The Happiness of the Katakuris
Director: Takashi Miike
Year Released: 2001
Rating: 2.5
While no work by Miike - of late - seems totally devoid of interest, this, in my mind, is among his weaker efforts, a musical about a family that run a bed-and-breakfast in which all the customers keep dying. There's a lot of campy fun for those with a taste for that sort of thing, including several inspired claymation sequences scattered throughout, homage paid to Hollywood musicals including The Sound of Music, Saturday Night Fever and the John Landis directed Thriller music video and a scene about midway through where you're invited to sing along with the actors (yup, karaoke). I can't find enough to recommend it, however, and aside from the flights of fancy feel it's mostly shallow, redundant and filled with characters that - despite being pleasant enough - lack any sort of intelligence whatsoever.
