Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

There are some directors that can make anything make sense, and others that just baffle you. Miike's world is not self explanatory, you are constantly aware that this is a deliberately strange atmosphere. Katakuris takes this to a further extreme than Ichi the Killer. In this world people randomly bust into song, even more randomly then most musicals, and in mid-scene claymation takes over, with Miike occasionally substituting live action with it.

The basic story is of a family running a small motel that has one problem, everyone who stays there winds up dying. So like all screwball comedies, it is founded upon a lie upon a lie. Rather than report the dead, they decide to bury him. As the next corpse(s) mount the same treatment is handed out. Even when they decide to relocate to the country, their bad luck seems to follow them.

Well as usual I get bored with plot, and the plot is somewhat secondary here. Some of the characters that inhabit the film are stranger than the next. From the obese man and his schoolgirl wife/girlfriend, to the man in the "navy" who knows where these guys come from. The acting is stylized, so it's hard to say if they're bad or just trying to be over the top. This debate is most prevelant with Naomi Nishida. She borders on irritating quite often, and when she meets her love (the deshevled Navy conman Kiyoshiro) she goes way over the top.

This may not be for all people, and I can't necessarily say the film is great, but it is interesting. Sometimes though that's all you want from a film, for it to be something different. Miike is a master at giving something different, and this fits the bill.

btw sorry for the lousy write up, just can't really put this into words