Watch it for the incredible editing. Downhill Racer is filled with clever and brilliant cuts, right down to the sudden ending.

Only two of my favourite directors could create one of the worst things I've ever seen.

Does this appear on any DVD or Blu-ray?

This movie is about Casey Jones murdering Shredder because Shredder and a group of kids stole some wallets and stereos.

I come for the noirs but I stay for the sex comedies.

Possibly my second-favourite Christmas movie, right behind Scrooged.

Tadanobu Asano in a film by Nobuhiko Obayashi with music by Joe Hisaishi? I kind of have to see this.

What a sweet, magical, atmospheric film! I was reminded of how every leaf and twig and found object held so much mystery and meaning for me as a child.

Has this been released on a region-free or NA DVD/Blu-ray yet?

What happened to The Duchess of Langeais? I swear it was on this site before.

Where's Private Resort? It's possibly his best film.

80% of Kagemusha is shots of horses falling down. The 20% that isn't is just incredible.

This sure gave me some memorable nightmares as a kid.

While the ending itself might not be subtle, the final shot certainly is. I also greatly enjoyed Mifune's old man makeup and costumes (and of course performance), which is really just great design work. A unique and engrossing family drama all-around -- if No Regrets for Our Youth was the failed attempt at an Ozu, I Live in Fear was the successful one.

The creepy, creepy, creepy ending will haunt me forever.

I much prefer Kurosawa's warm, humanistic films to his cold, intellectual ones, and to me Scandal is a much greater and more enjoyable masterpiece than Rashomon, released in the same year.

It's interesting how rarely anyone comments on just how funny this film is. Quite a few shots are carefully composed around a visual joke, such as the microphones surrounding Ichiro and the editor during the early interview sequences. The most sentimental scenes in the film are also undercut by massive punchlines, such as Hiruta crying over his daughter, only to fall asleep and snore on her.

Possibly Kurosawa's most tender and hopeful film.

Lovely choice of image! Don't change this one!

Like a failed attempt at an Ozu with bizarre farming sequences.

Probably my favourite Christmas movie.

'Emotion', please! It is, after all, on the 'House' Criterion.

Nothin' wrong with Home Alone 2.

I had this on in the background and realised Calcifer is voice-acted by Tatsuya Gashuin, who was the grandfather in Taste of Tea and the eccentric homosexual in Shark Skin Man. His Calcifer voice is the exact same voice he used for his character in Shark Skin Man.

One of the funniest films I've ever seen.

Yes, it is crazy, but it is also a tremendously warm and humanistic film, as with all of Obayashi. If you legitimately enjoyed this beyond the insanity factor then please do yourself a favour and seek out his 80s teen movies, which includes the original The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I hope Criterion views House as more than just a one-off and treats us all to an Obayashi Schoolgirls Eclipse (at the very least!).

A prisoner with gigantic eyebrows is brought a cat in a futuristic device. The man bringing the device is an extremely rotund baron who is perpetually floating and has a bizarre skin disease. His sidekick is a Brad Dourif with gigantic eyebrows. The prisoner is told he is poisoned, and that he must constantly milk the cat for the antidote. Taped to the cat is a rat, which is not explained. This is a scene in a movie.

I prefer his romcoms to the gangster films.

Five stars for Bong Joon-ho. Four stars for Michel Gondry. Zero stars for Leos Carax.

For some reason there are two profiles for Kazuo Miyagawa: http://mubi.com/cast_members/3851 http://mubi.com/cast_members/3444