Rating: 
Summary: Stop Reading. Go Watch.
Review: Stop reading right now! Go watch this movie. Then come back and titter, gripe, whine, laud, and mourn about it. But GO! NOW!
Rating: 
Summary: Wasn't worth the money I spent
Review: I had such high hopes of being scared as I was with Ring, another much better Japanese movie.
Audition was a boring muddled mess of a film that I had a hard time staying awake through.
Oh yeah, if you let your children watch this then be advised that there is a lengthy scene of extreme torture which no kid should be subjected to. Hell, most adults will find it revolting.
Let's see, boring and revolting: not such a great mix is it?
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbingly Scary, but sick as a dog!
Review: Audition is definitely scary, possibly one of the most frightening I have ever seen. Yet the subjects are very disgusting. The things she does to those who have hurt her in the past is sickening, and perverse. Not to mention her past isn't that in general. Despite it's awful grotesque torture scene, and it's other sickening content, Audition is a well made Drama/Thriller, that could use a little less perverseness, and more story.
Rating:
Summary: ABANDON ALL HOPE!
Review: Friends, I am not one who scares easily. Sure I have my favorite cheese-horror flicks just like every genre-hound. Be advised, however, this ain't one of em. Like almost every review I've ever read of this puppy, I'll tell you right now that the less you know about this film going in the better you'll be able to appreciate it. Granted, the first hour is kind of pacey and will leave you wondering where exactly the film is going. The second hour is where the weirdness begins. Now a lot of people have refered to this film as Lynchean and I can see their point somewhat. The film's latter half includes many hallucinatory sequences and leaves it more or less up to you to decide what is real and what is fantasy. The line is blurred about as much as it can be, so the answers are not easily forthcoming. This, naturally, puts "Audition" in the same league as "Lost Highway" or "Mulholland Drive." I think, however, that the film also stands out as a prime example of what I refer to as Polanskiesque. These are stories which draw you in with innocuous, though well crafted, scenes and scenarios gradually luring you into a false sense of security (along with the main character) until the trap eventually springs and it is too late to run and there is nowhere to hide. The plus side of this technique is that it allows for a great deal of identification with the main character, the one through whom we experience the film, and makes their struggles our struggles and allows us to more thoroughly share in their destiny. The down side is that most films simply are not made this way anymore and, as such, many people have forgotten how to relax and enjoy them. This is a very literate, deliberate, pacey film that is meant to be enjoyed sans interruptions. Watch it with the lights off and the phone off the hook (just make sure a friend or two will be home that night). I got the chance to see this movie this week and it kept me awake for about three hours after I normally go to bed. It is just that creepy! Enjoy it, don't ruin the experience by reading too many of these reviews before hand, but be warned: This film's final reel pulls no punches and it will rock you hard!
Rating: 
Summary: Good film, some problems
Review: This is a clever and often stylish Japanese variant on the Fatal Attraction genre. Aoyama is a widower who loses his wife early in the movie. Prodded by his son to remarry several years later, and aided by a colleague at work, he stages a mock audition to meet a companion. He meets and chooses Asami (a pensive, pale Eihi Shiina) and for the first 1/2 of the film it seems like a heart-warming love story. But Asami has a scarred heart and dark secrets...This is a really good movie on many fronts. It magnifies all the perils of dating 1,000 fold, and as a reviewer below pointed out, cleverly plays around with the fact that we don't another person as much as we'd like to believe, especially early in the relationship. Another good choice on the director's part was to make Aoyama a pitiable, sympathetic character. In Fatal Attraction, Michael Douglas's character was an outright jerk. In Audition, you actually care for Aoyama, who's just a grief-stricken mid-aged Japanese worker bee who seeks companionship- the same thing that motivates people to advertise in the personals. Unlike what is the case in many American horror films, there's no lame attempt to cast the character's sufferings as justified, the villain as forgivable, or the acts themselves as some odd form of revenge. They're bad things that happened to somebody who didn't deserve them, Miike therefore making the central character even more sympathetic and identifiable to the audience. Asami's sudden change into coldblooded would-be-murderer seems a little implausible. Though of course the hidden inner identity is key to the movie, the extreme differences between the character in the movie's first half and the second don't quite jibe. While Miike avoids most of the horror-movie cliches, the naive central character is still in there-- the danger for Aoyama becomes pretty obvious later on as he uncovers clues, yet he seems almost oblivious. There were also some technical issues-- the sound was kinda lousy, with some kinda background fuzz at times, and the scene transition wasn't always smooth. Still, all in all, this is an interesting movie that provides a taste of something quite different to those of us used to the same-old same-old Hollywood fare.
Rating:
Summary: Psycho girlfriends in Japan too? Nooooo!...
Review:
Oh... my... God... A good pscyho girlfriend movie from Nihon!
Well, his friend told him she was bad news. He was just too much in love to see it. Well, love hurts, right?
All I can say is that if you find someone who's perfect in every way, except they have no past whatsoever, no friends, and people they associated with are missing, stay away from that person, no matter how good looking and nice they are.
--...
Rating:
Summary: A Must See ... and again ... and again
Review: To simply reiterate the storyline of AUDITION would be an injustice ... This is a film that challenges and excites so many different emotions in the viewer, it really should be seen ... a few times .... The plot follows a good-natured but lonely widower ( Ryo Isibashi ), and his search to remarry .... He has a good job ( he works in the film industry), and a very good relationship with his son ( and dog :), yet the seven years that have passed since the death of his wife have left him alone and empty ... At the suggestion of a coworker / friend, he stages an "audition" for a new film project ... What none of the applicants realize is that the "new" film project is actually an old rejected script that is being used as a vehicle for our lonely widower to meet a perspective wife ..... What makes AUDITION a little difficult to reveiw is the fact that, more than with most films, too much info and knowledge of the plot will take away from the fun ... But that's not to say that this film isn't worth seeing many times: it IS ... I have seen it 3 times now, and I look forward to seeing it a fourth ... ok, back to the film ...Eihi Shiina is applicant #28, an extremely beautiful and shy 24 year woman ... Did I mention beautiful ??? How about mysterious ??? ... Above all, she is intelligent, with a very impressive screen presence ... And much to the delight of both Ryo and Eili, they hit it off ... So much so that our long suffering widower's flame for life is rekindled in such a way, his verve for dating and happiness outshines even his teenage son's ... At his point in the film, the story and tone turn 180 degrees ... .... What follows is so harrowing and so disturbing, and with each passing scene we the viewer think back to the set-up audition and inital giddiness of our happy couple as almost an entirely different film ... But it WORKS ... Not only that, but the way the film spins out of control only adds to it's overall impact, and leaves us feeling THAT MUCH MORE horrified .... At this point I will mention the film debut of actress Eihi Shiina, who give a performance nothing short of stunning and unforgettable ... It is very rare that an individual can induce feelings of such horror, yet leave the viewer feeling saddness and pity to the point of tears ... I can't say enough about this brilliant young actress ... While I highly recommend this film, I must say that if child abuse, amputation, or sadism and torture might leave you feeling offended or queasy, do not see this film ... But if you prefer an experience to a "movie", I can't recommend AUDITION enough ... It might have taken 40 years, but I think we've found someone who can give Norman Bates a run for his money :) ...
Rating:
Summary: INTENSE!!!....
Review: audition is difficult to classify...maybe its a psychological-gore film?...romantic?..whatever it is, it works!
stop wasting your time!..and ignore hollywood's annual garbage..
you don't know what you're missing!
sometimes, this film is over the top, however,
audition has it all, suspense, great acting, score, a noir ambience,emotions,gore,intrigue...
the DVD
contains a 20 or 30 mins interview with director takashi miike.
(commentary by t.miike , also available, same thing with his bio, and filmography)
- the gallery photo., the trailers, and the history of the egyptian theatre are also part of the menu. overall this dvd is pretty much complete..the image quality is not particuraly fabulous, but it is superior to a vhs. OTHER SUGGESTIONS.
-Ringu (ring) directed by hideo nakata.....-The Piano Teacher (la pianiste) directed by michael haneke.....-das experiment (the experiment) directed by oliver hirschbiegel.....Thesis directed by alejandro amenabar.....a pure formality (una pura formalita) directed by guiseppe Tornatore.....
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing, but Not Radical
Review: Don't get me wrong; 'Audition' is a very well-made film, with plenty of genuine twists and intense imagery that makes you squirm in your seat. But what I thought about while watching this was how stunted the growth of filmmakers in the U.S. has become in comparison. I saw in this film the best of 'Fatal Attraction', 'Basic Instinct', and 'Play Misty for Me'. Certainly, this film is more graphic but that's because what's happed to the female lead -AND- what's happening to the male lead only shocks when shown. I've always thought American filmmaking restrained itself except when they weren't worried about having thier film go out as NC-17 or unrated, and that's not too often. It should be. There is a market, whatever the Moral Minority might say, for adult (not porn) film. Having said that, this film is not for everyone. But it's popular, so what does that say? It is for more than a few...
Rating:
Summary: Blind Date From Hell
Review: A nasty example of the cinema of cruelty-more Polanski than Hitchcok. The film is brilliantly crafted and it will freak you out-but unless you have a taste for extreme torture this is not your cup of tea.
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