The Happiness Of The Katakuris (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Surreal masterpiece of unbelievable craziness
Disadvantages:	See above !  !  !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

"The Hills are alive with the sounds of screaming"

Takashi Miike is an incredibly prolific director, making three or four films a year for more or less the last ten years. Sometimes cinema releases, sometimes straight to DVD and occasionally even TV movies. He is best known for violent, over the top crime action pieces but he does branch out into other genres occasionally. Audition, one of the first Asian horrors to make it to our shores and strike it big is probably his biggest film closely followed by Ichi the Killer. He also filmed the wonderfully titled 'Multiple Personality Detective Psycho', a film I just have to see just because of that title!

'The Happiness of The Katakuris' is certainly not a conventional horror, neither is it a crime drama, thriller or gangster movie, all things you associate with Miike. So what is it all about then you may ask? I wish there was an easy answer to that but there isn't. HOTK is a film unlike anything you will ever see on your TV screen again. It is truly the most uncategorisable film I have ever come across. It is part family drama, part crime drama, part comedy, part surreal fantasy, throw in the smattering of song and dance routines, the claymation animation and the Zombies that join in the proceedings and you begin to get an idea of what I am talking about.
There is even a karaoke section in one of the songs where they put the lyrics on the bottom of the screen so you can sing along!

HOTK defies all conventions of film making, and should be seen by all film lovers just for that reason alone. You can never have a clue as to where HOTK is heading, it just isn't possible to outthink the madman who wrote the script, surely he must have been on something when he was putting down his ideas on paper!

HOTK is ostensibly the story of an extended family, a husband and wife leave the city and the rat race to start their dream of owning a guesthouse in the country. They bring along 'grandpa', their thieving son, their divorced daughter and their 5-year-old grand daughter to make it a nice family business. They open for business and wait for customers to turn up, and wait, and wait. Finally their first guest arrives, books a room and things start to look up for them. Little though do they realise what will happen next and how it will be the first in a line of bizarre occurrences that will take place around them and their guest house.

The big problem with reviewing this film is that you cannot give anyone an idea of what it is about by comparing it to another film, because there isn't ANYTHING like this at all!

The opening sequence of a surreal claymation circle of life, obviously inspired by the works of Jan Svenkmaer (Little Otik, Alice), something they acknowledge in the Animating the Katakuris extra on the DVD, will make you wonder what on earth it is that you have just decided to watch. A sequence that goes from live action to a mix of live and claymation onto claymation and then back and will also be sure to grab your attention. It will either put you off the film completely or grab your attention so fully you will just have to see the whole film.

The family are as well defined as they can be in a film that jumps across so many genres and concentrates on plot and bizarreness rather than characterisation. This film doesn't need in depth characters for it to work, in fact (and I cannot believe I am saying this!) it would be detrimental to the film if they tried to do this.
Having said this there is one truly wonderful character in the cast of characters…Richard, the naval officer/secret agent/illegitimate member of the royal family/conman. He brings a breath of fresh air to the proceedings and instigates most of the lighter comedy in the film.

Takeshi Miike is a very hit and miss director in my opinion, but then considering the number of films he makes that is no real surprise, and I would never have imagined that he would make this kind of film. This is such a departure from his normal films, no larger than life gunplay and violence. Still he manages to make this film completely watchable and not as absurd as it actually sounds which is a testimony to his talent.
Even more surprisingly this film is based on a Korean film by the name of 'The Quiet Family'. I am sure it isn't as odd as this one is but it is another example of Miikes ability to find obscure films from other Asian countries and remake them for a bigger audience.

DVD Extras:

Making of - Doesn't really tell you much but does have some interesting bits and pieces on it regarding Miike and his actors.
Directors Interview - Even less interesting
Film Notes - Pretty much just a review/article by Jamie Russell
TV Spot and filmography
Commentary with Miike and Takitushi Shista (a film reviewer?)
Interviews with the Katakuris - short interviews with the actors playing the family.
Animating the Katakuris - short feature on the animation in the film.
A Takashi Miike trailer reel containing - Rainy Dog, Leylines, City of Lost Souls, Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive: Final and Audition

Certificate 15
Available on Tartans Asia Extreme label
112 minutes