François Truffaut once said that the most important quality for a filmmaker is to retain his inner child. In that sense, Michel Gondry fits the bill almost to a fault. The auteur behind such endearing tales as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Be Kind, Rewind," Gondry seemingly keeps his childlike sense of self in a vaulted safe that he dips into at will and latches safely shut again.

"From a very early age, I was into personal relationships and personal space," he tells The Japan Times. "I avoided being part of a group, it made me uncomfortable. Two people were great, but three was a problem: I saw that people changed when the number got bigger than three; things got political after that. In our house, we were three brothers, and that was the reason for all the fighting — though not all the time."

At 49, Gondry has a distinct and perceptive knack of capturing the facial expressions, conversations and emotions of young people (or the young at heart, such as Jim Carrey in "Eternal Sunshine" and Jack Black in "Be Kind Rewind"), and this is regardless of whether the kids are from his home country of France, from New York (Gondry's adopted city) or, in the case of the segment he directed in the omnibus movie "Tokyo!" in 2008, Japan. He likes vulnerability, under-confidence, little insecurities that people try to hide.