Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A magnificent nerve-shredder, 9 Sep 2002
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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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Innate fears brought to the surface., 3 Jan 2007
I've been a big fan of extreme Asian cinema ever since I first watched Ringu around 6 or 7 years ago, Audition was my second foray into the genre and my first experience of Takashi Miike and I've never looked back. Having been largely uninfluenced by any media hype at this point in time it was much easier to watch the film and take more away from it. Now unfortunately it's very easy to be cynical about the blatant similarities in Asian extreme cinema, particularly 'J-Horror' although for me I still love to see film conventions done well even if the ideas are not always original. But don't misunderstand me, Audition is by no means a horror film in the traditional sense, it is however a brilliantly dark thriller which in many ways makes it all the more terrifying since we are not dealing with anything supernatural, but rather 'real' people capable of mortifying things.
The film takes quite a lot of dedication, the first half is intentionally 'boring' according to Takashi Miike (I wasn't bored but I understand what he means), lulling us into a false sense of security so that the ultimate outcome is so unexpected. I don't want to give too much of the plot away although by now it is probably very well documented, but our 'villain' is a terrifying person indeed.
The underlying terror in the film is obviously castration fears culminating most noticeably in the torture scene without ever being so blatant as to go for actual member castration but another body part instead. Also the fear of being unable to control a situation, being powerless to stop terrible things from happening to you (for both central characters in her past and his drug induced state), this is heightened by the brilliant sense of disorientation and dislocation Miike pulses throughout. Any fans of Takashi Miike can expect to see some iconic visceral offerings which you may already be accustomed to, but in a much more understated and thus more effective way. I often feel with his films that he pushes boundaries for the sake of it, daring you to enjoy sordid scenes of violence and sexual depravity, but with Audition there seems more intelligence and thought. I'm not saying it's a subtle film in itself, but it is comparatively with say Visitor Q!
Something else interesting about this film is it ignores the tradition of the victim being an innocent, I don't feel that we aren't meant to feel mild distaste for him. His process of auditioning future partners through a faux television series is presented superficially as quite humorous, but there is definitely a very dark undercurrent of chauvenism there.
Sometimes comedy, sometimes melodrama, sometimes romance, ultimately very dark thriller exploring obsession and abuse. Unforgettable. Miike Takashi's finest hour.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best served cold, 2 Nov 2006
I bought Audition on a whim with no prior conceptions other than the blurb on the back and its cover, and it will always be one of my personal favourites - however, if you watch this film with preconceptions of how it should be, if you sit down expecting to be disgusted and scared, it won't shine with full brilliance. A deeply unsettling film if you let it work its way under your skin, this one if best watched stone cold. I'm tired of hearing people say they're dissappointed with the outcome, bored with the acting or let down by the plot; the characters are normal, their lives are mundane, and the plot relies on rising unease rather than outright scare-tactics. That's not poor film-making - that's how it's MEANT to be here.
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