survival family

"When a blackout occurs an ordinary family in Tokyo believes power would be restored shortly. As the lack of power persists and all sources of energy show no sign of returning to functionality the family heads out south to reunite with the parents of the wife and mother. The family learns and bonds as it treks south on its bicycle, which is the only alternative to being on foot." - IMDB Summary

This is a Disaster-Drama-Comedy movie that prioritizes entertainment over realism, even more so than your average movie, with funny jokes and heartwarming and heart-wrenching moments.

I had the impression that this would be an over-dramatic post-apocalypse movie preaching about how society is too dependant on electricity, perhaps it is due to the ominous atmosphere that seemed to float in every barren scene, I caught myself thinking "Something terrible is going to happen.", instead, I got a very optimistic, light-hearted and funny movie seeing how there's been no riots or criminals doing crime on screen for the two-year-long blackout and they even established in one scene that even the military has been put to disarray seeing as how they knew nothing and were walking on foot on the highway.

The story is about an ordinary Japanese household biking across the country in search of electricity (and later to meet the grandparents) and how they grow closer during this time of hardship. As the titular group the story revolves around them, most (if not all) of the drama and comedy is derived from the family dynamic, and the actors pull it off perfectly and the family plays off each other brilliantly, I guarantee you'd get a laugh out of this movie.

My favorite scene has to be the climax where the father pulls out the flare in his pocket given to him near the beginning to get the attention of a steam train as a brilliant display of Chekov's Gun.