A Zombie Musical! "The Happiness of the Katakuris" is on Sundance tonight!

[Khephra]

I almost bought this film last week, thinking I'd never get the chance to rent it around Indy. I'm psyched!

Here's what the film is about for all of you people who've never heard of the movie before.

snip...........


Story: After being laid off from his job, a father gathers his family from obscurity to a small, quaint guesthouse by an active mountain in order to operate it as a tourist lodging. While some members of the family have obvious relation problems, the father attempts to see it through as the guests who begin staying at their bed and breakfast resort start dropping dead in ridiculous ways. In order to stay rational in all this insanity, they “sing like no one is listening, dance like no one is watching” in this musical epic landmark by anarchist director, Takashi Miike.

Review: Though based on the Korean film, THE QUIET FAMILY, Takashi Miike’s HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS is more than just a remake, different than a reinvention, but all together the aborted mutant love child from the chaotic womb of a his evil doppelganger. Matter of fact, KATAKURIS is a heart-warming musical comedy from the man who brought you FUDOH: THE NEXT GENERATION, AUDITION and ICHI THE KILLER. A tsunamic debut into an untapped genre that none saw coming…



more.......................

http://www.kfccinema.com/reviews/comedy/katakuris/katakuris.html

11pm ET is when it's on.

[Zomby Woof]

1. Hey!

I demand royalties for my compositions!

[Khephra]

2. Talk to Sundance

I pay my cable bill.

;-)

[Susang]

3. I've seen it three times already

No zombies in it, sorry to disappoint you. It is, however, the funniest, most original musical I have ever seen.

BTW, what time is it on? I have to go for a fourth time!!!

[Khephra]

5. No zombies? Damn! That's what my tv guide says...

shows what you get for trusting them. ;-)

It should be on at 11 PM ET. I'd check your listings if I were you though.

[Susang]

6. I don't want to spoil it for you

There are zombies, but only in one part. Not nearly enough to classify it as a "zombie movie" IMHO.

Still, you will see unbelievable strangeness, lots of death (most of it funny), bad music video breaks, karaoke, claymation, and a really funny American accent as attempted by a Japanese man.

I loved it. I show it to everyone I can (that's why I've seen it so many times) who I think will appreciate it. If you like surreal genre blending movies that are gleefully weird, then you will probably enjoy this movie.

[Cleve Steamer]

4. I was disappointed by it

For what that's worth (very little).

I love zombie movies. I love black humor. I've seen lots of Takashi Miike movies and liked most of them. Yet The Happiness of the Katakuris nearly put me to sleep.

I'm just warnin' ya!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. The Happiness of the Katakuris is one of those

unclassifiably weird Japanese movies, only more lighthearted than the typical Miike movie. (I couldn't watch Audition. I have a fairly high gross-out threshold, and that movie exceeded it.)

Anyway, as I often do in Movies for Democrats (which will resume next week, BTW), I have a trivia note for this film: Kenji Sawada, the actor who plays the father, was considered the David Bowie of Japan back in the 1970s, when I was a student there. He was about thirty pounds lighter, somewhat androgynous (not as androgynous as, say, Kenji Mikawa, who sings in costumes seemingly borrowed from Priscilla Queen of the Desert), with a good singing voice and charismatic stage presence, and he wrote many of his own songs.