Gozu

Now, while I'm not a fan of Takashi Miike, this movie is very good. However it's not as good as a David Lynch film. It was similar, with distorted internal logic and surreal things happening with no indication that they haven't happened. But it falls victim again to Miike's “LOOK GUYS, LOOK HOW SUBTLE I'M BEING.”

Watching this with Maher and Chloe, they immediately were all over this movie's obvious subtlety, saying it was a giant thematic metaphor of birth and gender identity and all of these other things that are pretty easy to find after the fact. However what was on the screen was a Lynchian simple story accented by weirdness.

I absolutely despise scrutinizing a movie in an attempt to dredge philosophy out of it. Just because an event on the screen does not follow real world or even internal logic does not mean that you can write is off saying, “That didn't really happen, it was a metaphor.” This is a cop out. Also you can't criticize a film the same way you can a piece of literature. They are drastically different mediums, and while Stu tells me that this does not need to be said, I have found that an unreasonable amount of people seem to think this is the correct course of action.

Now, don't get me wrong. I liked this movie very much, and would recommend it. I just wouldn't recommend watching it with someone who thinks Miike is the best filmmaker in history, because he is far from it.

Recommendations:
The Exterminating Angel
Twin Peaks