Happiness of the Katakuris (aka: Katakuri-ke no Kofuku) — dvd movie review — early!
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Naomi Nishida
Genre: Japan, Comedy, Curious, Fantasy
When Chris and I first saw Happiness of the Katakuris several years ago, we weren’t exactly impressed. Sometimes it just takes a second round. Lately I find it delightfully campy like the Rocky Horror Picture Show with its random wacky balls-out awkwardly endearing song and dance numbers (even enka karaoke), or harkening Beetlejuice when it employs grim prosthetics and surreal stop-animation, or even Sound of Music on acid. Anything now, it seems, is amazingly tame compared to overtly circus-y contemporary Japanese screenplays perfected by Kankuro Kudo (Yaji and Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims, Zebraman) with nods to Takashi Miike’s courageous cinematic edge for sure.
So let’s introduce the Katakuris: Masao Katakuri (Kenji Sawada), the father, who moves out to the boonies to open the White Lover’s guesthouse after losing his deadend shoe salesman mall job. His wife Terue (Keiko Matsuzaka) dutifully follows and supports him every step of the way, even though it is evident that her life has become just a routine. Their daughter, jilted single mother Shizue (Naomi Nishida) is so desperate for love that she falls quickly for con man Richard Sagawa (legendary rocker Kiyoshiro Imawano) who parades around like a Japanese Tom Jones and is one of the most eccentric and hilarious characters of the bunch. Yurie Katakuri (Tamaki Miyazaki) plays Shizue’s young daughter, whose adult voice narrates poignant observation in the film’s opening scenes; comically and effectively sniding her great-grandfather Jinpei (Tetsuro Tamba). Masayuki (Shinji Takeda), Shizue’s brother, is an unaffected 20-something forced to move back in with his parents and terribly bitter about it. He is often barked orders at, and never really spoken to, which is probably the root cause and aggravation of their anti-relationship.
They are a family, joined by blood, the strongest of common bonds, yet almost live their lives as roommates, trapped in no-win situation after no-win situation. Only by concealing a series of deaths and by burying the corpses of their guests, facing a brush with death themselves, oh, and an erupting volcano, will they eventually learn to repair their drift.
The levels of effervescent optimism the key family members effortlessly exude (despite a lifetime of failure), is reason enough to give Happiness of the Katakuris a whirl, or more precisely, have it take you for a spin.
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DVD EXTRAS
In the Making of the Happiness of the Katakuris, Director Takashi Miike, in his inexhaustible variety of grossly oversized nylon trackgear, carves the path utilizing varying degrees of leadership skills, but with utmost trust in his actors’ abilities to portray his unique ideas. Miike has a definite vision, but he is not a pompous perfectionist about it, housing humility and integrity, allowing wiggle room for his actors. As a result of this, the cast really enjoyed themselves, and rounds of hard chuckles were shared constantly on set.
You’ll learn that Happiness of the Katakuris is a loose remake of Korean film the Quiet Family, but more importantly influenced by Miike’s faulty VCR that emitted loud beeps and flashes whenever a big exciting scene played. Also, in a completely subtitled scene showing the animator hard at work, the artist admits that he was expecting to create cutesy clay characters, but Miike’s preference for one of my favorite stop-motion animators, Jan Švankmajer, vaulted the inspiration.
There’s also a full-length audio commentary track by Miike, cast interviews, the original trailer and TV spot, as well as trailers for other equally bizarre movies: Bohachi Bushido, Killer Pussy, Sars Wars, Sukeban Boy, Zombie Mermaid.
Happiness of the Katakuris will be released on November 18th from Discotek.
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