Pros: Takashi Miike delivers a well done romance plus what you expect of Miike.
Cons: Those who don't know Miike may be in for a surprise.
The Bottom Line: Takashi Miike portrays the loneliness and pain that people suffer in modern society and how love can sometimes blind us when we make a connection.
Being a member of Netflix for over three years, I was bound to discover Japanese director Takashi Miike eventually. I was introduced to Miike's style of filmmaking with the very violent Ichi the Killer and the twisted, sick Visitor Q. This director makes Quentin Tarantino seem like Disney. I was surprised when I watched Audition (Odishon 1999) because it wasn't like the violent and twisted picture I expected from Miike. I have written my review in two parts; the first reveals little more than background and my opinions on the acting, the direction and the general quality of the DVD. The second part gives away the ending and is more of a discussion of the film. Alerts are placed so you won't read more than is necessary. If you haven't seen the film, I recommend not reading about the last part of the film for maximum viewing effect.
Plot with minor detail The film begins on a sad note as we see a young boy bringing a project to show to his mother. We soon realize that he is walking down a hospital corridor, and his father Shigehara Aoyoma is with the boy's mother, who is in a hospital bed in critical condition. By the time the boy arrives, his mother has passed away leaving his father a widower. We next cut to seven years later and Aoyama is making his way in the world again. He runs a video production company and his son is now a teenager. Over dinner one night, his son Shigehiko suggest that he get married again. Aoyama has been out of the dating scene for a while, but a friend of his, also in the video business comes up with an idea. They will audition a woman for a part, that just happens to meet what Aoyama is looking for in a woman. Resumes quickly pour in, and one touches Aoyama immediately when he sees the womans photograph and reads her story. Soon, after interviewing 29 of 30 candidates, Asami Yamazaki appears, and Aoyama is completely drawn in.
What follows is a beautiful and touching love story as Aoyama and Asami slowly connect through telephone calls and a series of dates, until soon, Aoyama is taking the woman on a trip and plans to propose marriage. Although his friends caution him from moving to quickly and even his son wants to meet her before his father commits, Aoyama is smitten and driven by love for this younger mysterious woman.
I will continue with the plot later ONLY if you want to read major plot spoilers with fair warning. I enjoyed this movie much more because I didn't know what would happen next. However, its safe to read my following summary of acting, directing etc.
Acting I was pleased with the acting, I really don't know one Japanese actor from another at this point of my ventures into Japanese cinema, but Ryo Ishibashi is completely believable as a very lonely man who wants another chance at love.
Tetsu Sawaki plays his son Shigehiko, and although his scenes are brief, he plays them well, and you can sense the father son bond between the two.
Eihi Shiina is stunning as Asami Yamazaki, the young love interest of Aoyama. She is very pretty, and projects an innocence and loneliness about her that is very believable. She is able to jump to other emotions in the film with the same believability.
The other actors are not in the film enough to go into depth, but all play their roles well, especially Aoyama's secretary that seems mildly perturbed at her boss. You don't really know what is between them, but you know by the facial expressions and her tone of voice that some unspoken wall is between them.
Direction Takashi Miike is mostly well known for his violent Yakuza gang movies. I was surprised at how slow this film was and how well Miike was able to show lonliness and human suffering and the simple connections between people. It was a departure for Miike and shows that he can express more than just violence.
DVD Information The DVD is in Japanese only, no English soundtrack. It does have English subtitles however, and it has a stereo track and a surround sound track. The video quality was very good, and the movie was in 1.85 to 1 aspect ratio. It looked stunning on my movie screen. I was also very pleased because the film has a complete commentary track by Miike translated into English, and it has an interview with Takashi Miike also translated into English.
Rating This film is rated R, and with good reason. Don't let your kids watch it. Although it was a nice romantic movie, I wouldn't think of it as a date movie.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Okay, so you already knew it was too good to be true. A romantic film by Takashi Miike? What gives? The slow romantic first two thirds of the movie are just a set up for the Miike that I have come to expect in the last 20 minutes or so of the movie. We begin to suspect that perhaps something is wrong with Asami. That reference that she gave in her audition interview? The man hasn't worked at the Art Department for over a year. The ballet studio that she danced at before her injury? Abandoned, but for that creepy old man in the wheelchair. Why is there a large duffel bag in Asami's apartment? More importantly, why does it suddenly roll? We begin to see more of the casual dates between Aoyama and Asami, and learn the details that the first half of the movie do not reveal. Asami's childhood was very unhappy, she appears to have been abused. Nevertheless, Aoyama remains very deeply in love. At this point, I believe that he is just very lonely and he is infatuated and loves Asami out of despair. The actor Ryo Ishibashi conveys that very well. After a tryst in a hotel room Asami leaves before Aoyama can ask her to marry him. His search for Asami leaves him to answers he shouldn't have asked. When an answer includes details like Asami's former employer was found chopped up and there was also three extra fingers, an extra ear, and an extra tongue, one should give up ones search and move on with life.
THIS NEXT PART IS DETAILED DISCUSSION OF THE END OF THE MOVIE AND REVEALS EVERYTHING INCLUDING MY THOUGHTS ON WHAT IT MEANT
Well, if you are reading this far, I assume you've seen the movie and just want to know what someone else thought. I had no clue what was going to happen, and I was very disturbed and riveted to the screen as we see that Asami has apparently kept her dear old stepdad tied up in the burlap bag, only letting him out to eat. How he eats his food with no tongue is beyond me, but the scene seriously freaked me out. What happens next is either a dream or reality, and it doesn't matter which you believe, but I will tell you my thoughts on it anyhow. As we see in later scenes while our protaganist lies there in a drug induced stupor or in a nightmare induced by the dread of marriage, we also see flashbacks to his night with Asami in the hotel in which he does ask her to marry him and she accepts. Part of me thinks the end is all a guilt inspired dream becuase of his actions after his wife passed away. When we see flashbacks of Aoyama and his secretary having sex, its easy to see why earlier scenes showed an unspoken resentment in the secretary's eyes. Clearly, he promised her more, but only took sexual favors. More flashbacks show similar behavior with a maid. In fact, the whole idea of holding an audition to find a wife was very deceptive and manipulative of women. Perhaps his dream of what will follow is his guilt over all these actions and perhaps his guilt over treating his new wife to be as an object rather than as a person with her own thoughts and feelings. An incredibly deep seated guilt indeed to have nightmares like the ending of the film.
For fans of Miike's perverse violence, you can be assured that he does in fact deliver in the ending of the film. For me, it was actually more disturbing than Ichi the Killer because I was not expecting it, certainly not from the apparently sweet Asami. When Asami happily and joyfully sticks needles under Aoyma's eyes while saying Kiri, Kiri, Kiri (deeper, deeper, deeper), it was Miike at his finest (or his worse, depending on your view of these sorts of things) Unlike Tarantino, where violence is almost comic book like, especially in his later Kill Bill movies, with Miike, the violence is real and malevolent. Even the ear scene from Reservoir Dogs doesn't compare to Asami's torture of Aoyama. Her speech to Aoyama as she tortured him was very moving and compelling too. Eihi Shiina seemed to actually emote the pain, rejection and suffering that Asami had endured to want to gain retribution in such a brutal fashion. Glen Close in Fatal Attraction doesn't convey nearly the woman scorned that Shiina's Asami does here. You guys collect many girls from auditions .. make them fail... just wanting to have sex... Everybody is the same.. Words create lies..pain can be trusted.. You only realize what kind of man you are when you feel pain and have a very agonizing experience Asami mocks some of the statements that Aoyama made to her in her audition. Annie Wilkes has nothing on Asami. In Misery James Caan's hobbling isn't shown in much detail, Miike pulls no punches here. Asami clearly enjoys using her meat cutting wires. right foot please
Is Audition a cautionary nightmare tale about manipulating women for sex? Or is it a chilling story of what happens when one meets a woman scorned? I don't know for sure, Miike hints at both, and I haven't listened to the full commentary track yet. All, I can say is that Miike riveted me to the screen with this creepy disturbing piece of cinema. The fact that it started out like a romance made it all the more disturbing.
Recommended:
No
Viewing Format: DVD Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age
AUDITION is an art-house cult horror film that will be talked about for a long time to come. Ryo Ishibashi stars as Aoyama a single father who has not...More at Family Video
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