The Happiness of the Katakuris

2001 –

Japan –

113 mins

IMDB
6.9

Rotten Tomatoes
69%

Letterboxd
3.8

The Happiness of the Katakuris follows a quirky family who runs a remote guesthouse in the mountains. When their guests begin dying in bizarre accidents, the family tries to cover up the deaths to avoid ruining their business, leading to a series of comedic and chaotic events.

Cast: Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Naomi Nishida, Kiyoshiro Imawano, Tetsuro Tamba

Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Horror

Director(s): Takashi Miike

Writer(s): Kikumi Yamagishi

Review

*may contain spoilers

I just watched The Happiness of the Katakuris and it’s one of the weirdest, most fun movies I’ve seen. Takashi Miike takes a simple story about a family running a guesthouse and turns it into a wild mix of horror, comedy, musical numbers, and even claymation. It sounds like a mess, but somehow it all comes together in the most entertaining way.

The Katakuri family opens a guesthouse near Mount Fuji, hoping tourists will come once a new road is built. But their first guest kills himself, and instead of calling the police, they bury him to protect their business. Then more guests arrive and keep dying in bizarre ways. A sumo wrestler has a heart attack during sex, a conman pretends to be royalty, and the family just keeps digging more graves. It’s ridiculous, but that’s exactly the point.

What really makes this movie special is how it never takes itself seriously. Every time something terrible happens, the family breaks into song and dance. The musical numbers aren’t great, but they’re full of energy and add to the absurd humor. Sometimes the film even switches to claymation to show impossible scenes. Miike throws everything at the screen and it somehow works.

Underneath all the chaos, there’s real heart. Each family member is struggling with something. The father wants to prove himself, the daughter dreams of true love, and even the grumpy grandfather has his moments. As the bodies pile up, the family actually grows closer. It becomes a strange but sweet story about sticking together through disaster.

The movie does drag in some parts and not every joke lands. It can feel loud and messy, and the songs aren’t very memorable. But even when it stumbles, it’s never boring. Miike’s willingness to try everything keeps you watching. By the end, I felt exhausted but also genuinely happy. This film is about death and failure, but also about how family can survive anything. If you’re open to something truly different, give this one a try.

– written by sankalp