Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7541 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-09-29
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Special Features

• Star and director filmographies
  
• Scene selection
  
• Jamie Russell film notes
  
• Mike Takashi trailer reel
  
• Mike Takashi audio commentary
  
• Mike Takashi interview (33 mins)
  
• Making of … documentary (61 mins)
  
• Original theatrical trailer
  
• TV spots

DVD Technical Information:

• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Anamorphic
  
• Language: Japanese
  
• Subtitles: English
  
• Disc Format: DVD-5
  
• PAL
  
• Colour
  
• Region Code: All
  
• Running time: 110 mins approx.

Synopsis
Best known for his dark splatterfests (AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER), director Takeshi Miike takes a detour from his usual style with HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS. After losing his job at a department store, patriarch Masao (Kenji Sawada) has opened a country inn at which the whole family can work. The trouble is, whenever someone checks in, they seem to die before checking out! The inn spells a different adventure for each member of the family, and Miike somehow finds the ability to work in some surreal clay animation along with several elaborate karaoke-style musical numbers.

From the Back Cover
One of the most original and innovative films of recent years, The Happiness of the Katakuris combines the most unlikely of genre elements to create the most highly unpredictable and truly unforgettable film of all time! The Katakuris are an average family whose dream is to own a successful country inn. But soon things begin to go wrong and all of their guests begin to drop dead in the most bizarre of circumstances. Desperate to ensure the success of their business, they agree to keep the deaths quiet and resort to burying the bodies in the forest behind the house …

Filmed with surreal musical numbers, disturbed animated characters, killer zombies and an array of gruesome deaths, this delirious black comedy has to be seen to be believed.

Customer Reviews

Weak effort by Miike
Takashi Miike is known for having made zillions of movies: he films several movies a year, almost all genre films. As a result, he has developed quite a cult reputation. I have seen only two of his films - Audition (probably his most famous film, and one I found to be thoroughly repulsive) and this one. I found Katakuris to be a mixed bag: this combination of a musical with a terror flick - with "The Sound of Music" added just for the heck of it - just doesn't work very well. If it sounds like a bad mix, it is. There are only a few redeeming features that makes it worth watching - two musical numbers, in particular - one at the end, and the other at the middle called In Love. The other redeeming feature is the presence of Naomi Nishida, an actress I found fascinating since I saw her in My Secret Cache some years ago. She was also in Godzilla 2000, and has a very small role in Swing Girls.

With my family, I know I'll grow up to be really cool

A woman is eating soup when she finds a strange object in her soup -- a curly-headed pixie who becomes enamored of her uvula and steals it. Thus begins a weird claymation sequence involving ghastly rag dolls, snakes, killer crows, and more pixies.

This one scene alone tells you just what kind of movie "The Happiness of the Katakuris" is, and whether you're going to like it. Takashi Miike -- well known for gruesome action movies -- is pretty obviously having a ball as he tells the colorful, chaotic story of a singing family and the people who have the misfortune to visit their hotel. Zombies, random musical numbers, and family strife are all here in abundance.

The Katakuri family is made up of four generations of family, criminal activity, and general hopelessness -- the only one currently immune is the little granddaughter.

And things are not improved when the head of the family Masao (Kenji Sawada) is laid off from his job. So he purchases a remote hotel, after being told that a major road is going to be run nearby. But nobody checks in until one rainy night, when a strange man appears -- and then stabs himself on a sharpened keychain. Cue the Japanese techno and dance number!

Terrified that the suicide will ruin their reputation, the Katakuris surreptitiously bury the man in the woods -- only to have more guests die in bizarre ways, and end up buried in the woods. Oh yeah, and Shizue's (Naomi Nishida) new boyfriend is a criminal. As a typhoon approaches and their secret burials are threatened with discovery, can this family of failures pull it together -- or will everything blow up in their faces?

I have to say that Takashi Miike -- famous for the graphic and horrific "Ichi the Killer" -- is not the first person I'd have chosen for a black-comedy/musical about a family running an ill-fated hotel. Especially since I have a special fondness for the Korean movie it remakes, "The Quiet Family." But Miike's work on this is nothing short of brilliant -- a comedy of increasingly grotesque errors, leading up to a literally explosive finale.

A lot of its charm is that Miike does not let his style be constrained by logic -- there are wild random musical numbers, claymation interludes, disco balls, wacky spiritualists, and a flying conman who claims to be the Queen's secret nephew ("Diana! If only I was there!"). He shows no restraint at all, even climaxing the film in a crazy scene where the fear-addled Katakuris -- who are trying to re-bury those troublesome corpses -- do a carefree song-and-dance scene with a bunch of zombies. It has to be seen to be believed.

And it's really funny too. While the plot starts at a rather relaxed pace (excluding the uvula-stealing pixies), Miike cranks up the absurdity with plenty of lowbrow humor (a sumo wrestler dies during sex, and crushes his girlfriend), gore, and a general feeling of surreality. Things just get more hysterical and desperate for the poor Katakuris, and Miike never gives them a break ("Maybe we should prepare for the worst," one of them says when a guest solemnly requests some cord).

Surprisingly for a black comedy, the characters are rather likable, if pathetic -- the dad and mom are just trying to keep the hotel afloat while proclaiming love to each other. Tetsuro Tamba's lovable old grandpa is just trying to keep his family safe when he isn't killing crows and assaulting suitors. Nishida is also quite good as an eternally desperate divorcee, who is almost superhumanly gullible when it comes to men.

"The Happiness of the Katakuris" is a perfect example of a black comedy -- warped, wild, wacky, and full of clay pixies and singing zombies. Now if only somebody could get Peter Jackson to remake this puppy...

Quick Reviews!
Miike does it again, further proving that he his currently the best director in the world, and that Asia is, and has for the last 5 years been making the best films. Again the main theme of the film is family, as we watch the Katakuri family, four generations and a dog, struggling to start a new life in the countryside by opening a Hotel/Inn. The tone and content of the film is lighter than many of the recent films he has gained Western recognition for, such as Audition, but his trademark weirdness, violence and wonderful originality is all here. Each family member is different and has their own strengths and weaknesses-Great Grandpa hates crows, Grandpa is losing faith in his business and cannot trust his son who is a former thief, Grandma tries to keep the family together and mother will fall in love to easily. Her daughter tells the story, and is largely a solitary figure. Then people start to die.

A guest kills himself, the family cover it up, and Mother falls in love with a psycho. Later, more guests die, and the psycho comes back leading to a police chase, animated mountain side fight, zombie dancers and several musical numbers. Then the Volcano erupts. The use of animation is excellent, the songs are short and catchy, and the story is interesting. There are lots of funny moments, the kinds of moments Hollywood, or anywhere else just cannot give, and every performance is brilliant. Plus the film looks gorgeous as well. Another great film form Takashi Miike, if you take the time to explore his movies, he deserves your praise. Whether he cares about Western recognition is another matter. The last thing to say is that he makes better films than anyone else at the moment. Hollywood director's make 1 movie every four years, quality average. Takashi- 5 films a year, almost all excellent.

The DVD has trailers, interviews, and thankfully a very good making of. More Tartan DVDs should be like this, as the best movies at the moment are coming from Asia at the moment and it would be good to know more about the cast, and making process.