Cheap The Happiness of the Katakuris (DVD) (Takashi Miike) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Happiness of the Katakuris

being an avid lover of the cinema, I have always had great respect for directors that like to push the envelope and do something unique as well as creative. This movie goes above and beyond the call of duty to accomplish that. I am of two minds about this movie, I'm not saying I don't like it, in fact I think it's one of the best foreign films I've ever seen. Yet at the same time I feel like going up to Takashi Miike and saying 'What kind of a sick freak are you?' It's amazing how a movie can pull your feelings in different directions.

This film seems to defy all the conventions of genre and/or style in regards to movie making, because it seems like Miike threw all of the rules right out the freaking window.

The film is indeed a feel-good black comedy, it's also a musical, a horror film, a romantic comedy, and a family film. It's strange how one film can be all of these things at one time, and yet be none of these things at the same time.

i swear, sometimes I felt like I was watching a Japanese version of Monty Python's The Sound of Music. That is essentially the best way I could ever describe this film. The film also incorporates avant-garde and absurdist slapstick situational comedy along with other great stuff thrown in, including moments of claymation thrown in for good measure.

It is the sort of film that you can't help but get drawn into, not just because of everything that I just mentioned above, but also thanks in large part to the incredible performances by the actors and actresses involved. Because in a film that seems so completely outrageous, you would think that the actors would be tempted to camp it up and do it over the top, fortunately they don't. Their performances are honest and sincere, and THAT is what makes this film work.

If you happen to be walking in a video store and pass by a foreign film section or a section of Japanese movies, do yourself a favor, check out this film.

Sweet grave diggers
Happiness of the Katakuris is just another glorious scoop for the Miike - the master of bizarre.It is a horror comedy musical (yes musical with the capital M) and since Miike can shoot any type of a movie without messing it, you are guaranteed to have over the top crazy hours in front of your TV
Film starts with a crazy Tim Burton style animation (something even too nuts for Tim's standarts). Here we have a nice Japanese family trying to make a living by opening a small hotel in the middle of nowhere.Family members are nice people : optimistic father, supportive mum, divorced and searching daughter,problematic son and cute grand daughter. They wait for the customers desperately and hope for the road construction to end and bring many people to the area. But katakuris are a bit down on the luck, most of the customers are extremely strange people who happen to die in their rooms . Katakuris however are optimistic and deal with the dead in full family union, becoming professional grave diggers.
Film is a musical as I mentioned and the dances are hilarious . Check grandpa's dances for instance. The first singing and dancing bit (after the death of the first customer) is a hilarious thriller take on. But thats not the only original moment for sure. You have plenty of those. For example,a karaoke singing bit in which we are invited to sing along as well(shot in a cheap karaoke clip type, check the dresses and acting !)is absolutely a cult moment.
Miike uses his animations on the too difficult or too expensive to shot sequences, making film even crazier.
But against all odds and nuts, film has a very optimistic as well as a positive message. Keeping family together and not loosing hope in the hard times (just like in other musicals) is always mentioned but in a very sinister way of course.
Yes Miike has done it again. Director who shot the straight and
gentle documentary like "bird people of China", odd ball action "city of lost souls", cold yakuza thriller "rainy dog" and straight starting but crazy ending bizarre "dead or alive" etc gave us this movie which can be put in the same category with the films like "brain dead" by Jackson. If you like miike, get this movie. If you like black comedy again get this movie.
If you like Japanese odd movies, then here comes another jewel to put it on your collection. And dont forget not to eat anything while watching. You may choke and end up like the customers of Katakuris.

The Zombies are doing the Twist--and it goes like ths
Katakuri-ke no kôfuku is an exceedingly inventive and entertaining film that exploits a wide range of film techniques to often stunning effect. For quite a bit of this film, it looks and feeis very much like Peter Greenaway's "Drowning by Numbers". Director Takashi Miike goes way over the top to create an emotionally rich and deeply sentimental portrait of the spirit of love.

Overall, the musical numbers lift this film into a strange and magical realm. Songs about rotting corpses and romantic longing are perfectly compatible. The film exists in a perpetual dreamlike state that is quite intoxicating. The whole film is romantic--from the longing to run a mountain guesthouse as a family to Shizue's longing for love in the guise of a conman (Kiyoshiro Imawano).

I must admit to spending quite a bit of the film swooning over the heavenly Naomi Nishida, who plays the lovelorn Shizue. She's exquisite--sort of a cross between a young Mia Farrow and Delphine Seyrig. The rest of the cast is quite good as well. Although this isn't a film made by the acting, necessarily, the performances are all expertly utilized and fit into the film's overall structure.

It really is an insane romp in this film. Bodies pile up and they must be disposed. This film alternates between being scary, gross, hilarious, heartwarming, goofy, philosophical, demented, sick, melodramatic, effervescent, ribald, and crude. The songs are lovely and the sentiments are tender and sweet. This is a family that is seeting with potentially devestating chaos just under the surface. Instead of celebrating the dysfunctional aspects, this film focuses on the commonalities that serve as inspiration for the family members in their quest for a happy life. The overall result is delightful, despite and maybe because of the all-singing, all dancing zombies.