Japanese director Teshigahara casts a bemused, respectful eye at the work of Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí in this near-wordless documentary. Cutting between still shots of Gaudí's otherworldly buildings, including the famed Church of the Sacred Family, and scenes from the streets of Barcelona, this bold visual tribute is as gorgeous to behold as the magical designs it pays tribute to.

Teshigahara is best known as the director of "Woman in the Dunes,"” but here he adopts the persona of a documentarian and crafts a sensuous homage to the singular Gaudí, a mad visionary whose curvaceous work influenced Picasso, Miro, and Dali. With few subtitles, the film traces the Spaniard's influences back to the Romanesque era, and gives us a bracing dose of Catalan politics and regional history to boot. But it's Gaudí's elaborate structures and exotic design sense that truly fascinate.