Audition

Rating:
Summary: Japanese culture...
Review: ..is different, as are their films, as is their humour (e.g. live camera "humorous" shows...). If you've been to Japan, you should understand. Judge any japanese film only if you've seen it at least once in original version. I own a big collection of asian DVD's and their films lose so much in any (what ever quality) translation (E/F/G). So to appreciate fully you need to get (and understand) the original feeling. After hearing and reading so much about Audition I was almost dissapointed 'cause not shocked: I am no gore freak or so, but there is not too much or gratis violence. However, I would have liked to see a more intense phase of courtship and extended sufferings.. this is a main objective of the film. But I take these new Japanese horror pics as they come along, inventive and with power and imagination, even irony. See also Battle Royale. The final sequences are a deception to me, I would have liked more pomp, maybe I am too much influenced by Peter Greenaway!? I really like the film and the DVD is ok, could have more background infos etc. Anyway, just check out Audition!

Rating:
Summary: Plays with your mind and your stomach
Review: I originally saw this movie in the theatre. I had heard very little about it but I was not prepared for what was to come. An incredible blend of psychology and horror. The movie plays on like a humorous love story, but what is in the bag? They seem like pretty normal people but then you find out in the bag. Was everything she said lies, or did he tell us what we wanted to hear until the truth came out? America could not make this clever yet gruesome film. As it goes on, you wonder, where is all the scenes everyone's been talking about, and when they come, you want them to stop. This production is put together well in its entirety.

Rating:
Summary: Shock pic masquerading as art
Review: First off, let it be known that I like disturbing movies; more so, I tend to appreciate any film that has a viceral effect on me, and I would certainly say this film did that which is why I gave it two stars as opposed to none. That having been said, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

This is not a good movie. The plot is preposterous, the characters laughably two dimensional which is all the more ridiculous considering how completely unbelievable the characters actually are. It's as though the director expects the audience to accept that these people are capable of existing without actually providing any development to explain other than a couple surreal shots. And that's only for the two main characters even though the supporting characters are just as ludicrous.

This is not a scary movie. Gag inducing, yes. Makes you need to walk around for a bit to get away from it, yes. Makes you want to run from the screen so you don't have to look at the disgusting images that are being presented, yes. Makes you wish you could unsee it, yes. But scary, no. It's probably linked to the fact that you can imagine any of it actually happening. I've seen B science fiction films from the fifties that had a more plausible plot. There's never any point in the movie where I thought that I could be the one going through that stuff which is a requirement for being scared.

Lastly, the themes in this movie are just plain gross: Torture, pedophilia, incest, etc. All the nastiness you can imagine but with no artistic merit to excuse it. It's as though the director wanted to throw on this heavy handed imagery(which, it's true, is heavy in a lot of Japanese films but handled infinitely better)to provide an excuse for graphically representing a bunch of traditionally taboo themes. This leaves the themes there for nothing other than shock value which is the feeling I was left with. And believe me, shock it did. But that shock could have been served with the same scenes in a music video, though I'm not sure of the appropriate music to accompany it...perhaps GWAR. Long story short: Don't see this movie for any other reason than a visual substitute for Epicac.

Rating:
Summary: A missed opportunity: Great idea, incoherent direction
Review: As many of the other reviewers have suggested, "Audition" had the making of a great horror classic. However, I found the direction to be completely incoherent, the production values very poor and the graphic violence completely gratuitous. There was very liitle buildup to the final showdown and, without giving anything away, Asami's motivation was never very convincing. Perhaps the incoherence was intended to unnerve the viewer? Anyway, this screams for a remake in the hands of a much more capable director with a bigger budget.

Rating:
Summary: ta-ra-ta-ta
Review: Yes, the sound of the movie's anti-heroine as she sticks needles into her man's eyes stays with me. Audition is a gross melange of styles (love story/personal angst/macabre horror) which builds into a cresendo of harrowing & dramatically brilliant cinema where Asami, the seemingly ingenue girl who auditions for & wins a widower's love, leads him into a spiral of psychological confusion, so much that you wonder if the final scenes happen. Asami's tortured past creeps up on her & the boudnaries of reality & paranoia devastate Asami & the audience (let alone her partner!) to alarming effect. Let's just say that this movie is a rollercoaster of moods culminating in some of the most unsheathed & suggestively horrific images ever put into cinema. A movie which Hollywood doyenne's would never even entertain creating, cheesewire & pins will never be looked at in the same respect again!! Never did I imagine that Japanese cinema would be so brilliant (watch also Ring & Ring 2 for testimony) nor so grittily realistic. As a lover of horror, this movies not only whet but satisfied my appetite. Okay, it starts off a bit slow as a love story, but that's the point. The gripping transformation in Asami makes her acts of brutality increasingly powerful & downright scary. May put you off looking for Mrs Right:-)))))

Rating:
Summary: Japan is doing what the US film industry can not
Review: By far one of the best horror movies to come out in a long time. Stylish, funny, romantic, terrifying and disturbing all wrapped up into one incredible movie.
The end of the movie is extremely brutal, but so well done....

Rating:
Summary: Scary as hell!
Review: I am an absolute fan of horror movies and I must admit that I'ts been a long time since I have last been sincerely scared and disturbed like with "Audition". Miike Takashi has crafted an amazing movie here, a movie that can be read on many levels. With it's subtle black humor and it's slow unnerving pace the movie will lurk under your skin and I can assure you it will stay there long after you have seen it. Light years ahead of any Hollywood modern slasher movie, this is not for everyone, and certainly not for the faint-hearted, but if you are prepeared to "follow the white rabbit and see how deep the hole goes" you wont be dissapointed. This is powerful filmaking, Japanese horror at it's best. Believe the hype this is truly something to scream about!

Rating:
Summary: The less you know, the better
Review: I had heard of "Audition" for months before actually getting my hands on a copy of the DVD. I basiscally knew what to expect -- slow first hour, horrific final half hour, leaving you guessing at the nature of what really happens. However, because I'd read so much about the film, I think I really cheated myself out of a truly visceral horror experience.

First, a short plot synopsis: Main charcter's wife dies. Seven years later, he's lonely and decides he wants to re-marry. To meet women, he holds an audition, casting for a fake movie, in order to easily meet young women. One particular young lady captures his fancy. But she is definitely more than she seems.

ATTENTION: This is NOT a Hollywood horror film. Don't expect the fake-scare red herrings, or the busty brainless chicks creeping into the attic to find out what that growling noise is. In fact, Audition contains few, if any, "shock" moments. Instead, the movie is a slow boil of disturbing creepiness that crescendoes into a brutal third act. This is not to say that there are not horrific moments, certainly this movie is rife with terrible images. But the film plays so differently from the tripe we see in American horror genres. It's slow, it's measured and it's effective.

I might be in the minority here, but I enjoyed the first hour of this film immensely. I liked the main character as a person, even felt a little sorry for him during his quest to find a mate, which made his fate (which I knew because of my research into the film) all the more dreadful.

I suppose because the second half of the film is so brutal, viewers might feel cheated out of what could have been a nice love story. However, I think this is what makes the film so quintessentially Japanese in its horror. "Audition" is the fright of every day relationships, taken to extremes beyond extreme. This is the darkest journey into ideas of loneliness, friendship and the fact that noone really knows anyone in this world. It is an examination of psychological fears made flesh.

My advice: See this movie, but do not ruin it for yourself by reading much about it before experiencing it. "Kidee, kidee, kidee, kidee."

Rating:
Summary: High on hype, poor on delivery
Review: When this film started hitting the festival circuit, mainstream reviewers (and my friends) pretty much panned it, while art-house reviewers generally praised it. Being an artsy type myself, I decided to heed the latter and wish I'd listened to the former.

I simply can't voice anything recomendable or remarkable about this movie. While it's plot "twist" was hailed as a breakthrough, it's little more than the old suspense-movie staple of the good-girl-with-a-dark-secret, except the secret is very very dark and the badness, when it comes out, gives "director's cut" a new meaning. The film's plot is simply implausible which itself is not a movie-killer-- Miike intentionally makes the film rather surreal-- but it is so plodding in so many places that the first hour is almost as painful to watch as the harrowing later scenes. Some of the dropped hints (e.g. the "furniture" in Asami's apartment) are so dumb that the movie seems kitschy at times.

The film's main weakness is that it's awfully difficult to care one whit about the characters. Asami Yamazaki, the apparently aspiring actress, is supposed to be psychologically wounded from some vaguely-outlined childhood experiences, but her acts in the second half are so retch-inducingly revolting that Charles Manson practically seems sympathetic in comparison. Maybe there's some point to the direction, but Miike lurches from honestly sympathizing with her to wanting her impaled on a spike-- the basis of Asami's psychosis just isn't fleshed-out well enough, on balance, to make the viewer buy into what's going on.

And Shigeharu Aoyama, supposedly representing the stereotypical Japanese worker-bee, is mildly engaging as a lovelorn, grief-stricken older man who falls puppy-dog like for Asami. But as much as one might buy into him being vulnerable from his losses, he winds up acting so ridiculously stupid and naive that you want a brick to fall and knock some sense into him. The clues as to Asami's misleading exterior could not possibly be more obvious, and Shigeharu's obtuseness is forehead-scratching.

All of this might be forgivable, but there's so much unnecessary blood and gore in this film that it's other shortcomings just don't justify sitting through and enduring it, in the theatre or elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: looking for love in all the WRONG places!
Review: Takashi Miike's AUDITION (Odishon) is not your ordinary horror story. Rather, it's a complex look at human frailty, fear and the desire to be loved.

I just saw it at a midnight screening, and the anticipation I and my friends felt was very high. Even the theatre management offered us their high praise of what they said is a very intense and unforgettable film.

Unforgettable and intense would be just two words I would use to describe AUDITION. The words suspenseful, horrific, sad, creepy, and graphic also come to mind. This is not a film for younger viewers (those under 17) or those who are squeamish at all.

The story revolves around a man, Aoyama(Ryo Ishibashi) who some years earlier lost his wife to illness, and had to raise their young son on his own. In the present day, his son is about 22 years old, and Aoyama is feeling old and very lonely. His business partner and he hatch a plan to find him a bride. They use the guise of casting for a film. They hold a casting call from the hundreds of interested young girls who respond to their solicitation. Ayoama, who desperately wants to find a wife, has already set his sights on one girl, Asami (Eihi Shiina) whose very touching letter he read from her resume.

Asami enters the interview room dressed in virginal/angelic white, acting very humble and deferential like a traditional Japanese woman would act toward a man. She is literally a vision of beauty and peace, while there is much more to her emotionally and psychologically. The business partner tells the man there is something he feels is amiss with Asami, and recommends against choosing her. However, Aoyama is irresistibly attracted to her, and can think of nothing but phoning her to say she has the "part" for their fake movie.

What transpires for the first half of the film is an unfolding of a potential relationship, wherein Aoyama and Asami spend hours in cafes revealing the most intimate emotions and details of their painful lives. Aoyama truly believes he is falling in love, and all will be well. He does come to tell Asami that he isn't really casting for a film, but really looking for a wife and lifelong companion. Asami then suggests they go away for a weekend away, and the downward spiral begins...

What follows for the next 45 minutes or so is a collage of dream-like flashbacks (a la David Lynch), extreme violence, and a lot of "heartbreak." I'm not going to detail the events of the last 20 minutes as this is the point where you DEFINITELY don't want to get up and walk away from the screen. Too much happens here and if you blink, you will miss something.

If you look past the graphic depiction of torture/revenge visited upon the men in this film, you will see that AUDITION is in many ways a social commentary on the modern-day perils, both real and imagined, that all people potentially encounter when they are paralyzed by their fears of loneliness, rejection and sadness.

The film's key strength is its use of genuine suspense and the deliberate unfolding of one horrific image followed by something more innocent. It is this juxtaposition of horror and innocence, love and hate, revenge and desire, that draws the viewer further into the darkness that is the soul of the abused and the unloved.

Recommended with a caution that is very graphic and disturbing. Nonetheless, you won't likely soon forget it!