#Katakuri-ke no kôfuku

[gotankgo]

The Happiness of the Katakuris (Katakuri-ke no kôfuku) 2001

[moviecinepelis]

[brody75]

The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

[statesofexception]

Naomi Nishida & Kiyoshiro Imawano — ‘The Happiness of the Katakuris’ (excerpt) (Katakuri-ke no Kôfuku; Takashi Miike, 2001)

[haroldgross]

New Post has been published on Harold Gross: The 5a.m. Critic

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The Happiness of the Katakuris (Katakuri-ke no kôfuku)

After being pleasantly surprised by The Bird People in China, I was curious to see this other Takashi Miike directed tale. Described as “Sound of Music meets Dawn of the Dead,” how could I resist? The result, however, did not leave me intrigued me enough to continuing digging much more into his more offbeat opus. To be clear, it has nothing in common with either of those seminal films on any level, it was just empty marketing hype.

So to the movie itself. Bizarre is a kind word for this odd musical. It starts off amusingly enough, strangely, but amusingly with a claymation sequence that attempts to set the theme of what is to come. And then… well, imagine an amateur musical production of a black comedy with a cast that can neither sing nor dance. Add to this that the entire plot is really about this family coming together, except there is no sense of connectedness between them at all. It is a broad black comedy, which probably isn’t helping on that count, but neither does it succeed. On an individual level, it is supposed to be about finding happiness by, for lack of a better way to put it, playing through the pain and not getting lost in the past.

The first two thirds of the film is essentially episodic, but with little more plot than an escalating sense of the absurd. There is one truly effective sequence, also on theme, in a toxic dump that sends up echos of WWII in a funny but scathing way. I’m not entirely sure it belonged in this tale, but I think I understand why it was there.

Claymation plays into the action a few more times, usually to keep costs for f/x down (this according to Miike), and they are strangely effective. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t all come together. The film and tale just spin off into a final statement that is, again, on point, but baffling from a story point of view. None of the frames, from beginning to end, come back together; neither the opening sequence, nor the voice-over purpose of the youngest Katakuri who narrates.

I will say that the disc appears to have an excellent dubbed translation of the commentary by director Miike… though there isn’t nearly enough substance to it to make it the sole reason you watch. I turned it on to see if, maybe, perhaps, I could get some insights that would help me understand what I’d just seen. There were definitely a few clarifications, but the rest was meandering and, frankly, stuff I’d already sussed.

Miike is prolific, with over 100 films to his name. At this point, I’ll wait for explicit recommendations before I pick up others. When he delivers, he really delivers, but with that kind of output, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that at least some of them are duds. Personally, I’d skip this unless you area  Miike freak or know and like the source Korean film that it is loosely based on.

[pissedoffgeek]

'The Happiness of the Katakuris' (Arrow Video Blu-ray) Review

‘The Happiness of the Katakuris’ (Arrow Video Blu-ray) Review

Being a Takashi Miike fan takes you down some strange roads.  Whether it is the extreme Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q, or the fun Crow Zero movies there is always something a little off about all of his movies.  One of the strangest to come from him has to be The Happiness of the Katakuris, a musical about happiness, family and death which is being released by Arrow Video on gloriously colourful…

[trulydisturbing]

'The Happiness of the Katakuris' (Arrow Video Blu-ray) Review

‘The Happiness of the Katakuris’ (Arrow Video Blu-ray) Review

Being a Takashi Miike fan takes you down some strange roads.  Whether it is the extreme Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q, or the fun Crow Zero movies there is always something a little off about all of his movies.  One of the strangest to come from him has to be The Happiness of the Katakuris, a musical about happiness, family and death which is being released by Arrow Video on gloriously colourful…

[music-loops]

7-777- 7-777-

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

365 days. 365 films.

Film 217: La felicidad de los Katakuri (a.k.a. The happiness of the Katakuris) (2001)

Nota: 5/10.

El señor Takashi Miike está acostumbrado a producir películas como churros y el año 2001 no iba a ser menos: un total de 6 películas como la muy nombrada Ichi the Killer. Visitor Q y esta ida de olla cutre y remezcla géneros que hoy nos ocupa.

La felicidad de los Katakuri nos narra la odisea de una familia que ha abierto un hotel en las montañas y cuyos escasos clientes tienen la maldita costumbre de morir en las habitaciones. Con este precepto, una pizca de stop motion espontáneo, números musicales no excesivamente currados al igual que la banda sonora de karaoke y, en general, una línea argumental que parece improvisada sobre la marcha, Miike consigue lo que más le gusta: dejarnos la cabeza loca.

Si os vas el rollo del cine absurdo japonés, macabro y tontorrón, aquí tenéis una firme candidata para vuestra lista de pendientes. Aún así no es muy buena, pero hay gente pa' tó.