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Amazon.co.uk Review
Audition can be viewed on a number of levels, with important feminist, social and human rights issues to be drawn from the story. However, the real power of this film is its descent into the subconscious, to a point where reality is blurred and the audience is unable to decide whether the disturbing images on screen are real or surreal. This refined, hard-hitting and essentially Japanese style of horror is ultimately much more powerful than anything offered by Hollywood. This is a film that will get under your skin and infect your consciousness with a blend of fearless gore and unimaginable torture. It is not for the faint-hearted. --Nikki Disney
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However, "Audition" is a dark masterpiece, drifting effortlessly from romantic melodrama into dizzying dreamscapes and finally skin-crawling horror. What's more, the viewer is left with nothing but sympathy for both the menacing Asami and her hapless suitor.
Okay, the violence. Well, while the last hour or so does become gruelling, a lot of it is actually suggested rather than shown explicitly. What's more there are no sudden shocks and brutal slayings, as in most American horror films. Instead, the viewer is forced to watch, as helpless as Asami's victim, as she explains the result of a childhood of abuse. "Words can create lies," she says. "Only pain can be trusted".
The same is true of the film's depiction of sex. Asami undresses, but refreshingly we see little nudity - maintaining the feeling of shy innocence that surrounds her. Nothing in this astonishing movie has been designed to tittilate. The performances are all top-notch, especially the two leads. The film's protagonist is seen looking for an "obedient" wife, but ultimately he is a lonely man looking for affection, not a sexist brute. And as for Asami herself... well, when her murderous nature is revealed she thankfully does not turn into a hammy, eye-rolling maniac. Rather, she is controlled, almost as demure as before, carefully explaining her plans in her childlike, sing-song voice. As she murmurs "Kiri kiri kiri" (Japanese for "Deeper, deeper..."), it's enough to freeze the blood.
Ultimately, there is no denying that "Audition" is a harrowing descent into real darkness, but if you think you can make the journey it is a stunning and highly rewarding film. Rather than revulsion I was left feeling pity for the main characters. And having seen it several times I find parts of the dream sequences far more disturbing than the much-discussed climax (especially the scene with the sack... you'll see).
Good luck.
In what appears at first to be a simple love story, single father Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), on the advice of his son and his best friend, decides to start dating again, with the view to looking for a wife. Not having dated since the death of his wife 7 years ago, he turns to his best friend television producer Yoshikawa, who comes up with the idea of holding an audition for a fake film, allowing Aoyama to choose which girls get seen, and then choosing one girl from this group who will (hopefully) become his new partner. Everything seems to be going to plan (maybe a little to much to plan), when Aoyama meets Asami (Eihi Shiina), a girl whom he is immediately smitten with. The two begin dating, but as Aoyama tries to get to know Asami, strange inconsistencies and unsettling facts begin to surface about her and her past. As Aoyama pursues his fears, Asami decides to exact a hideous revenge upon him.
This is a film of three distinct stages. At first it comes across as a simple romance, although even then there are strange images and clues that point to an unsettling truth. As Aoyama tries to uncover the truth about Asami, the film becomes much darker and unsettling, tweaking a sense of rising fear from unsettling information, strange dreamlike sequences and some very odd encounters. However, it is with the final denouement that the film really gives you everything its got, with a scene so shockingly gripping that it will be hard to forget (not since Wolf Creek have I seen anything this graphic).
The film is never less than beautiful to look at (in particular one achingly beautiful scene of Asami standing on a balcony, sounds like nothing, but trust me it is breathtaking), and the film relies on a series of fractured timelines and dreamlike sequences rather akin to the Grudge to set the scene and the mood for what is to come. Unfortunately, the final scene, for all its intensity and brutality does not really bring the movie to anything like a satisfactory conclusion. Whilst we are aware of much of Asami's past, and I do not believe that audiences need everything spelling out for them, her motivation is left more than a little vague. Coupled with a string of characters that are never really fleshed out and a mystery that is left just too mysterious, the film fails to really pull it all together satisfactorily. Some people will love this film for its shock value, some will hate it for its shock value. This reviewer however, was left neither hating it nor loving it, but feeling a little under whelmed by the whole thing.
For Audition, the theme is summarised in an early scene - the female protagonist declaring that 'life is but another way of reaching death'. The final scenes of the film are truly distressing and difficult to watch - torture sequences that are downright horrific.
An excellent study into human nature and its often darker extremes, Audition is aimed at mature audiences, a million miles from the 'popcorn slasher' flicks of teen US horror films such as Scream. Watch it, immerse yourself and be afraid!
AUDITION/ODISHON was rated as number 8 amongst the Japanese top 10 of 'horror' movies (at the time of purchase). Read more
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