Audition

~Cast~

Ryo Ishibashi...............Aoyama

Jun Kunimura...............Yoshikawa

Eihi Shina.....................Asami

Directed by...................Takashi Miike

Reviewed By: Sean Thompson

Sean's Rating:

Back in 1999, a Japanese director by the name of Takashi Miike (pronounced something like My-ee-kay, definitely not just pronounced like someone from Maine saying Mike) made a little movie by the name of Odishon aka Audition.  This movie is truly disturbing.  Now, what makes this so disturbing you might ask?  Well, I’ll tell you hypothetical man asking me said stupid question, what makes this flick disturbing is a combination of the creepy ass actress, the gore, and the fact that up until about the last half hour or so of the film it plays like a straight drama.  Yup, straight drama until, hey what’s that thing in the bag….

            Audition tells the story of a widower by the name of Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) whose friend in the movie biz Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura) decides to get him a lady by holding a mock audition, where in the girls will tell about themselves.  The plan is that Aoyama will sit in on the audition and pick the girl he likes the best.  Well, unfortunately for Aoyama he becomes smitten with a girl by the name of Asami (Eihi Shina).  Yes, beautiful and reserved, what a wonderful girl, except for the fact that she’s a raving lunatic.

            As stated before this film plays as a straight drama until the last half hour or so.  But boy is this half hour a doozy.  We discover a man kept in a bag in Asami’s apartment, who…well I don’t want to give away the gory details but lets just say he’s not gonna be singing and dancing anytime soon.  And, the end has Asami using a wire in some very sadistic ways.  So yeah, the end makes up for the lack of gore in the first half.

            To be honest I’m not sure if the acting was good, because Japanese isn’t something I’m fluid in.  However, the subtitles seemed intelligent enough, and the acting seemed good from what I was able to gather from the expressions, movements, and inflections of the actors.  Likewise, there is some hot Asian lady nudity, which is always a plus.

            This film essentially made me a Takashi fan, and if you enjoy this one, I’d also recommend Ichi the killer and his Masters of Horror episode Imprint.  However, none of these, including Audition, are for the faint of heart.  Seriously, if you get queasy easy stay away!

3 and a half skulls out of 5

Confucius say

"If you want pretty woman slit, make sure you specify you not want pretty woman slit you!"

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