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The Happiness Of The Katakuris [2003] [DVD]
 
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The Happiness Of The Katakuris [2003] [DVD]

DVD ~ Kenji Sawada
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
Price: £6.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this item with Kikujiro [DVD] [1999] DVD ~ Takeshi Kitano

The Happiness Of The Katakuris [2003] [DVD] + Kikujiro [DVD] [1999]
Price For Both: £12.96

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  • This item: The Happiness Of The Katakuris [2003] [DVD] DVD ~ Kenji Sawada

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Kikujiro [DVD] [1999] DVD ~ Takeshi Kitano

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The Happiness Of The Katakuris [2003] [DVD]
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The Happiness Of The Katakuris [2003] [DVD] 4.2 out of 5 stars (18)
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Product details

  • Actors: Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Naomi Nishida, Kiyoshiro Imawano
  • Directors: Takashi Miike
  • Writers: Ai Kennedy, Kikumi Yamagishi
  • Producers: Hirotsugu Yoshida
  • Format: PAL, Widescreen
  • Language Japanese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Palisades Tartan
  • DVD Release Date: 29 Sep 2003
  • Run Time: 113 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0000AQVIG
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 11,027 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #64 in  DVD > Horror > Comedy Horror

Reviews

Special Features

  • Star and director filmographies
  • Scene selection
  • Jamie Russell film notes
  • Mike Takashi trailer reel
  • Mike Takashi audio commentary
  • Mike Takashi interview (33 mins)
  • Making of … documentary (61 mins)
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • TV spots

DVD Technical Information:

  • Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Anamorphic
  • Language: Japanese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Disc Format: DVD-5
  • PAL
  • Colour
  • Region Code: All
  • Running time: 110 mins approx.


Synopsis

Best known for his dark splatterfests (AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER), director Takeshi Miike takes a detour from his usual style with HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS. After losing his job at a department store, patriarch Masao (Kenji Sawada) has opened a country inn at which the whole family can work. The trouble is, whenever someone checks in, they seem to die before checking out! The inn spells a different adventure for each member of the family, and Miike somehow finds the ability to work in some surreal clay animation along with several elaborate karaoke-style musical numbers.

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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
5 star:
 (12)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars About as ridiculous and brilliant as any one film could be, 16 Jun 2004
By ghandibob (Swansea) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
I'm prepared to belive that all Japanese films are a little crazy. I don't know enough about it to say otherwise. And if that's true, then maybe this one isn't quite as odd as it appears to my untutored eye. But I think, whatever the prevailing style of modern Japanese cinema, The Happiness of the Katakuris is most likely about as nuts anything you'll ever see.

But it is fantastic. Part animation, part musical, part horror, part comedy, and all of it played exquisitely by the actors. Their faces are calm, despite the increasingly ludicrous events that unfold around them, despite the mounting number of dead bodies. The actors, every one of them, are a charm.

It is also a wonderful celebration of family. In fact, the only thing that ties the film together is the way the eponymous relations stick by each other. Their story - that of opening a remote hotel and struggling to find guests, then having guests gradually arrive only to die one by one in bizarre circumstances - is filtered through the importance of family ties. It is a nice message, though one that could have become leaden with good intentions. But when told like this, no subject could ever be boring. You cannot help but laugh with delight watching this film. It is that much fun.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars one of the most insanely original films of all time!, 6 Oct 2003
By A Customer
From Japan's hottest director, Takashi Miike, comes a film that merges together a handful of incompatible genres and ends up creating a genre of its own. The plotline concerns a Japanese family who have shunned the pressures of city life to open a hotel by the mountainside. When the guests begin to come, they all die in unusual ways, leaving the family of having the option of bad publicity or a series of burials. Sounds like Shallow Grave? Well, this film is a MUSICAL! Where the chracters randomly burst into joyous song. An unpredictable film, it also has moments of Jan Svenmajer style animation. Bizarre, imaginative, beautifully directed and unlike ANYTHING you have ever seen!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This film is so awesome!!, 2 Aug 2006
By Louisa Brooks (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
This film has singing, dancing, horror, romance AND comedy which makes it everything you could ever want on a saturday evening. Watch it with an open mind and you'll love every second.

The first time i watched this i was thinking 'hmmmm, strange' but then it started to really grow on me and now it's definately one of my top ten favourite films.

The first 10 minutes are insane and a bit gross, but after the start you really come to love the characters and the crazy plot the film Takashi Miike has to offer.

I totally LOVE all the songs, i find myself singing along even though they're in Japanese!! They are a bit cheesy, but you have to understand that they're supposed to be, and some of the songs are also really sweet!

The characters are all different and awesome and the storyline is totally insane, but, of course for comical effect. Don't watch this if your comfortable diet of film only consists of normal Mainstream Hollywood films, because you won't be comfortable with how cheesy the songs seem, or with how bold the narrative is. (it dosen't follow the normal beginning, middle and end pattern)

Unpredictable deaths, zombies and playful songs dott the entire story. Beneath all the funky dressing however there also lies a really very sweet message, and you come to understand that the strong underlying moral is of how important love and family is, and how with these things, one has the strength to overcome anything. And on watching this film you'll understand that the Katakuris definately need this family strength!!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
I think Takeshi Miike has done every single genre going and I've seen most of his movies, but this is a pure masterpiece. Read more
Published 2 months ago by raven_guest

2.0 out of 5 stars Weak effort by Miike
Takashi Miike is known for having made zillions of movies: he films several movies a year, almost all genre films. As a result, he has developed quite a cult reputation. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Andres C. Salama

5.0 out of 5 stars With my family, I know I'll grow up to be really cool

A woman is eating soup when she finds a strange object in her soup -- a curly-headed pixie who becomes enamored of her uvula and steals it. Read more
Published 14 months ago by E. A Solinas

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick Reviews!
Miike does it again, further proving that he his currently the best director in the world, and that Asia is, and has for the last 5 years been making the best films. Read more
Published 23 months ago by carlosnightman

5.0 out of 5 stars The hills are alive with the sound of laughter.
The Happiness of the Katakuris is probably Takashi Miike's strangest film (or at least, stranger than any of the others that I've seen so far; which is quite an accomplishment... Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2007 by Jonathan James Romley

5.0 out of 5 stars Comparisons..
Have Happiness of Katakuris..Great film. Does anyone know what this is like - Choyonghan kajok - The Quiet Family. Get idea they are similar?
Published on 26 Sep 2006 by K. Long

1.0 out of 5 stars Not happy
I would like anyone that has watched this film to take a step back, and compare it with any other film. Even any other Takashi Miike film. Read more
Published on 9 April 2006 by Kent Yeomans

5.0 out of 5 stars Insanity Writ Large
Firstly, aword of warning for those in search of the grusomeness generally regarded as Mr Miike's forte. This is a very different kettle of fish. Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2006 by Grr

4.0 out of 5 stars Nutty as a fruitcake
This is great fun. Mix up John Waters, Father Ted, Shallow Grave and the Royal Tennenbaums (oh - and morph from Vision On) and you get the idea. Read more
Published on 1 April 2004 by pottingshed

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Original
This is one of Miikes films that is unlike any of the other films he has made, or any other film that anyone has made. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2004 by joshnpoole

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