Gozu

Film Threat Jeremy Knox

Gozu is a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a cow's head. If you think that this last statement doesn't make any sense, just watch the movie.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The film is less violent and bloody than much of the director's work, but the absurdity level is sky high. Takashi Miike is at the top of his game, loving every minute of his surreal visit to the twilight zone.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Splendidly entertaining.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The latest and most creatively unhinged film from director Takashi Miike.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

The film unfolds as if it were a dream in which taboo subconscious urges surface symbolically as in a Dali painting, yet everything takes place in everyday settings.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It somehow feels richly, hilariously real, even -- at its most bizarre -- familiar.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Although most definitely an acquired taste, the David Lynchian Gozu delivers the goods in dripping, gooey gobs.

Variety David Rooney

Unclassifiable cult figure Takashi Miike's films invariably have their share of weirdness and perversity, but Gozu arguably outweirds all previous efforts in the prolific Japanese director's eclectic canon.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Gozu is prime evidence in the argument that gonzo gangster movie maverick Takashi Miike is a major director goofing on minor works.

Empire Will Lawrence

If "Ichi The Killer" stressed the extreme natureof Takashi Miike's cinematic sensibility, Gozu hammers it home… with a blood-spattered mallet.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Mr. Miike is best known in the United States for horror films like "Audition" and "Ichi the Killer." Gozu, for all its extremity, is a more relaxed, less disturbing picture. Its dreamy disconnection is reminiscent of David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive," but it is, if anything, even more hermetic and dissociated.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

There are some genuinely funny moments amid the gore, but who knew this famously edgy director would find bathroom humor to be such a knee-slapper?

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Not until the last 20 minutes does Gozu come fully alive. A man has sex with a seductive beauty, who then gives birth to...well, let's just say it's a sight that may take time to fight its way out of your head.

LA Weekly David Chute

The various disruptions Miike visits upon his stories, and upon his audience, serve mainly to focus attention on the manipulating intelligence behind the scenes. They're a fancy way of yelling, "Look at me!"

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Miike's film is a cunning little comedy of manners gone mad. Even when you feel you have to turn away from the screen or lose your lunch, Miike has something interesting to say. I'm not entirely sure what it is but his lips are moving and something horrific is definitely coming out.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Miike has served up some of the most dumbfounding images in contemporary cinema.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Miike's fans, those used to his strange ways, will certainly find Gozu an amusing addition to the oeuvre. All others will be bewildered beyond expression.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The homoerotic twists and gender-shifting turns are fun, but they can't hide the fact that the film is little more than a tedious shaggy-dog story with oblique mythological references.

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

Stay far, far away.