Audition (Ôdishon) (1999)

Featured Audience Ratings

• paul o

  
  Its not that great UNTIL the last 20-30 minutes. THEN, it gets artsy and painful. This isn't as extreme as others claim it to be, its just a simple concept that goes into the Absurd towards the end. Overall, a dry film that attempts to keep our attention and actually gets you at… More
  Its not that great UNTIL the last 20-30 minutes. THEN, it gets artsy and painful. This isn't as extreme as others claim it to be, its just a simple concept that goes into the Absurd towards the end. Overall, a dry film that attempts to keep our attention and actually gets you at the last minute.

• Lewis C

  
  "Words create lies. Pain can be trusted." This is a great example of slow-burn horror done right, and with a very bloody payoff.. Audition begins as somewhat unsettling and ends up excruciating to watch, and I mean that in the best way possible. What starts out as a… More
  "Words create lies. Pain can be trusted." This is a great example of slow-burn horror done right, and with a very bloody payoff.. Audition begins as somewhat unsettling and ends up excruciating to watch, and I mean that in the best way possible. What starts out as a somewhat misguided attempt by a middle-aged father to find a new wife several years after his has passed away, turns into something horrifying and more than a little sad. Bring a strong stomach and some patience to Auditon, and you won't be disappointed.

• Reid V

  
  "All Japanese People Are Lonely" What an odd and certainly aggressive exploration of grief. As a man recently looses his wife, he uses the ruse of a TV show audition, to search for a probable replacement. Fitting his ideals, a young woman by the name of Asami waltzes into… More
  "All Japanese People Are Lonely" What an odd and certainly aggressive exploration of grief. As a man recently looses his wife, he uses the ruse of a TV show audition, to search for a probable replacement. Fitting his ideals, a young woman by the name of Asami waltzes into his life. What happens next, is best left undiscussed. It needs to be experienced. One thing that is particularly striking about the film is that Shigeharu is not a bad man. He is grieving the lose of his beloved wife and doesn't know the proper way to get over it. Even as Miike shows the auditioning process, which is about as flattering to these women as a cattle auction, the viewer still feels empathy for Shigeharu. However, Miike does emphasize the point that what Shigeharu is looking for is obedience. In fact, all of the successful relationships in his life, are due to subservience. I think Miike creates a great portrait of a paternalistic society in which the women must quietly wait for the men's beck and call. The image of Asami waiting by the telephone is one that won't easily leave your brain. Unfortunately for the viewer, that isn't the only image that is hard to shake. The abrupt shift in the power dynamic will render you unable to stop from shifting in your seat. My best advice would be to grab a paper bag and enjoy the ride.

• Melvin W

  
  Asami Yamazaki: Words create lies. Pain can be trusted.  "She always gets a part" What an experience Takashi Miike's Ôdishon is. It's a masterpiece that creates an immense amount of tension in it's first hour and a half, which leads up to an incredibly well… More
  Asami Yamazaki: Words create lies. Pain can be trusted.  "She always gets a part" What an experience Takashi Miike's Ôdishon is. It's a masterpiece that creates an immense amount of tension in it's first hour and a half, which leads up to an incredibly well done final act. This is the first Miike film I have had the pleasure to watch and it definitely won't be my last. Everyone talks about the ending, which is understandable; but what I loved about this movie was the lead-up to the ending. We know that Asami isn't what she seems. We hear about murders and we see an obvious red flag in her apartment pretty early on. Aoyama, however, has no idea of this. He sees the nice, sweet, shy exterior of the girl.  From what I had been told by other people, I thought this was going to be a really violent and gruesome movie. It's nowhere near as violent as I expected it to be and only becomes so in it's final act. This scene is terrifying and obviously gruesome, but there's been much worse put to film. I think everyone's lasting impression of the movie is that last scene, so when asked about it they say how violent and brutal it is without remembering that about an hour and a half isn't violent at all. This is a testament to just how memorable and well done that scene is, though. It's definitely not something you'll forget anytime soon. If your a horror fan, you owe it to yourself go watch Audition. It's the most terrifying type of horror film when you think about it. Unlike Freddy Krueger and Jason, this kind of stuff can and does happen. It's realistic and that's the scariest thing about it. It's disturbing in a way that most movies aren't. Most are disturbing because of the extent the writers and directors will go to shock it's audience. Audition is disturbing because it's ability to shock the audience because of the reality of the situation it shows us. I'll say it again; A Masterpiece.

• J P

  
  So freakin slow, man. Then at the end I was like what the fuck is going on right now? It really wasn't that gory/scary bad at the end. I was completely unphased, and I will most likely not have any recollection of it tomorrow. Forgettable movie. Can't say that guy… More
  So freakin slow, man. Then at the end I was like what the fuck is going on right now? It really wasn't that gory/scary bad at the end. I was completely unphased, and I will most likely not have any recollection of it tomorrow. Forgettable movie. Can't say that guy wasn't asking for it.

• Jennifer X

  
  Why is this movie so disturbing, and more importantly, why is it so freaking long? Sadism has never been so boring.

• Ariuza k

  
  Based on a novel by Ryu Murakami, director Takashi Miike's Audition is surprisingly "deliberate" and straightforward for much of its length. It's not a bad film at all, but most of it is in the realm of realist drama, even becoming something of a romance at one… More
  Based on a novel by Ryu Murakami, director Takashi Miike's Audition is surprisingly "deliberate" and straightforward for much of its length. It's not a bad film at all, but most of it is in the realm of realist drama, even becoming something of a romance at one point. There are a few brutal images and scenarios, but they arrive primarily towards the end of the film, and they tend to be more conceptually disturbing than graphically violent. Audition is the story of Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), who is living alone with his son, Shigehiko (Tetsu Sawaki), after his wife, Ryoko (Miyuki Matsuda), passes away. First egged on by Shigehiko, Shigeharu decides to remarry. He enlists the help of a movie producer friend, Yasuhisha Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura), who devises a scheme well known to pornographers--he sets up bogus auditions for a film. Yasuhisha acquires a large number of resumes and headshots for this purpose, out of which he asks Shigehiko to choose 30 women to audition. Before the audition day even arrives, Shigehiko has his eyes set on one particular woman, Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina). Asami strikes Yasuhisha as peculiar, but Shigehiko has fallen for her and a romance begins. However, Yasuhisha turns out to be right--there is something strange about her, as the audience can clearly see due to the fine performance from Shiina. Audition explores Asami's story and her relationship to Shigehiko. It's a good hour, at least, before anything very out of the ordinary happens in the film, and even when that time does arrive, the strange occurrences are extremely subtle at first. The pacing and tone of this first half of the film is more similar to Hideo Nakata's style as displayed in films like Ringu (1998) and Dark Water (Honogurai mizu no soko kara, 2002). This is only the third Miike film I've seen so far (I had difficulty tracking them down for purchase or rental before I joined Netflix), and the directorial style of Audition was surprising to me. That's because so far, every Miike film I've seen has a completely different style (the other two I've watched to date are Ichi the Killer (Koroshiya 1) and Happiness of the Katakuris (Katakuri-ke no kôfuku), both from 2001). But as a realist drama that ventures into romance and slight mystery/thriller territory during its first half, Audition is a fine piece of art--you just have to know what to expect. All of Miike's films that I've seen so far--as different as they are stylistically--share excellent direction. Miike is extremely adept at handling his cast, he knows how to get incredible cinematography, and he has interestingly varied ways of blocking scenes. Audition has a combination of a voyeur and a psychologically dissociative theme in its cinematography, appropriate to the plot. We view quite a few scenes from a distance--the camera is sometimes even placed in a room adjacent to the main action; there is a great hand-held tracking shot following Shigeharu and Yasuhisha through their office from behind partitions ala James Whale's Frankenstein (1931); an important "repeated scene" in a restaurant that gives us another psychological angle, with significantly altered dialogue, is shot at a distance; in the dénouement, another repeated dialogue scene with shifted meaning is shot from another room, and so on. Of course, the main attraction for most folks, at least in my part of the world, is the more mysterious and visceral material that enters in the second half, as the majority of Miike fans tend to be horror fans. For awhile, Miike, Murakami and scriptwriter Daisuke Tengan (whom Miike amusingly says must have "been on drugs" when he wrote Audition, because the script was so weird--he implies that he tried to "normalize" it a bit) play with audience expectations as Audition threatens to become a more standard relationship thriller, then a ghost story, then a rubber reality film (all of these things are implied in turn during one of the best extended sequences of the film), and finally, we realize that it's more about a psychotic villain. This final revelation leads to the infamous climactic scenes of the film, which will test some audience members' constitutions as we venture into more grisly territory accompanied by marvelous hallucinatory sequences. The performances in this section are worthy of a 10, even if, as Miike says in his commentary, Shiina, at least, seemed to almost stop performing and simply became the character--a frightening thought, particularly for Ishibashi. There are a number of subtexts that one can read into Audition, although Miike characteristically (for Asian genre cinema) stresses an intention of ambiguity. Many read the film as kind of a twisted feminist empowerment fantasy. After all, even if Shigeharu did not have the womanizing history and ill intentions for the audition that some characters believe him to have had, those beliefs are in line with at least a cynical misogynistic account of the typical motivations. Shigehiko's "girlfriend", who makes a brief appearance, is presented as a counterexample to be surmounted on this reading, as she is a traditional token of a more yielding female. Shigeharu's coworker who says she is going to get married is presented as a more implicitly "abused" counterexample. I say this be "abused" reasons "Close the bag mother fuckers". And i hope you liked my review.

• Keiko A

  
  Hmm what is the big hype on this movie? I admit it is very well made and well acted and all that but I simply just hated it. I think I liked it years ago but today nothing. Anything think it is cool to stick a needle throw a guy's thong?? A lonely Japanese widower whose son… More
  Hmm what is the big hype on this movie? I admit it is very well made and well acted and all that but I simply just hated it. I think I liked it years ago but today nothing. Anything think it is cool to stick a needle throw a guy's thong?? A lonely Japanese widower whose son is planning to move out of the house soon expresses his sadness to a friend and fellow film producer, who becomes inspired to hold an audition for a non-existent film so that the widower can select a new potential bride from the resulting audition pool. The widower ultimately becomes enamoured with and fascinated by one particular young woman...but first impressions can often be horribly wrong. I think lots liked it but I just didn't. 30% for story: I really just didn't like it. It's nothing really but torture porn 30% for acting: Didn't think it was that great but Eihi Shiina was excellent. 80% for special effects: There very well made yes, I think the needle scene was very disturbing. 40% for characters. 40 % for everything else: Some things are great other times... Hmm its up to you if you want to watch. Keiko's score 39-100

• Daniel J D

  
  Moral of the story: Don't date creepy Asian chicks. Well, really, any creepy people. Don't date creepy people. Also, next to Cannibal Holocaust, this was the most grueling film I've watched in quite some time.

• Antony S

  
  MARVELLOUS. Best horror film since Dead Ringers. Kick-started my fandom of Miike, long may it reign. Never listen to anyone who tries to defer you away from it because of its graphical brutal torture. Don't impose 'cause you can't handle it!

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"She always gets a part"</i> Widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all... <center><font size=+2 face="Century… More
  <i>"She always gets a part"</i> Widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all... <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> While it takes some of its psychological cues from the early thrillers of Roman Polanski, and stylistic excerpts from Kubrick to David Lynch, "Audition" stands on its own as a disturbing, post-modern horror film with passages of genuinely nightmarish surrealism. Director Takashi Miike weaves a tale of an aging widower who holds a fake film audition in hopes of meeting the perfect woman; his intentions are sincere, and he seemingly finds his match in Asami, a physically and psychologically damaged 24-year old who hides a dark past...or does she? While a bit too deliberately-paced at times, overall Miike builds an unusual atmosphere drowned in mounting suspense; his actors sell the premise, and transform "Audition" into something more than a De Palma-esquire exercise in style.

• Carlos M

  
  The weirdly romantic beginning works as an overlong prelude to a shocking, disgusting, confusing finale that does not make much sense.

• Anthony L

  
  Audition is Miike's most subtle film to date but that's not to say it's not scary, in fact, it actually makes it more terrifying. It's what you don't see that scares you, an idea so many modern horror makers forget. It's only the second horror film that… More
  Audition is Miike's most subtle film to date but that's not to say it's not scary, in fact, it actually makes it more terrifying. It's what you don't see that scares you, an idea so many modern horror makers forget. It's only the second horror film that has ever given me a nightmare. The first one was Jaws. Intelligent horror, from one of the sickest (and Brilliant) directors working today.

• E.J. B

  
  I've always seen Takashi Miike as an interesting but very inconsistent filmmaker. Those inconsistencies are non-existent with this horror masterpiece. Even more amazing is that Miike, a director known for his excessively violent and gory films, shows amazing restraint. While… More
  I've always seen Takashi Miike as an interesting but very inconsistent filmmaker. Those inconsistencies are non-existent with this horror masterpiece. Even more amazing is that Miike, a director known for his excessively violent and gory films, shows amazing restraint. While this film contains disgusting, gut-wrenching, seriously disturbing sequences, they are few and far between. Much of this movie plays like a family drama interspliced with scenes of horror. Ryo Ishibashi plays Aoyama, a film producer who loses his wife, and, with some persistence from his son, sets out to remarry. He holds a fake audition to interview possible "contestants" and falls in love with Asami, who, as you may guess, is a psychopath. Audition isn't just expertly crafted, it is a serious comment on male and female roles in Japanese society. While Aoyama is a pretty decent guy, he doesn't view women as being anything more than respectful servants. He apparently has had sex with one of his co-workers, and has left her to wonder if that night meant anything to him. Aoyama seems to reflect how conservative Japanese males seem to view women. This is evident in a scene where one of his son's girlfriends unknowingly eats Aoyama's dinner, and upon such a discovery, vows to cook him another meal. Would Aoyama feel obligated to do the same if he unknowingly ate HER meal? However, Aoyama does not deserve the fate that Asami has in store for him. She has had an extremely troubled past, filled with abuse and neglect. Men have used her simply for their own selfish reasons, and then have thrown her aside like a piece of rotten meat. She has chosen to lash out at all males, who she believes are all the same. What follows is a brilliant and incredibly tense film that hurdles into a showdown of suspense that rivals the best of Hitchcock, and gore that outdoes the worst of Argento. Audition is a gem, a horror masterpiece that must be experienced, unless you're squeamish.

• Randy T

  
  In the last 10 or 15 years Japan has managed to take the horror genre by storm. Here, with Takashi Miike's <i>Audition</i> (Ôdishon), they've even elevated 'gore' to an art form. It's hard for some, especially ME, to think of severed tongues and… More
  In the last 10 or 15 years Japan has managed to take the horror genre by storm. Here, with Takashi Miike's <i>Audition</i> (Ôdishon), they've even elevated 'gore' to an art form. It's hard for some, especially ME, to think of severed tongues and ears and fingers as 'art', but when it's used to advance a story, not just for shock and awe, it becomes another color on the artist's pallet.. For the first hour or so Miike leads you along a storyline that would fit into any serious drama or romantic comedy. You may even forget that you're watching a horror film. And then - zap! Personally, movies of this sub-genre aren't usually my cup of tea but, then again, this is no <i>Hostel</i> or <i>Wolf Creek</i>. When the blood letting began I was 'this close' to turning the thing off. If you're like me all I can say, without spoiling the film for you, is stick with it. The horrific sequences are powerful, yes, but a relatively small part of the film and the pay-off at the end is worth the wait.

• David S

  
  Oh man this is a chiller. A brutal film and my favorite non-English language film. Definitely not for the faint hearted and do not watch while eating. Eihi Shiina does a wonderful job with her portrayal of Asami Yamazaki. Like the film itself, she undergoes several changes in mood… More
  Oh man this is a chiller. A brutal film and my favorite non-English language film. Definitely not for the faint hearted and do not watch while eating. Eihi Shiina does a wonderful job with her portrayal of Asami Yamazaki. Like the film itself, she undergoes several changes in mood and she really shines towards the end of the film (more on that later). What I love best about this film is the ever constant changing of tone/mood. It keeps the viewer on their toes (though it makes it hard to describe to a casual film viewer). It starts off as a drama, becomes comedic during the audition phase, romantic-drama with the relationship between Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), becomes a mystery as Aoyama tries to find out about Asami's past (not to mention whereabouts) and from there, becomes a straight-out thriller. While the entire film is great due to this, it's the thriller aspect that really outdoes the rest. If you knew nothing of this film before seeing it, you would not expect it. And that's what the film wants. It reeled you in and now it's going to shock you with its imagery and it's casual nature about it. We're talking men in sacks, removal of body parts, needle torture. It does not let up, it does not downplay. (Now we will deal with the ending. Skip ahead or stop reading if you do not want spoilers) The finale in which Asami has drugged Aoyama and intends to torture him is a magnificent climax in itself. Her motivation being that he will never truly be devoted to her so long as he has ties to the world already (in the form of his son and dog) and to "punish him", proceeds to hurt him in many ways, most notably with the amputating of his left foot. Make no mistake, this film is unrelenting and not soft. A study on obsession, on devotion, complete love and the lengths a person will go to in order to make someone understand their definition of love. A lot of people have walked out of this film because of the unflinching nature. Like so many thrillers, this is chilling because what's to prevent this from happening to you? Twisted does not even begin to describe this. Watch if you can stomach this. And do not stop before the end. You wanted to watch it, don't chicken out. "Kiri kiri kiri...." indeed.

• Justin Y

  
  Takashi Miike has one imaginative mind and <i>Audition</i>, which is classified as one of the great horror films of all time, albeit a bit overrated, shows it.<p>Where do I begin? So you have a 1 hour 50 minute horror romantic drama. The romantic drama plays out in… More
  Takashi Miike has one imaginative mind and <i>Audition</i>, which is classified as one of the great horror films of all time, albeit a bit overrated, shows it.<p>Where do I begin? So you have a 1 hour 50 minute horror romantic drama. The romantic drama plays out in the earlier stages. In fact, the first 80 minutes are a slow drawn out burn of a movie. The story takes its time to unfold and there are only small dosages hinting at whats to come. Many people may feel somewhat disappointed. Fortunately, the directing from Miike keeps this from becoming a huge bore.</p><p>For those that hate the sound of a romantic drama, fear not because it all comes out in the last 30 minutes. I mean it ALL comes out. One way to look at it is that the slower parts of the film make this ending all the more sweeter. Miike's wild imagination and writing go to work with abstract scenes and time jumps showing up all over the place. While confusing at times, the story begins to come together and <i>Audition</i> becomes a suspenseful nightmare. "Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri!"</p><p>The lovely, Eihi Shiina is a blast to watch. Watching her play the innocent shy girl and then doing the things she does later in the film is a nice touch for her character. "Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri!"</p><p>The earlier parts of this film may be a little slow for some, but let me assure you that the ending makes up for it. This is a must watch for Japanese horror fans. "Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri!"

• _kelly .

  
  When people say that the film is predictable in their reviews, they MUST mean that they know the torture sequence is EVENTUALLY coming and that Asami is psycho, right? (SPOILERS) Yall don't mean that you knew Asami had to quit ballet because her uncle abused her, that Aoyama… More
  When people say that the film is predictable in their reviews, they MUST mean that they know the torture sequence is EVENTUALLY coming and that Asami is psycho, right? (SPOILERS) Yall don't mean that you knew Asami had to quit ballet because her uncle abused her, that Aoyama would meet this uncle character, that Miike would pull an "inside the dream" sequence, that he had cut crucial revelations Asami makes about her past out of the first versions of the dates to insert them in the replays in the dream, that the hotel scene really didn't end where it did? Because I'm DAMN good at predicting even small plot details, and I HIGHLY doubt that you dolts saw the majority of that stuff coming. One or two things, I grant you. I knew that the man in the bag would be either the record industry man or the man from the bar, and that his limbs would be severed, so I'll give you one or two odd details you could predict, but all to the point that it made the crucial details predictable? Wanna say the movie's predictable - okay, as long as you mean that everyone knows the synopsis of "a man meets a girl and she tortures him". You may know physical torture from Asami is coming, but you couldn't have anticipated the layers of psychological torture the main character puts himself through in addition to the physical torture. Because we know the synopsis, the first 48 minutes (which are devoid of scares or distortion and devoted to character and sedating the audience) can drag. It could easily be reduced to under ten minutes. Hell, you could just skip to the last thirty minutes of the film and still understand the whole story without missing the gore. Maybe it's because I just saw Irreversible, but I thought it was a little dull to save the torture until the end. Seeing as Miike already plays with non-linear telling here, there's no reason why the torture scene couldn't have been earlier, and then the film reverts to showing how they met. I just think it's typical to build to a blood end, and it would be great to subvert that and Miike is the sort of director who would. This is nearly describable as "weak for a Miike piece", but another flisxterer put it better by saying it is primitive, as in primitive early work. I wholeheartedly agree. Compared to other Miike fare, this is a TAME movie. But compared to the majority of American horror, this is in another league of accomplishment. I can tell that Miike was limited in terms of budget, which is why there is less gore than what he probably wanted, but he still films it SO beautifully. His flair for the eerie is uncanny, as proven by how he lights and shoots his main actress, who is a brilliant casting decision. Miike fans may be underwhelmed, but many other audience members may vomit or turn the film off, uninitiated and susceptible fools they are. "Most Fucked Up" highlight: meeting the guy in the bag and watching him eat his supper

• Cassandra M

  
  Takashi Miike's "Audition" has to be one of the best Japanese horror movies I have ever seen.Ryo Ishibashi plays Shigeharu Aoyama,a lonely middle-aged man.After many years of being loyal to his deceased wife is the right time to begin dating again.His friend Yasuhisa… More
  Takashi Miike's "Audition" has to be one of the best Japanese horror movies I have ever seen.Ryo Ishibashi plays Shigeharu Aoyama,a lonely middle-aged man.After many years of being loyal to his deceased wife is the right time to begin dating again.His friend Yasuhisa decides to set up a fake casting audition in hopes that his friend can find new wife.Aoyama then goes through countless portfolio's looking for women to audition,but as soon as he sees the beautiful Asami's picture he knows that she is the one.Soon they begin dating.Everything seems perfect at first,but is Asami all that she seems?"Audition" isn't as violent and outrageous as "Fudoh" or "Ichi the Killer",but it certainly delivers some of the most harrowing scenes of violence ever captured on screen.The film is atmospheric and artistic,so if you're looking only for gore and violence avoid this one like the plague.However if you're a fan of Miike's works this masterpiece is not to be missed.

• Lady D

  
  Possibly my favourite to date of Takashi Miike's work. It appears to be quite a predictable film, but with this Director you know there is always going to be something a little bizarre, it also has it's fair share of gore. The beginning was a little drawn out I felt, but… More
  Possibly my favourite to date of Takashi Miike's work. It appears to be quite a predictable film, but with this Director you know there is always going to be something a little bizarre, it also has it's fair share of gore. The beginning was a little drawn out I felt, but I still didn't lose interest and one particular scene really made me jump (which I have to say is something rare for me). If I could recommend you watching one Takashi Miike film, it will be this one.

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