I wouldn't say I'm a fan... per se, of Takashi Miike, but I've always found his movies interesting.  Of course, I know him best from his surreal horror-ish movies- I'll certainly never forget Ichi: The Killer, or Visitor Q, but I don't know if I'd ever rewatch those movies. At least not until my memory of them is diluted enough to warrant a second viewing. Thematically, Gozu fits right in with them. It's basically about a Yakuza foot soldier, Minami, who's tasked with 'disposing' of his crazy brother-in-arms, when the guy mysteriously goes missing. What follows is a crazy and somber road trip into madness with outrageously weird and lurid nonsense along the way. If you want to try and search for meaning in the visuals and themes of Gozu, you go right ahead. The face value weirdness is more than enough for me.