The Happiness of the Katakuris

A Japanese remake of ‘The Quiet Family’, directed by Takashi Miike, the man behind Ichi the Killer and Audition. And it’s insane. Surreal, bizarre, cartoonish - it’s an entirely different film. Oh sure, the premise is the same – a family running a failing lodge starts to receive guests who all die under various circumstances, causing the family to bury the bodies so as to not destroy their lodge’s reputation – but the details are different, as is the tone. And as they say, the devil is in the details (literally here).

For one thing, it’s a musical. A full-on musical with multiple song and dance numbers and a few dramatic scenes where actors just sing their lines when something important happens. Each music number is different in style. There’re dramatic songs, cheery songs, one involving zombies doing back-up dancing and even a colourful, chintzy (and ridiculous) ‘Love Boat’ styled one involving wirework.

The rest of the movie is downright strange. Again, it’s a remake and follows the basic premise and a few details from the original film, but otherwise this is an entirely different film. Action scenes play out in Claymation, where things get downright bizarre. It also changes a lot of the plot details and road bumps. Instead of sexual predators, undercover police men and assassins there are con artists, escaped serial killers and a sudden, unexpected volcanic eruption.

The opening Claymation scene sets the tone – a woman in a restaurant finds a demon in her plate of soup. The tiny imp rips out her tonsils and goes on an odd, abstract journey where he is killed, reincarnated then killed again, his corpse ending up in the woods where the Katakuri’s newly open mountain lodge is. Travelling psychics at one point declare this as the reason for the lodge’s bad luck, and the following slew of deaths (a vaguely similar scene also happens in The Quiet Family, minus the actual demon). This entire sequence essentially sums up what sort of movie Katakuris is, and establishes how different it is to the Quiet Family.

Compared to the Quiet Family, the Katakuris are a more likeable bunch, mostly framed as unfortunate underdogs. They’re a more loving and caring family group as well. It’s made up of Grandpa, Mom and Dad, the Son (the only character similar to his Quiet Family counterpart), the Daughter and the Granddaughter who narrates. Of the group only the Daughter and Granddaughter are (mostly) ignorant of the mounting bodies. The daughter herself is completely deluded, spending much of the movie pining over her (con artist) suitor, while the granddaughter honestly doesn’t really add or do much, and is strangely absent through most of the carnage.

The Quiet Family was darker and subtle, while Happiness of the Katakuris is downright bizarre and cartoonish. While the former was grim, Katakuris is almost jovial in its nonsense. It’s a more colourful movie, mostly devoid of the horror-like atmosphere of its source material. I suppose the differences are cultural – a lot of South Korean films employ darker humour, while Japanese ones use completely weird and bizarre humour (the musical numbers are a perfect example). Compared to the Quiet Family’s vague ending, the Katakuri’s get a semi-happy one that ties up everything, almost comically so. It's also sort of built up to - the Quiet Family lacked a real climax, while the Katakuris goes full crazy with its one.

It’s a substantially different film to the point where I don’t really know how to compare the two in traditional terms. Sure, they have the same concept and a few similar details, but they’re two exceptionally different takes offering incredibly different experiences. As for which one is better? Depends on what you like I suppose. The Quiet Family is a black comedy shot as a horror film, using dark humour. Katakuris is a bizarre musical comedy that employs a massive amount of absurdity. I can enjoy both, but it really depends on where your sense of humour lies.