The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

When times are tough, the library is a very popular place. I don't normally care for Takashi Miike films, but since the library had The Happiness of the Katakuris I decided to check it out. It's free! And I was pleasantly surprised.

This film is billed as a cross between The Sound of Music with Dawn of the Dead. This is slightly misleading. In terms of 'horror', you couldn't really categorize this film as that. But that's Miike's reputation for you. However, according to Miike, this film is overwhelmingly about death. Or rather, the importance of life and the meaningless of death. A typical carpe diem theme.

This film is definitely a musical. I don't like musicals at all but this one was very entertaining. The film's actors admit that their songs and dances are very "amateurish". And that's its beguiling charm.

I particularly enjoyed this silly duet done up in an over-the-top karaoke video style. But there are so many entertaining songs and scenes in this film.