eatfirst An extended family move out to the country to run a B&B, only to find that each rare and sorely-needed guest winds up dead on their property. Naturally this prompts a series of frantic musical sing-along productions before the shovels come out. One of Seven films made in 2001 alone by the absurdly prolific Takashi Miike (best known in the west for his more intense horror works such as the magnificent "Audition" and "Ichi The Killer"), this loose remake of Korean film "The Quiet Family" has all the rough edges and scatter-shot structure you'd expect of a film presumably made over a quiet weekend between projects. But for all that, it's frequently very funny, admirably off-kilter, and features quite the finest claymation soup- sprite that I've seen this year.Should you find that "Les Miserables" simply doesn't have the epic scope and emotional punch you want in a musical, then this combination of "The Sound Of Music", "Saturday Night Fever", "Shallow Grave" and "Shaun Of The Dead" is absolutely what you've been looking for.

crossbow0106 The maverick like Takashi Miike, who sends up Japanese culture in many of his films, directed this film about a family who have a guest house in the middle of nowhere, where the (few) lodgers end up dead by morning. And, its a musical! The film is all over the map and even includes some claymation. It is not bad, but it is somewhat uneven. I wish I cared more for the characters, they are somewhat one dimensional. However, Takashi is always interesting as a film maker, so I do recommend it, but he has done better. Its strange in its approach, a black comedy if you will. Once you understand it, you can watch it. Be warned, though, its a little out there.

weedaymolie Probably the most random thing iv ever seen! First thoughts through my head were what the hell!? and yet its brilliant!The beginning really has nothing to do with the rest of the film apart from that hint of death and some people who turn up for a tiny bit in the middle...it in a way prepares you for the randomness ahead. After such a random start you would expect the randomness to continue but it completely dies for a good 15 mins of introduction of the Katakuri family. Not the most normal of families...A selfish rarely smiling grandad, overly happy dad who is always sure everything will turn out OK. A mum who cooks and is very over the top, a daughter obsessed! with falling in love, a normal son who is disapproving of everyone but changes at the end and the daughter's daughter who pretty much just looks at the camera now and again throughout the film. Poochi the dog is also crazy! This family have moved to the middle of nowhere and built a guest-house. They have never had a guest when a famous person off the TV comes to stay and ends up killing themselves but because the family don't want people to know their first guest died they just bury her away int he woods...a string of deaths follow some amusing situations and again they bury them...its rather comic throughout... When anything goes wrong they sing and dance and everything becomes right again..its odd.With a zombie scene, love scene, fight scene and random other scenes its a great watch! With all the major things being in modelling clay its all rather random but yet you have to see it to the end.BRILLIANT film! Odd...no real plot but humorous and so so random!

CountZero313 From my rating, you'll know which side of the divide I am on. This is a tired, unfunny film that is too predictable to be zany and aims too hard at off-the-wall to make you care about the characters. It seems to reference a lot of films; the dark comedy isn't as effective as Shallow Grave, the horror less visceral than Swallowtail Butterfly, the dance sequences don't get your foot tapping like Zatoichi, and the songs are putrid, clumsily interspersed rather than effortlessly woven in as in Dancer in the Dark.As for the comedy, from the moment the Dad sits on the swing you know it is going to break and he'll come crashing down. In this vein, all the so-called gags are telegraphed way ahead of time. I smiled twice during the film; when they drop the dead sumo guy out the window, and when the mountain first puffs out smoke to signal it is a volcano. This is lazy, sloppy storytelling - a policeman on a wobbly bicycle?? Are we regurgitating the Keystone Cops now? Downright embarrassing is the casting of and performance by Kiyoshiro Imawano as a conman. That whole pidgin Japanese routine went out with late eighties variety TV here in Japan.Miike has his fans, but after this stale, unpalatable effort I won't be tempted to re-visit any time soon.