The Happiness of the Katakuris

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Happiness of the Katakuris
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTakashi Miike
Screenplay byKikumi Yamagishi[1]
Produced by
  • Hirotsugu Yoshida
  • Tetsuo Sasho[1]
Starring
CinematographyAkio Nomura[1]
Edited byYasushi Shimamura[1]
Music by
  • Koji Endo
  • Kouji Makaino[1]
Production
company
Release dates
Running time
113 minutes[2]
CountryJapan[1]
LanguageJapanese

The Happiness of the Katakuris (カタクリ家の幸福, Katakuri-ke no Kōfuku) is a 2001 Japanese musical comedy horror film directed by Takashi Miike, with screenplay by Kikumi Yamagishi. It is loosely based on the South Korean film The Quiet Family. The film is a surreal horror-comedy in the farce tradition, which includes claymation sequences, musical and dance numbers, a karaoke-style sing-along scene and dream sequences.

The film won a Special Jury Prize for its director at the 2004 Gérardmer Film Festival and has received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

The Katakuris are a four-generation family of failures: patriarch Masao Katakuri (Kenji Sawada), his wife Terue (Keiko Matsuzaka), his father Jinpei (Tetsurō Tamba), his formerly criminal son Masayuki (Shinji Takeda), his divorced daughter Shizue (Naomi Nishida), her child Yurie (Tamaki Miyazaki, who narrates the film), and their dog, Pochi. The family uses the father's

Sumo wrestler
, also dies of a heart attack during a tryst with his much younger girlfriend, who also dies.

Somehow, each of their guests ends up dead—by suicide, accident or murder—and pretty soon the bodies in the back yard begin to pile up. The Katakuris soon find themselves sucked into a nightmare of lies and fear.

Meanwhile, the recently divorced daughter falls in love with a man calling himself Richard Sagawa (Kiyoshiro Imawano), a U.S. naval officer who claims to be the nephew of

Queen Elizabeth II
herself. Just when Richard stumbles onto a clue that might lead him to uncover the string of disappearing guests, a nearby volcano begins rumbling to life.

Cast

Actor Role
Kenji Sawada Masao Katakuri
Keiko Matsuzaka Terue Katakuri
Shinji Takeda Masayuki Katakuri
Naomi Nishida Shizue Katakuri
Kiyoshiro Imawano Richard Sagawa
Tetsurō Tamba Jinpei Katakuri
Naoto Takenaka Television Reporter
Tamaki Miyazaki Yurie Katakuri
Takashi Matsuzaki Utanoumi

Release

The Happiness of the Katakuris was first shown in Japan at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2001.[3][4] The Happiness of the Katakuris was released theatrically in Japan on February 16, 2002.[5]

Reception

On

Sight & Sound) stated: "Like many of Miike's efforts...[the film] feels all too much like the work of someone who had seven other films on his mind, not all of which he crams into his current project". Newman commented on the acting, noting: "The performances are all fine, but the individual players sometimes seem to be competing for screen space rather than building an ensemble."[8] The review found that the "one-damn-thing-after-another progression straggles on a reel too long, delaying the inevitable and pleasing volcanic eruption finale with a hostage-taking psychopath who only pops in to drag things out until the big bang."[8]

A second review in Sight & Sound described the film as "Wilful, kitsch and eccentric" and "Miike's oddest and most infuriating film yet."[9]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f "The Happiness of the Katakuris". Vitagraph Films. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  2. ^ "The Happiness of the Katakuris (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 27 January 2003. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. ^ "TIFF History" (in Japanese). Tokyo International Film Festival.
  4. ^ Murguia 2016, p. 113.
  5. ^ Mes 2006, p. 396.
  6. ^ "The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  7. ^ "The Happiness of the Katakuris". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  8. ^
    ISSN 0037-4806
    .
  9. ISSN 0037-4806
    .

References

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Happiness_of_the_Katakuris&oldid=1209423139"