than from gang warfare.⁸ The film reunites the production team behind The Journalist, which had won three major Japan Academy Prize categories including Best Picture, with producer Mitsunobu Kawamura planning and producing and the studio Star Sands producing.⁹^•³ Go Ayano and Hiroshi Tachi co-starred together for the first time as the sworn father and son.³

The credited crew includes cinematographer Keisuke Imamura, production designer Kyoko Heya, and composer Taro Iwashiro, with producers Junko Sato, Michiaki Tsunoda, and Keizo Okamoto.² The film was rated PG12 in Japan.³

Cast

Go Ayano as Kenji Yamamoto¹
Hiroshi Tachi as Shibasaki Hiroshi¹
Machiko Ono as Yuka Kudo⁵
Yukiya Kitamura as Tsutomu Nakamura⁵
Hayato Ichihara as Ryuta Hosono⁵
Hayato Isomura as Tsubasa Kimura⁵
Shinobu Terajima as Aiko Kimura⁵

Further cast includes Shun Sugata, Suon Kan, Ryutaro Ninomiya, Taro Suruga, Ryo Iwamatsu, Kosuke Toyohara, and Tachi's fellow veteran cast member Shinobu Terajima already listed, among others.²

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film held an 83% Tomatometer from six professional reviews.⁴ Critics read the film in different ways: Johnny Loftus of Decider wrote that while it is steeped in yakuza genre machismo, it is really a meditation on the concept of family as a basic human need, and Anthony Kao of Cinema Escapist called it the first major, internationally streamable movie to address the yakuza's waning influence.⁴ Mark Schilling of The Japan Times, reviewing it in January 2021, was critical, giving it 2 out of 5 and calling its laments for the passing of old-school gangsterdom "frankly ludicrous," while acknowledging that Fujii, whose breakthrough came with the politically daring The Journalist, is no manipulative hack.¹⁰^•⁴ Audience scores were higher than the critics' aggregate, with a 90% Popcornmeter figure on fewer than 50 ratings at Rotten Tomatoes and an IMDb rating of 7.1.⁴^•⁵

At the 45th Japan Academy Prizes, held in 2022, Hayato Isomura received the New Actor Award for his performance.³ The film screened in special programs at the Hiroshima International Film Festival 2021, with director Fujii and lead actor Go Ayano appearing as guests, and was shown internationally, including a Canadian on-demand run in June 2021 with English subtitles.¹¹^•¹²

Other films of the same title

The English title A Family is shared by other 2021-era films, including Una famiglia, a 74-minute Burkina Faso and Italy documentary directed by Christian Carmosino Mereu about four Burkinabe students in an innovation and rural development master's program run with Roma Tre University, and a Dutch-language drama directed by Mees Peijnenburg about two teenagers during their parents' divorce.¹³^•¹⁴

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026