The Happiness of the Katakuris

Rating:
Summary: Wacky!
Review: This movie had me absolutely cracking up. It is an absolutely oddball flick, full of non-sequitor plot points and bizarre musical moments. This was the first (and so far only) Takashi Miike film that I have seen, and it sure makes me want to see more. There is a distinct vision and a high level of creativity on display here.

"The Happiness of the Katakuris" is not a film for anyone with expectations of what a film should be like. It is a remake of the Korean film "Choyonghan kajok," and tells the story of a family who opens a bad-luck inn, where all the guests keep [expiring] through suicide of accident. A black comedy, it might be said to be in the tradition of "Arsenic and Old Lace."

Stylistically, the film follows no conventions, and slips into claymation at whim, musical at whim, and straight drama at whim. The cast is all delightful, and you find yourself rooting for each and everyone of them.

If you are in the mood for something strange and funny, you can't go wrong with "The Happiness of the Katakuris."

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable Fun
Review: While at the Philadelphia Film Festival in early 2002, I saw this movie and I was stunned. Rarely can the words grotesque and heartwarming describe the same movie, but in this case, both adjectives are apt. This film struck me the same way BOTTLE ROCKET did; it took ideas normally considered negative and dark (in this case hotel guests dying in disturbing ways) and twisted them into something positive, touching, sublime, and fun. This one's not for the cynics. If you're an intelligent, positive, and fun person with an offbeat sense of humor you'll LOVE this movie. It will make you smile and laugh for hours afterward.

See it if you like stuff along the lines of Bottle Rocket, Harold and Maude, or Oh Brother Where Art Thou. The humor is in the vein of Mystery Science Theater or Spaceghost Coast2Coast.

If your tastes are overly serious, dark, or cynical, I'd stay away as it will most likely just annoy you.

Rating:
Summary: This is one crazy Japanese film
Review: With this film, Avant-guarde Japanese director Takashi Miike shows that he still has a sense of humor. The film is a remake of a Korean film called "The Quiet Family" and is about the Katakuri family, the father of which was laid off from his job as a shoe salesman. The family decides to start over by starting a bed and breakfast in the mountains. However, the place seems to be cursed as all of the guests begin to die in bizarre ways, though the Katakuri Family is not at fault. Rather than running the risk of bad press for their business, the family decides to hide the bodies, and in doing so, they rediscover their lust for life. To top off all of the weirdness, there's claymation and the film is a musical as well as the family deals with the stress by singing like no one is listening and dancing like no one is watching! Not even in the nightmares of Tim Burton could he make a film so deliriously weird, funny and entertaining.