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Audition [DVD] [2001]
 
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Audition [DVD] [2001]

DVD ~ Ryo Ishibashi
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)

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Audition [DVD] [2001]
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Product details

  • Actors: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi
  • Directors: Takashi Miike
  • Writers: Daisuke Tengan, Ryû Murakami
  • Producers: Akemi Suyama, Jun'ichi Shindô, Satoshi Fukushima, Toyoyuki Yokohama
  • Format: Anamorphic, PAL
  • Language Japanese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Tartan Video
  • DVD Release Date: 24 Sep 2001
  • Run Time: 111 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005MKXB
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 25,317 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #16 in  DVD > Horror > Asian Horror

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Much of the controversy surrounding Takashi Miike's Audition centres on the disturbing nature of the later part of the film--understandable when you consider the imprint these admittedly horrific images leave on the viewer--but fails to note the intricate social satire of the rest. This is a film that offers insight into the changing culture of Japan and the generation gap between young and old. Shigeharu Aoyama is looking for an obedient and virtuous woman to love and asks, "Where are all the good girls?"--a comment that seals his fate. A fake audition is organised to find Aoyama a wife. Asami Yamazaki is introduced as the virtuous woman he is looking for, dressing for the majority of the film in white and behaving with the courtesy of an angel, especially when juxtaposed against the brash stupidity of the other girls at the audition. Although his friend takes an immediate "chemical" dislike to her, Aoyama begins a love affair to end all love affairs. But as Asami's history unfolds we see her pain and torture and slowly understand that the tortured in this instance holds the power to become the torturer. Aoyama is slowly drawn away from his white, metallic and homely environment into the vivid- red and dirty-dark environment of Asami's sadistic world.

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



Video Description

DVD Special Features:
Star and director filmographies
Scene selection
Chris Campion film notes
Mike Takashi interview
Original theatrical trailers
Extreme Asia trailer reel

Video aspect ratio: Anamorphic widescreen
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region code: 0

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Customer Reviews

95 Reviews
5 star:
 (45)
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 (23)
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (95 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A magnificent nerve-shredder, 9 Sep 2002
By P. Sanders "prhsuk" (Belfast) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
If you read all the blurb written about this film, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a Japanese ultra-violent "Fatal Attraction" clone. After all the plot is deceptively simple - middle-aged widower looks for new love, holds fake audition, meets girl, girl becomes mysterious, girl gets nasty...

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.

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Watch it for the fantastic suspense, not the gore, 7 Jan 2007
By David Fox (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Audition (Collector's Edition) [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
Having read a lot of the reviews on Amazon before watching Audition (being careful not to read any spoilers that is!), I, as I always do with any horror or thriller/drama movie, tried to sit down without any prior knowledge of the movie. That being said, if you know enough about this movie just to know that it exists, you're probably already aware of some controversial torture scenes in it.

Even knowing this however, I was more than prepared to sit down to this film uneducated and in that form, I was very impressed with Audition. In the first 45 minutes or so, I actually found this to be quite a sad film what with the death of the lead character Aoyama's wife and his, nicely acted out, portrayal of loneliness. Now I understand this is supposed to be a thriller/horror movie and my review so far gives quite the opposite impression but I feel that the mood this movie managed to send me into during it's opening hour or so was a great move by the director.

Knowing that Aoyama only concocted his plan through desperation and a bit of a shove from his auditioning friend made me all the more worried for him. As he falls deeper into the killer Asami's trap, the film gets increasingly uncomfortable. The viewer knows that the violence will happen; it's just a matter of when and how bad it'll be. And that's the main talking point--I didn't find the violence in this film all that bad. Certainly Saw 1 seemed a bit more disturbing and the role of the disturbed Asami was played so well here that I felt quite sorry for her; her motives (she was a victim of childhood abuse and had constantly been used by men) made some of her actions almost acceptable! That and the fact she's a damn sight prettier than the jigsaw killer!

At the end of the day, you certainly shouldn't watch this movie waiting for gore as not only do I find that aspect over hyped, but there's so much more to this great piece of work; terrific acting, a really engrossing plot and some terrific psychological elements. Five out of five for me but I think a 3 for unappreciative movie fans who'd rather be munching popcorn whilst watching Cabin Fever or Jeepers Creepers.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An antidote to Hollywood horror films, 27 Aug 2001
By A Customer
Audition is one of the few horror films I have seen that is genuinely shocking and very creepy. Oddly enough it starts out as a slightly black romantic comedy. The relationship between the producer and the girl he chooses is tenderly and acutely observed. However about halfway through the film it changes from a romantic comedy to a deeply unsettling horror story. The first half allows you to identify with the main characters, which makes the second half far more disturbing.

In comparison to other recent horror films like Scream, the film eschews post modern self-referential humor, monsters and the other tacky elements that Hollywood horror films rely on. Instead it emphases the psychological and as a result is one of the scariest horror flicks I've seen.

However a word of warning; the climactic scenes of the film are deeply unpleasant; the violence is realistic and quite creative. Do not watch this film if you are easily shocked. I went with a friend of mine to see it in the cinema, and upon leaving he looked a rather unattractive shade of green.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Weak & Uninspiring Romance/Torture
Audition is the first film that has made me feel old. It reminded me that it was something like 10 years ago I witnessed the unbelievable Ringu and began appreciating the darker... Read more
Published 28 days ago by MLA

4.0 out of 5 stars Me Rambling as Usual
Audition is a Japanese film. I guess you either like these sorts of films (and their subtitles) or you don't. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Cactus

2.0 out of 5 stars Whole Film is a Weak Excuse for some Twisted Fantasies in the End
I watched this film with a mindset open to getting scared because that's what I wanted, and I did get scared to a degree. However I have some criticisms to make. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Danielle Ashley

5.0 out of 5 stars Another masterpiece of film making from Miike
The current wave of Hollywood horror movies seems to produe very few, if any, truly horrific pieces of cinema. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ed Gutteridge

4.0 out of 5 stars gross and brilliant
i so loved this. I love asian horror especially from the tartan section. The story was gripping, and at times emotional, the only confusing thing for me was the ending, was it... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Ms. F. I. Macdonald

3.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing and twisted, but not exactly original
H-e-e-y, it's a weird one. Because it's done for "The Bunny Boiler" genre What Gus Van Sant did for the Indie film genre - add that additional touch of surreality. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Joe Cutts

3.0 out of 5 stars It's a 3 1/2 stars
Quiet good, but just lacking something to make it a 4.
I read some of the negative reviews before I rented this and I'm at a loss to figure out how many of the negative... Read more
Published 20 months ago by NMG

4.0 out of 5 stars wicked
I was expecting more from this film, although i was throughly impressed. i think it slightly lacked a conclusion but if you've seen tartan movies before most of them do. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ms. J. D. Penn

3.0 out of 5 stars intense in places, but as a whole...underwhelming
I do not consider myself in any way squeamish or easily disturbed, so it is a rarity these days that a film comes along that has the power to genuinely shock me. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. Rwj Nixon

5.0 out of 5 stars Subversive dissection of the loneliness and alienation of Japanese culture.
The problem that many people have with Audition, as with much of the cinema of Takeshi Miike, is in the film's unwillingness to conform to a single generic structure. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Jonathan James Romley

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