This piece contains some spoilers but nothing that would detract from the overall experience. Just a warning.

Weird and wonderful

A few weeks ago I watched a film called The Happiness of the Katakuris. It’s a film by prolific director Takashi Miike and for those who know about the infamous director and his work, you’ll know how weird and crazy some of his films can get. I’ve seen several of Miike’s movies and some of them are funny and action packed. Some are horrifying and have great stories and then there are films of his that are weird, wacky, wonderful and all of the above. The Happiness of the Katakuris has all the usual Miike elements that fans of the director would expect but it injects some its own stuff into it.

The Happiness of the Katakuris is a comedy, drama, horror, musical all mashed into one. I know what some of you may be thinking, what a weird mash-up of genres? Weird, is to be expected when talking about a Takashi Miike film. Weird and Miike go together like cookies and milk.

The Happiness of the Katakuris is about a family who are trying to make ends meet with their bed & breakfast called the ‘White Lovers Inn’. Also they have an adorable dog, I cannot forget the dog. The B&B however is getting customers and is failing badly but out of the blue, a customer arrives but things don’t stay good for long. The guest dies and obviously that isn’t good for business so rather than call the police and an ambulance, the Katakuri family decide to bury the body a short distance away from the inn. Things get weirder and weirder and downright bonkers.

I want to tell you more about how the film goes but I don’t want to ruin it for you.

Earlier on in this piece I mentioned that this film was part musical. You may be wondering, where does the musical element fit in to it all? The answer to that is that the musical numbers happen rather often throughout the film and often include dancing. The music is actually pretty darn catchy too, I clapped along to some of them. The musical numbers happen at the right times and when you least expect them. You’ll be watching the film, getting into it and then all of a sudden the family breaks into song. As I said, weird and wonderful.

You get a feel for how the film goes right from the get-go as the film starts of with a claymation sequence. Yes you read that right, claymation and boy is it weird. All the claymation that happens in The Happiness of the Katakuris is weird, creepy too. It’s a weird thing to add but again, this is a film by Takashi Miike so I really shouldn’t be surprised.

I’ve watched The Happiness of the Katakuris twice now and the last time I watched it was the middle of January and I still can’t get it out of my head and you know what, I don’t think I want to.

The Happiness of the Katakuris isn’t just a film, it’s an experience.

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