The Happiness of the Katakuris

Based on a non-musical Korean film—The Quiet Family by another genre-mixing filmmaker, Jae Woon Kim—Takashi Miike uses the increasing absurdity of this comedy-horror-musical to explore the state of the Japanese family after the collapse of the economic boom that underpinned the popular song film. The film’s claymation opening sequence and bleak narrative of a downsized salaryman opening a B&B in the country presents contemporary life as a hopeless cycle of exploitation, but the performance of the film’s lo-fi musical numbers by a cast that includes Kenji Sawada, star of several "group sounds" musical films in the 1960s, highlights a nostalgia for intimacy and optimism. Rated R.

2001, 113 min., 35mm, color. In Japanese with live English subtitles. Directed by Takashi Miike. With Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Naomi Nishida, Kiyoshiro Imawano.

Tickets: $12/$9 Japan Society members, seniors & students


Part of the 2016 Globus Film Series Japan Sings! The Japanese Musical Film.

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