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I have no doubt that if Obayashi Nobuhiko had been European, his works, especially his boundary-smashing late period “thesis films,” would’ve been eagerly sought after by major fests, and he would’ve been an internationally revered & celebrated figure like Jodorowsky.
If it hadn’t been for a few mostly US champions, you wouldn’t even have access to HOUSE, which slots into the old “those crazy Japanese” stereotype, but most of his works don’t fit preconceived Western notions of Japanese film, which is exactly why he deserves greater recognition
It's also important to note that while many Japanese filmmakers who personally experienced WWII have focused on the subject late in their careers, and often contributed to a generic brand of stodgy conventional antiwar melodrama, Obayashi's movies became increasingly radical.
He took advantage of regional governments' ventures into film production to make intensely personal works with an expansive world view that referenced local & national history, literature, poetry, music, & movies of course, all while toying with cinematic aesthetics & grammar.
Other directors' efforts were like listening to someone tell you a worthy but platitude-laden story in a droning voice. Obayashi's movies were like mind-blowing motor-mouthed lectures from an incredibly erudite eccentric that left you overwhelmed but utterly captivated.
