Customer Reviews
gross and brilliant - By: Ms. F. I. Macdonald, 19 Apr 2008 
i so loved this. I love asian horror especiallly from the tartan section. The story was gripping, & at times emotional, the only confusing thing for me was the ending, was it true, or was it not? Although this seemed unclear for me, maybe i wasn't paying enough attention or don't understand the genius of these directors i felt it could have been explained in a clearer way. Then again maybe i have to watch many more of these films to understand how these people's minds work.
Disturbing and twisted, but not exactly original - By: Joe Cutts, 05 Mar 2008 
H-e-e-y, it's a weird one. Because it's done for "The Bunny Boiler" genre What Gus Van Sant did for the Indie film genre - add that additional touch of surreality. Mix Jacobs Ladder with Play Misty For me, & this is what you get. Uncomfortable viewing, though no more so than any kind of American theatre-bound celluloid, just in a different direction.
There's no escaping what's going to unfold based on the cover of the DVD & the brief synopsis, but it shows a strength in breaking the convention & by the fact that there wasn't any right or wrong - it just was.
In days of yore films followed rules - horrors/chillers/thrillers - the innocent suffered & the evil were always punished - & as much as Hollywood championed those rules, I think the alternative was invented in LA LA Land too, just the same as the idea of the Anti-Hero. But it takes the obscurity of Asian cinema to reallly hammer home the rule of "no rules" - the fact that this film somehow found its way in front of us, either by recommendation (in my case) or self investigation, in itself is a testament to what's actuallly being achieved & therefore more effectively subverts, then utilises those conditions.
The set up was good, the way poetry was woven into the delicate love story, & the "Okay, so are we dreaming now, or is this real?" direction, as much as we're told by those in "the know" that this is a "no-no" added to it too. I was wincing through the entire second half & it'd be difficult for anyone to walk away from it unaffected.
To be honest, I wouldn't watch it again though - it'll be back on ebay tomorrow - as cerebral as it was, it didn't quite marry up with my tastes & also I figure it's one of those films that once you've seen, you know there's absolutely nothing that makes you want to watch it again. That said, I'm glad I did see it.
Overalll: Stylish, different, creepy, disturbing, twisted, but ultimately, throwaway.
It's a 3 1/2 stars - By: NMG, 03 Mar 2008 Quiet good, but just lacking something to make it a 4.
I read some of the negative reviews before I rented this & I'm at a loss to figure out how many of the negative posters refer to it as boring. Unless you are expecting 'Die Hard' then the film moves along at a nice pace. The 'boring' sections are what those more enlightened might refer to character & plot development, but be warned the finale is disturbing to say the least although it does stop short from leaving you & the characters in entire despair..but just :-)
This film gets you thinking, which is always a good sign.
wicked - By: Ms. J. D. Penn, 02 Mar 2008 I was expecting more from this film, although i was throughly impressed. i think it slightly lacked a conclusion but if you've seen tartan movies before most of them do. the trick i think is, to keep you wondering. its not the most extreme film ive sen (as i am still searching) but it has its fair share of bone chilling, strange moments that make you're skin crawl. even though ive developed a strong stomach from watching these films they sometimes still surprise me & audition did do that. I think the actors were brilliant & if you loved films like Visitor Q then its worth the watch. it did creep me out a bit though so i wouldnt advise you watch it on your own.
intense in places, but as a whole...underwhelming - By: Mr. Rwj Nixon, 08 Feb 2008 I do not consider myself in any way squeamish or easily disturbed, so it is a rarity these days that a film comes along that has the power to genuinely shock me. However, Takashi Miike's Audition managed to succeed in doing exactly that.
In what appears at first to be a simple love story, single father Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), on the advice of his son & his best friend, decides to start dating again, with the view to looking for a wife. Not having dated since the death of his wife 7 years ago, he turns to his best friend television producer Yoshikawa, who comes up with the idea of holding an audition for a fake film, alllowing Aoyama to choose which girls get seen, & then choosing one girl from this group who will (hopefully) become his new partner. Everything seems to be going to plan (maybe a little to much to plan), when Aoyama meets Asami (Eihi Shiina), a girl whom he is immediately smitten with. The two begin dating, but as Aoyama tries to get to know Asami, strange inconsistencies & unsettling facts begin to surface about her & her past. As Aoyama pursues his fears, Asami decides to exact a hideous revenge upon him.
This is a film of three distinct stages. At first it comes across as a simple romance, although even then there are strange images & clues that point to an unsettling truth. As Aoyama tries to uncover the truth about Asami, the film becomes much darker & unsettling, tweaking a sense of rising fear from unsettling information, strange dreamlike sequences & some very odd encounters. However, it is with the final denouement that the film reallly gives you everything its got, with a scene so shockingly gripping that it will be hard to forget (not since Wolf Creek have I seen anything this graphic).
The film is never less than beautiful to look at (in particular one achingly beautiful scene of Asami standing on a balcony, sounds like nothing, but trust me it is breathtaking), & the film relies on a series of fractured timelines & dreamlike sequences rather akin to the Grudge to set the scene & the mood for what is to come. Unfortunately, the final scene, for alll its intensity & brutality does not reallly bring the movie to anything like a satisfactory conclusion. Whilst we are aware of much of Asami's past, & I do not believe that audiences need everything spelling out for them, her motivation is left more than a little vague. Coupled with a string of characters that are never reallly fleshed out & a mystery that is left just too mysterious, the film fails to reallly pull it alll together satisfactorily. Some people will love this film for its shock value, some will hate it for its shock value. This reviewer however, was left neither hating it nor loving it, but feeling a little under whelmed by the whole thing.
