Review of The Happiness of the Katakuris (2002) by Ralph R — 07 Apr 2008

Comedy about a hotel where guests just keep dying, and the family who buries them all together. A very lighthearted and zany film, with great surreal claymation sequences, and hilariously low budget song and dance routines(enough so to qualify the film as a musical), the songs of which are more like karaoke than theater.

This is one of the more enjoyable and friendly films from Miike, while still possessing the same sense of inventiveness and humor that have become his trademark. I couldn't imagine a reference point for this film, as it lives in it's own peculiar Takashi Miike universe, however on the more positive side of that universe, where disposing of bodies is family activity that unites rather than destroys.

A must see for Takashi Miike fans, others should proceed with caution.