Dakokubashira, meaning a house’s central pillar, traditionally describes the Japanese family breadwinner, who is inevitably male. The image is that of a sturdy support that keeps the familial structure from collapsing.
But in Kazuhiro Nakamura’s family comedy “Amalock,” the happy-go-lucky paterfamilias compares himself to the title locks that stop raging typhoon waters from flooding his hometown of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture. That is, he will be there for his loved ones in the event of an emergency. Otherwise, he goes his merry way, doing hardly anything that resembles work.
Based on a script by Nobuko Nishii, “Amalock” is the sort of heartwarming entertainment that TV drama veteran and Amagasaki native Nakamura turns out for the small screen. And despite its questionable premise — 60-something “amalock” Ryutaro (Shofukutei Tsurube) marries a 20-year-old (Ayami Nakajo), to the discomfiture of his 39-year-old daughter (Noriko Eguchi) — the story is predictable.