Skipping any attempt to outline the story; (which for Takashi Miike, is remarkably blithe), The Happiness of The Katakuris is an often hilarious journey through cross genre pastiches, dealing with familiar themes of family breakdown, violence, murder, sexual perversion and criminality, only with a delightfully lighthearted twist.
The whole film is dripping with a camp amateurishness which makes it all the more marvellous to watch; from the farcical musical numbers, to the occasionally outrageous acting and unlikely dialogue. The Happiness of The Katakuris isn't afraid to go anywhere, and succeeds in shocking only because no genre is left unexploited; (comedy, horror, slapstick, family drama, musical, animation, crime drama etc etc etc). There were a number of scenes I watched almost mesmerised by the film's abject refusal to be in the least bit 'normal'- take for example the scene where the family are discussing the merits of the 'Female' singer parading around on the TV... nuff said! Like other Takashi Miike films, The Happiness is definitely an assault on the senses, with semi-naive but non-the-less complex claymation, hammy song and dance numbers accompanied by over the top lighting and visual effects you might be forgiven for thinking that the movie is simply a mish-mash of cross-genre parodies, however, the whole is certainly better than the sum of its parts and The Happiness stands as a unique and totally watchable - nay - immensely enjoyable movie.
The whole film is dripping with a camp amateurishness which makes it all the more marvellous to watch; from the farcical musical numbers, to the occasionally outrageous acting and unlikely dialogue. The Happiness of The Katakuris isn't afraid to go anywhere, and succeeds in shocking only because no genre is left unexploited; (comedy, horror, slapstick, family drama, musical, animation, crime drama etc etc etc). There were a number of scenes I watched almost mesmerised by the film's abject refusal to be in the least bit 'normal'- take for example the scene where the family are discussing the merits of the 'Female' singer parading around on the TV... nuff said! Like other Takashi Miike films, The Happiness is definitely an assault on the senses, with semi-naive but non-the-less complex claymation, hammy song and dance numbers accompanied by over the top lighting and visual effects you might be forgiven for thinking that the movie is simply a mish-mash of cross-genre parodies, however, the whole is certainly better than the sum of its parts and The Happiness stands as a unique and totally watchable - nay - immensely enjoyable movie.