The Happiness of the Katakuris

"Love. Music. Horror. Volcanos. Cinema was never meant to be like this!"

2002 1h 53m JA

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 233

ComedyDramaHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The Katakuri family has just opened their guest house in the mountains. Unfortunately their first guest commits suicide and in order to avoid trouble they decide to bury him in the backyard. Things get way more complicated when their second guest, a famous sumo wrestler, dies while having sex with his underage girlfriend and the grave behind the house starts to fill up more and more.

“Love. Music. Horror. Volcanos. Cinema was never meant to be like this!”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Kenji Sawada
Masao Katakuri
Keiko Matsuzaka
Terue Katakuri
Shinji Takeda
Masayuki Katakuri
Naomi Nishida
Shizue Katakuri
Kiyoshiro Imawano
Richard Sagawa
Tetsuro Tamba
Granpa Jinpei Katakuri
Naoto Takenaka
TV Reporter / Singer
Tamaki Miyazaki
Yurie Katakuri

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Takashi Miike
Writers: Kikumi Yamagishi, Kim Jee-woon
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 24 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Takashi Miike, shot by Hideo Yamamoto. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Koji Endo. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Yasushi Shimamura shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kenji Sawada and Keiko Matsuzaka and Shinji Takeda carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Love. Music. Horror. Volcanos. Cinema was never meant to be like this!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Takashi Miike directs. Hideo Yamamoto behind the camera. Koji Endo scores. Yasushi Shimamura cuts. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Released 24 years ago.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Takashi Miike, shot by Hideo Yamamoto. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Koji Endo. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Yasushi Shimamura shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Kenji Sawada and Keiko Matsuzaka and Shinji Takeda carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Love. Music. Horror. Volcanos. Cinema was never meant to be like this!".
9IMDB entry: tt0304262 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.