Japan has a, perhaps not entirely unwarranted, reputation for being weird. Much of the media from the island that winds up exported to Western shores is on the weirder side, although I feel it's reasonably likely that it probably doesn't make up a particularly huge proportion of their media in general - I guess it's more entertaining for us Westerners to point at it and go "gosh, isn't Japan weird". That said, director Takashi Miike embodies, for me, one particular facet of Japanese weirdness. The ludicrously prolific director is probably most well known for his ultra-violent gore flick, Ichi the Killer, and harrowing mindfuck of a film, Audition, a masterclass in toying with the viewer's expectations (though the prospect of giving it another watch makes me feel slightly unwell).
The Happiness of the Katakuris is one of 8 (!) films Miike directed in 2001 and describing it is difficult; in no small part because I can think of nothing else I've watched that is quite like this bizarre family horror-comedy musical. The titular Katakuri family open up a bed and breakfast in what is effectively the middle of nowhere, based on the promise that a new road would open the area up to a whole host of visitors. At first nobody arrives and the family despairs; though once a trickle of patrons make it to the guesthouse it seems they are, through no fault of the Katakuris, simply fated to die. What ensues is an absurdist whirlwind of spontaneous musical numbers, stop-motion animation, zombie dance numbers and the shadow of an Ozu family drama refracted through a prism of batshit crazy. It simultaneously feels like a satire and homage to just about everything under the sun, though golden age Hollywood musicals in particular. Unpredictable and engaging, but perhaps most surprisingly of all, genuinely heartwarming - Miike truly never ceases to defy expectations.
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