Audition
1999
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 dated since his wife died seven years earlier. To help find another woman to bring joy into Aoyama's charmless life, his best friend, television producer Yoshikawa, convinces .. Read more
| Starring | Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura |
|---|---|
| Director | Takashi Miike |
| Genres | Horror, World Cinema |
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Critics' reviews (4)
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Containing scenes of surreal violence and excruciating torture that many will find difficult to watch, this controversial psychological horror from cult Japanese director Takashi Miike could be a warped dream fuelled by tormented memory or an agonising hallucination revolving around the fear of a new relationship. It begins like a typical romantic comedy: a lonely Tokyo widower (played by Ryo Ishibashi) is persuaded to start looking for a new wife. With a producer friend, he holds a fake audition so he can screen a group of beautiful women — ostensibly for the part of a heroine in a new movie. But when the widower picks out an ex-ballerina (Japanese model Eihi Shiina) and tentatively begins to woo her, events take a terrifying turn. Like David Cronenberg, Miike doesn't provide his audience with easy answers, emotional respite or a safe conclusion. Instead, using stunning imagery and a mounting sense of puzzled dread, he puts true horror back into the genre. If you can stomach it, this profoundly moving film will leave you dazed.
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"...With a quiet that's meticulously transformed into moodiness and then fear-filled tension, the director Takashi Miike eases us in slowly....AUDITION doesn't let you down..."
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Seven years after losing his wife to cancer, video producer Aoyama (Ryo Another Lonely Hitman Ishibashi) finds the new... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful members' reviews (3)
View all -
62 out of 64 people found this review helpful
The Art of Suspense
Audition starts and remains, for about three quarters of the film, incredibly slow. There?s no two ways about it. It is deliberate. Audition is so slow, it actually leads you in to a false sense of security and possibly even touching on sleepy.
And then bang!!!!! The final quarter of the movie is the reason that you hire it. Shocking, sick, full of blood and all the other things we craze from horror movies of this ilk.
I recommend you watch the movie in Japanese with English subtitles; it adds to the suspense and there is a lovely juxtaposition between the soft Japanese accent of a beautiful young woman and her subsequent acts of barbarity. There?s little else to say without giving the game away, except that it is a dark movie indeed.
If you liked Audition be sure to hire Ring and Ring 2. -
27 out of 29 people found this review helpful
The nastiest movie I've ever seen
Audition is really well made. However it's also the most disturbing film I've ever seen.
While there may be some deeper points the climax of the film is purely visceral. It manages to be uniquely unpleasant and relentlessly disturbing. This is helped by the fact that the entire film is very slow paced allowing the tension and horror to build up slowly. And when the violence does finally arrive there is no sudden fright release as in traditional western movies. The horror just builds and builds until the last frame. And when the credits role with their ridiculously out of place music you will be left speechless trying to put your mind back to how it was before Takashii Miike assaulted it.
Nevertheless it is well made, and if you want to be disturbed there is nothing better. I however wish I hadn't watched it. -
20 out of 21 people found this review helpful
Man she's harsh
Kathy Bates in Misery has nothing on this girl. James Caan's character in that film got off lightly! This film has a very slow build up but pays off with probably some of the worst torture scenes committed to celluloid. You have to feel sorry for our hero - he's only looking for love! Give the guy a break
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Most recent members' reviews (2)
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4 out of 7 people found this review helpful
No Romantic Comedy
A widower, after many years of romantic solitude, decides it's time to find a new wife. He enlists the help of his friend, a casting director, to find a perfect mate. The director has a splendid idea: to "audition" women for the role of his friend's wife, although the women believe they're auditioning for a movie part.
But let's be clear: this is no romantic comedy. Any veteran of Japanese horror films (think Ring) will know never to trust the virginal girl in white with the long hair.
After an intentionally slow start, the film lures you in with heated suspense and plot twists to leave you spinning. This is an excellent thriller. -
8 out of 11 people found this review helpful
Pure tedium
I hated this film. Unfortunately all the other good reviews made me feel compelled to keep watching despite the painfully slow pace of the non-touching romance. I kept watching, anticipating a gut-wrenching shocking and worth-the-wait denouement, but found that the much-touted torture scene was hammy, not particularly gory, but most overwhelmingly frustratingly (LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ENDING SPOILT) part of a complex dream sequence!! Perhaps I'm not sophisticated enough to understand the dream sequences and the director's self-conscious 'artiness', but it smacked of a Dallas episode and was far less compelling. I was left feeling very frustrated that I had wasted 111mins watching this crap!
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62 out of 64 people found this review helpful
The Art of Suspense
Audition starts and remains, for about three quarters of the film, incredibly slow. There?s no two ways about it. It is deliberate. Audition is so slow, it actually leads you in to a false sense of security and possibly even touching on sleepy.
And then bang!!!!! The final quarter of the movie is the reason that you hire it. Shocking, sick, full of blood and all the other things we craze from horror movies of this ilk.
I recommend you watch the movie in Japanese with English subtitles; it adds to the suspense and there is a lovely juxtaposition between the soft Japanese accent of a beautiful young woman and her subsequent acts of barbarity. There?s little else to say without giving the game away, except that it is a dark movie indeed.
If you liked Audition be sure to hire Ring and Ring 2. -
27 out of 29 people found this review helpful
The nastiest movie I've ever seen
Audition is really well made. However it's also the most disturbing film I've ever seen.
While there may be some deeper points the climax of the film is purely visceral. It manages to be uniquely unpleasant and relentlessly disturbing. This is helped by the fact that the entire film is very slow paced allowing the tension and horror to build up slowly. And when the violence does finally arrive there is no sudden fright release as in traditional western movies. The horror just builds and builds until the last frame. And when the credits role with their ridiculously out of place music you will be left speechless trying to put your mind back to how it was before Takashii Miike assaulted it.
Nevertheless it is well made, and if you want to be disturbed there is nothing better. I however wish I hadn't watched it. -
20 out of 21 people found this review helpful
Man she's harsh
Kathy Bates in Misery has nothing on this girl. James Caan's character in that film got off lightly! This film has a very slow build up but pays off with probably some of the worst torture scenes committed to celluloid. You have to feel sorry for our hero - he's only looking for love! Give the guy a break
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14 out of 15 people found this review helpful
Genuinely Scary
A film that is original, surreal and truly scary.
The director blurs the lines between fantasy and reality and, incredibly managing to avoid the censors, creates a macabre comment on the traditional Japanese male/female roles.
This film is 'Fatal Attraction' directed by David Lynch, with Cronenberg's screenplay and produced by Tarantino! It will leave you emotionally disturbed, shocked and sickened. But you will have witnessed a masterpiece. -
9 out of 11 people found this review helpful
Not for everyone
This film pushed all the right buttons as far as I'm concerned, but it certainly will not inspire everyone. The story is not what you would describe as particularly complex; a guy loses his wife to illness, and after a certain number of years, seeks a new partner by holding an 'audition'. The acting is very good, and the director spends much time in ensuring the audience becomes sympathetically and emotionally attached to the lead male. This, however, is what may put some people off, as many scenes are purely to monitor the everyday behaviour and feelings of the man in question. However, if you stick with it, the tension builds brilliantly as the film rapidly takes a much darker and more sinister direction. Brilliant stuff, if you have the patience to stick with it.
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8 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Sickening; I love it!
You will be shocked. That I can guarantee.
This is a film for those with (along with strong stomachs) solid attention spans and a knack for following subtitles as it requires, or rather demands a great deal of attention to fully submerge you in the story, and feel the full, visceral impact of the climax. Yes, it is very slow for the first two thirds or so, but this is so you can grow to care for the characters.
Audition cannot really be compared to Ring, and especially not the disappointing sequel. Ring also has a fairly slow build-up but delivers truly heart-stopping scares, as opposed to the shock-tactics so beloved to Takashi Miike.
After seeing this, you will never hear 'Kitty, kitty, kitty' without a disturbing shudder creeping down your spine. -
9 out of 14 people found this review helpful
Somewhat lacking
A difficult film to fathom really. Could be its Japanese perspective. Like "the Ring" this film is quite long and slow which the director describes in the additional footage and being a way to build tension. Or bore you rigid...I'm not sure which. The interview was the most pretentious twaddle I’ve ever heard and maybe its worth renting this one just to watch that.
The film does blur lines between nightmares and reality, but not in a way which left me caring what the truth really was. There is some graphic sadistic violence which I can’t say I enjoyed and I almost gave up at that point.
Approach with caution I'd say. -
8 out of 11 people found this review helpful
Pure tedium
I hated this film. Unfortunately all the other good reviews made me feel compelled to keep watching despite the painfully slow pace of the non-touching romance. I kept watching, anticipating a gut-wrenching shocking and worth-the-wait denouement, but found that the much-touted torture scene was hammy, not particularly gory, but most overwhelmingly frustratingly (LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ENDING SPOILT) part of a complex dream sequence!! Perhaps I'm not sophisticated enough to understand the dream sequences and the director's self-conscious 'artiness', but it smacked of a Dallas episode and was far less compelling. I was left feeling very frustrated that I had wasted 111mins watching this crap!
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7 out of 8 people found this review helpful
If you liked that you'll love this
Much in the same timbre as the Ring, this will bring some of your worse nightmares to the screen. Its a case of watching the situaition unravel, getting more horrible as time goes on. We men be warned! Much like Fatal Attraction sounded an alarm, this goes much deeper. Quality drama, showing a degree of imagination beyond most of Hollywood.
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN!
Unless you're happy to be paying out therapist's bills for the rest of their lives.
This film is so twisted and malevolent you feel like your holding a piece of contraband, god only knows what old mary whitehouse would make of it! Like the other reviewers have said it does drag a bit to begin with but every now and again it hints at whats possibly to come later, check out the scenes with the dance tutor! that said when you get to the climactic encounter.....its like nothing you've seen before, I promise! all I can say is I'm in complete awe of Takashi Miike to have the imagination to create this movie and then to have sold the idea to a distributor.... I salue you sir!
Some compare this to the Ring series etc, I'd say that Audition really is more in tune with Shallow Grave, Battle Royale, Very Bad Things, and to some extent Casino. If you like pitch black movies with a vicious borderline sadistic sense of humour I think you'll go for this.
One of those films that has to been seen quite literally to be believed.
Critics' reviews (4)
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Containing scenes of surreal violence and excruciating torture that many will find difficult to watch, this controversial psychological horror from cult Japanese director Takashi Miike could be a warped dream fuelled by tormented memory or an agonising hallucination revolving around the fear of a new relationship. It begins like a typical romantic comedy: a lonely Tokyo widower (played by Ryo Ishibashi) is persuaded to start looking for a new wife. With a producer friend, he holds a fake audition so he can screen a group of beautiful women — ostensibly for the part of a heroine in a new movie. But when the widower picks out an ex-ballerina (Japanese model Eihi Shiina) and tentatively begins to woo her, events take a terrifying turn. Like David Cronenberg, Miike doesn't provide his audience with easy answers, emotional respite or a safe conclusion. Instead, using stunning imagery and a mounting sense of puzzled dread, he puts true horror back into the genre. If you can stomach it, this profoundly moving film will leave you dazed.
-
"...With a quiet that's meticulously transformed into moodiness and then fear-filled tension, the director Takashi Miike eases us in slowly....AUDITION doesn't let you down..."
-
Seven years after losing his wife to cancer, video producer Aoyama (Ryo Another Lonely Hitman Ishibashi) finds the new... read more on Time Out
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"...Miike has a Bunuelian talent for turning our preconceptions on their heads as a scare tactic..."
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Audition
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 dated since his wife died seven years earlier. To help find another woman to bring joy into Aoyama's charmless life, his best friend, television ...
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