Gozu (2003)

Okay, um... whoa. Weird even by Takashi Miike's standards, this psychosexual straight-faced comedy/horror flick is pretty much the film he's been leading up to his whole career. Functions as a summation/restatement of every theme and visual trope he's ever handled, with some extra-special funky mojo laid on top. Unfortunately, it's also crippled by his major weakness -- he never really knows when to quit, leading to a film that's about thirty minutes longer than the material calls for. The sexual dynamics of the script are, for my money, pretty clearly deliniated -- it's a homosexual awakening complicated by a longing for the normal, vanilla-style sex generally associated with commitment and all that jazz (note that the hero seems genuinely repulsed by the rampant perverse acts going on around him), though the waters are muddied enough where I can see how some people would disagree. Still worth recommending despite all the dead air in the second half, if only for the indescribable wrap-up.

Grade: B-