The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

The Happiness of the Katakuris: Directed by Takashi Miike. With Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Naomi Nishida. A family moves to the country to run a rustic mountain inn when, to their horror, the customers begin befalling sudden and unlikely fates.

“There is little more to say about this film than to recommend it heartily to anyone with a sense of humour. I mean a proper sense of humour. If you have ever wet yourself sitting through Monty Python you are going to enjoy this. This isnu0026#39;t Will and Grace. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMost of the songs are great, the song based around a dead man with scissors in his neck is brilliant. They are cheesy, OTT and have some of the best dance moves since Ricky Martin tried dismally to samba his way into the charts. I am still humming along to some of the tunes (from the Katakuris, not Ricky Martin. Although I wish heu0026#39;d been a guest at the Katakuriu0026#39;s guest house.) My greatest problem with the film comes from its advertising. It is labelled as a u0026quot;Cannibal Musicalu0026quot; in some press releases. Ignore this. There is no cannibalism in this film. Not even a suggestion of it. Nobody even says in close up; u0026quot;Oh I am hungryu0026quot; and then is juxtaposed with a shot of a dead body. The only feasible description of this film which mentions cannibalism is: u0026quot;Is not about cannibalism, unless if by cannibalism you mean songsu0026quot;. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eYou are going to have a great time watching this film and if you are familiar with Miike I think it is safe to say that this film is more shocking that even Ichi the Killer. Why? Because at the end of it you feel all warm and fluffy inside and I dare say nobody expects this from Takashi Miike. I certainly didnu0026#39;t.”