Review of Audition (2000) by Tiago P — 20 Aug 2011

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.