The Happiness of the Katakuris

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Post-film discussion with Mark Morris! 35mm print

“Japanese director Takashi Miike is a cult filmmaker for our time. His work since 1995 has been fast, cheap, and frequently out of control. Celebrated by his fans for excessively violent horror thrillers such as Audition (1999) and Ichi the Killer (2001), Miike takes a welcome break from that fare with The Happiness of the Katakuris, a camp musical-comedy hoot. It comes on like an outrageous episode of The Simpsons or South Park, milking humor from a happy-smiley family’s attempts to turn a country estate into a guest house. As their new life spins out of control, murders and apparitions do nothing to halt the flow of songs, dances, and sickening pastel imagery. Like an Austin Powers movie made for a fraction of the cost, it throws in a bit of everything—scatological jokes, movie pastiches, animation, satire of national manners—as it whips up an infectious energy.” – Adrian Martin, Chicago Reader

  • Country Japan
  • Rating R
  • Year 2001
  • Running Time 113 minutes
  • Director Takashi Miike

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.