The Quiet Katakuris

Keeping up with über-prolific director Takashi Miike is no easy feat. In fact, by the time you finish reading this he'll have completed another film. Though a handful of his releases are readily available in the States (with more on the way), it's still only a fraction of the sixty-plus features he's directed. Though best known for the disturbing Audition and the hyper-kinetic violence of Ichi the Killer or the Dead or Alive trilogy, it would be a mistake to pigeonhole him to a single genre. From the simple character study that is Rainy Dog, to the magic realism of The Bird People in China, to the surreal brilliance of this year's Gozu, Miike is continually reinventing himself. Of all his films, the one that is the most touching (even amidst its absurdity) is the murderous family musical The Happiness of the Katakuris. The 2001 film is actually a remake of the 1998 Korean black comedy The Quiet Family, directed by Kim Ji-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters). In an interview, Miike described seeing the film on his nearly broken VHS player, and even though the he could barely see the image for part of the film, he was so moved by the story that he knew he had to remake it. The premise of the two films is identical -- a family buys a dilapidated mountain inn with hopes that a newly planned road will bring them success. The trouble begins when the few guests they receive in the interim all wind up dead. The differences between the two films range from subtle (the family make-up is altered a bit) to overt (Miike's is a musical that takes an entirely different path at the end). The Quiet Family (top photo) plays it as a straight black comedy from start to finish. As the body count starts rising, so does the paranoia, fear, and general distrust amongst the family members. The story stays wonderfully dark throughout, and the third act has a wonderful payoff. The use of music in the film is quite impressive, though more than a bit odd. From the hip-hop version of The Lonely Bull heard during the opening tracking shot through the inn (with attention to wallpaper, as in A Tale of Two Sisters), to the final scene punctuated by The Partridge Family's I Think I love You, Kim tosses in songs from such diverse artists as The Stray Cats, Love & Rockets, The Box Tops, and Harry Nilsson. Everyone in the ensemble cast, which includes Song Kang-ho (Memories of Murder) and the great Choi Min-sik (Oldboy, Happy End), turns in a richly comic but understated performance. What Takashi Miike took away from The Quiet Family was a sense that there is nothing stronger than a family bond, and it is this idea that runs through The Happiness of the Katakuris (bottom photo). The handful of bubbly musical numbers makes the dark material a bit lighter, though no less macabre. There are some additional characters here, including a phony air force pilot, and a sumo wrestler with a tiny teenage girlfriend. The story follows along the same route as the original until the final reel, where Miike changes gears and the film becomes something quite different, though no less satisfying than the original film, and distinctively Miike. One of his goals was to make a film that you could take your kids to. While it might not be suitable for young children, it certainly is one of the mildest films in his oeuvre, but also one the most fun. Miike chose actors who hail from different film and TV genres, none of whom had sung before, with the exception of Kiyoshiro Imawano, a well-known rock star in Japan. They give it their all, and the behind the scenes footage on the DVD shows just how dedicated they were to the project. Filmbrain highly recommends both films -- and not simply for reasons of comparison. There are a handful of very good Korean black comedies, and The Quiet Family is one of the best. If you've never seen a Takashi Miike film before, The Happiness of the Katakuris is as good a place as any to begin, and a pleasant surprise for those who only know his more twisted side. Both films are (hoorah!) available on DVD. Netflix carries them both.