The Happiness of the Katakuris Movie Review:


Director Miike Takashi is best know in the West for the horror crossover hit "Audition" (2000), but for this feature he has removed all sense of genre boundary.

"The Happiness of The Katakuris" is the following:
A comedy-horror-melodrama-musical with Claymation sequences, cell shading and stop motion photography. Oh. My. God.
From the bizarre intro (a plasticine take on the eternal struggle for survival) to the outrageous song and dance numbers you will be left breathless trying to keep up with the pace of the Katakuri family and their frankly bonkers life.
The tale begins as father Masao Katakuri (Sawada) is made redundant from his mundane job in the shoe section of a department store. With his retirement money, he can finally fulfil his dream of opening a guesthouse in the mountains with his wife Terue (Matsuzaka) and Grampa Jinpei (Tanba).
Also along for the ride are his offspring in the form of their son Masayuki, (Takeda) a reformed pocket picker and daughter Shizue, (Nishida) a hopeless romantic with a daughter called Yurie from a failed relationship.

Despite the family's hard work, after several weeks they have still not had a single guest, and when a group of local clairvoyants tell them the house is doomed they begin to think they have made a huge mistake.
'Luckily', only a night later a guest arrives in the pouring rain looking for a room. The Katakuris are relieved until the next morning when they receive no answer from his room - he's only gone and committed Hari - Kari! What to do?
After little deliberation the family decide that the notoriety would destroy their business, and decide to bury him in the woods behind the guesthouse.
The next guests are a Sumo wrestler and his tiny girlfriend looking for somewhere to have 'private time', and you can perhaps guess how their visit ends…

The family have to contend with everything nature chooses to throw at them to keep their business afloat, whilst fitting in a few jaunty musical interludes.
The wonderful thing about the Katakuris is their sense of idealism. Despite their flaws they have the same sweet, traditional outlook on life as the Simpsons, and although they have distinct differences they always unite as a family unit in their own unique style - whether it be to prepare dinner or bury another body.
There are flashes of really dark wit, from the loony TV broadcasts to the miniaturised version of their property (complete with teeny-weeny gravestones!) - think "Beetlejuice" and you're not far from the comedy sentiment.

The switch from 'reality' to animated sequences is achieved with slick, quick cutaways and although not packed with dazzling special effects, the blending of different techniques in such a daring way is impressive and even endearing.
The spontaneity of the song and dance numbers owes a lot to the Bollywood style. Characters burst into song at the slightest moment of tension or romance, which lifts the film from becoming too entrenched in horror or schmaltz and keeps the story moving.

Saying that, with all of the flits from one style to another, you may find yourself losing track of what is going on - if you pop to the loo you have no chance!
The movie could also have benefited from being a little shorter - almost two hours is normal these days but in a feature like this it is harder to maintain the pace for that long. As a result it runs out of breath somewhat in the final thirty minutes, which could have been tied up satisfyingly in half that time.

Don't let that put you off however. This is the sort of film you should see for it's sheer lunacy and innovation. Imagining the pitch to get the movie made alone brings a wry smile. But it mostly works, thanks to the picturesque locations, unique humour and the consistently brilliant performances of the very game cast.

7.5/10

Terresa Gaffney

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