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Directed by: Takashi Miike Starring: Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Tamaki Miyazaki The Happiness of the Katakuris (Katakuri-ke no koufuku) is an extremely bizarre little Japanese movie from horror director Takashi Miike. He's probably best known around this forum as the director of Ichi the Killer, though he has a pretty impressive resumé. Masao Katakuri (Kenji Sawada) was laid off from his job as a shoe salesman, and decides to start up a guest house on the rarely-visited slopes of Mt. Fuji. Along with his father (Tetsuro Tamba), his wife Terue (Keiko Matsuzaka), his son Masayuki (Shinji Takeda), his daughter Shizue (Naomi Nishida), and his granddaughter Yurie (Tamaki Miyazaki), he readies his little guest house for visitors in the hopes that a major road is built nearby. But things start to go sour when their first guest winds up dead. Resolving to bury the body so that people associate the Katakuris' guest house with death, the family cheerfully presses on... until it happens again. It's a musical with a little bit of comedy, a little bit of drama, and a little bit of horror. The scene where they discover the first body turns into an 80s glam rock music video, complete with dry ice and crazy blue lighting. Also, there's a song where zombies sing and dance. All in all, definately worth seeing. There are a couple things where I felt left out of the lurch because I don't understand certain minutae of Japanese culture, but it's still enjoyable from a Western standpoint. There are a couple other things I feel I missed because things just went by so fast in the beginning. I suspect, however, that this'll clear up when I watch this movie again... and again... and again. RATING: 4.5 PROS: Delightfully bizarre with great music and an interesting plot. CONS: A little difficult to follow at times. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304262/
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May 4, 2005 05:56
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 04:39 |
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This movie was absolutely insane and it's constantly enjoyable to watch. The craziness and down-right absurdity was really something special, in a good way. Thereisn't much else to add other than that I'd definitely recommend this movie to anyone looking for something a little different. 5/5
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May 6, 2005 07:53
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