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The Great Happiness Space (Original Japanese Version with English Subtitles)

Jake Clennell (Director) Format: DVD

19 customer reviews

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Editorial Reviews

Welcome to The Great Happiness Space: Rakkyo Café. The club's owner, Issei (22), has a staff of twenty boys all under his training to become the top escorts of Osaka's underground love scene. During their training, they learn how to dress, how to talk, how to walk, and most importantly, how to fake relationships with the girls who become their source of income. Join us as Osaka's number one host boy takes us on a journey through the complex and heartrenching world of love for sale in the Japanese underground.

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Directors: Jake Clennell
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Average Customer Review: 19 customer reviews
ASIN: B000P4Y6CE
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,938 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #4624 in Movies & TV > DVD > Science Fiction

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19 customer reviews

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Teresa Wong

Great Documentary!

August 29, 2010

Format: DVDVerified Purchase

I loved The Great Happiness Space. I only heard about it through blogs about Asia. It gave the viewer an inside look at a subculture that one would not get the chance to see. Host clubs are not popular in mainstream North America, so it was especially interesting. Since it was made my a sociologist, I loved it. I like factual films and documentaries so I loved this type of film.

The only thing that I was not happy about was the condition of my the used copy that I purchased. I paid $40 and it came with a phtotcopied cover. I was a little ticked off, because I wanted the picture...the guy is really handsome. I really wanted to watch it immediately so I didn't return it. Before you purchase it used, decide if you could do without a good quality cover. It may be worth the extra money to buy the new copy.

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digthat76

Fascinating

February 13, 2012

Format: DVDVerified Purchase

A fascinating look into the world of male host clubs and male hosts. Also gives you a look at the types of customers they attract. I have been to one host club in Osaka and luckily it was much nicer and more 'innocent' than the ones depicted here.

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Amazon Customer

Dated by now (2016) but a provocative window into a ...

January 11, 2016

Format: DVDVerified Purchase

Dated by now (2016) but a provocative window into a world not even many mainstream Japanese are familiar with. Far from the last word on the Japanese mizu shobai from a male or female perspective, but worth watching.

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zachary pelliccio

Five Stars

January 27, 2015

Format: DVDVerified Purchase

Greatest documentary Ive ever seen

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A. Gift For You

Interesting documentary

June 29, 2010

Format: DVDVerified Purchase

This documentary, "The Great Happiness Space," was very insightful about the positives and the negatives of being a Host in Japan. If you are interested in the lives of Japanese male hosts, buy this documentary.

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Four Stars

September 1, 2015

Format: DVDVerified Purchase

Humanity is effed up.

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My kind of documentary

March 1, 2014

Format: DVD

I love the theme that comes up often in Japanese culture, the theme of "who am I, and am I connected to my real self?" This is a very pervasive theme in Sion Sono movies (particularly Noriko's Dinner Table) and has never been driven home with more force than with The Great Happiness Space.

This is a film about a companion bar and the men who work there. They are paid to entertain women, and by "entertain" I mean eat with them, talk to them, pour them drinks and sing to them. Romantics and antics. And it's all paid for by the women, who develop obsessions with particular companions. Of course, each companion can't entertain just one person - they have rent to pay. So you end up with girls in contentious positions with other girls over guys who they pay to hang out with them. And most of these girls are full-time prostitutes.

Through conversations with these companion clients you start to get a sense that the personalities they create in their lines of work, and the personalities they create when they are with "their" men, are both facades. What lies beneath is anyone's guess, there doesn't really seem to be any room in their lives for a real self. Being a prostitute, with the various roles that entails, and being the faux girlfriend to an employee of a companion bar, blurs the line of real personality to the point that it stops being the point. These girls seem to understand that they aren't really "with" the guys they pay to obsess over, but they don't really seem to care. It's bizarre and sad, and it's even profoundly existential when you consider your own self-made illusions and the careful constructs you use to keep them in operation.

From no other source could I learn this much about myself or about the human need for companionship at any cost (literal financial cost and emotional cost as well). It's a well made film and it carries a powerful message that will have totally different implications for every viewer. For every person who watches this and sees nothing but a freaky mess of people, there will be someone who pauses and reflects. Very highly recommended.

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stoic

Another Side of Japan

April 9, 2010

Format: DVD

The Great Happiness Space is a unique documentary about "host clubs" in Osaka, Japan. The hosts are male prostitutes who entertain lonely women at the clubs. The movie is fascinating both for what it says about Japanese culture and for the reasons women give for hiring prostitutes.

Viewers leave the familiar and descend into Osaka's neon-filled nightlife. The filmmakers focus both on the hosts and on their clients. The different perspectives give the film depth.

The men are money-hungry cynics. Some are making small fortunes, but very few would-be hosts succeed. Hosts tell conflicting stories about "how far they go" with clients. All of the men have longish, tinted hair; by Western standards, they look somewhat feminine. Viewers see amusing scenes of hosts trying to "hustle" women who are walking down the street.

The surprisingly-young women who visit the clubs do so in hopes of bonding with a host. One woman confesses that she broke up with her fiancee after falling in love with her host. The viewer's heart breaks for her when the host later tells the filmmaker what he thinks of her.

My wife and I both loved this film. If I had to complain, I would say that the filmmakers might have asked the men about their lives away from work - especially their "real" relationships with women. The film is in Japanese with English subtitles; it didn't bother us, but some people dislike subtitles.

To learn about a different side of Japan, The Great Happiness Space is a difficult film to top.

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The Great Happiness Space (Original Japanese Version with English Subtitles)

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