Audition (Ôdishon)

Release Year: 1999

Director: Takashi Miike

Review: A brilliantly conceived and fearlessly executed horror film.  The set-up isn't anything too radical.  A middle aged man, Shigeharu Aoyama, has lost his wife to an illness and sometime later is urged by his teenage son to get remarried.  Aoyama's friend has a plan.  They hold an audition for a fake movie casting, where each candidate is actually auditioning to be Aoyama's wife.  The woman he picks seems perfect, only things start to go wrong.

Director Takashi Miike is renowned for his graphic, unflinching approach to filmmaking, and 'Audition' in particular has a reputation as being extremely difficult to watch.  To his credit Miike doesn't revel in gore.  There is much more here than gratuitous violence, and the parts that are difficult to watch do not make up a major part of the film.  It is a beautifully shot film, and every scene is there for a reason. 

Miike carefully sets up a complete story, full of emotional depth.  It starts off slow, taking its time to set up the premise and its characters.  There is no villain straight off.  This isn't your customary slasher film.  It goes at its own pace, and actually tells a compelling story.  Asami, the girl which Aoyama has picked, isn't merely a shallow murderer, but a complex individual.  Miike goes to great lengths to paint her in a sympathetic light, and as the audience you want her to be good.  It's this connection which makes the infamous torture scene work so well. It is a dark, twisted movie to be sure, but its earned and that is what ultimately makes it a great film.

Rating: 4.5/5