LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

foutainoflife While I really liked this, I am very confused as to what actually took place during the last 30-45 minutes. Being that I have to read subtitles, could mean that maybe some of what happened was, quite literally, lost in translation. For it's genuine creep factor this movie is still gonna get a decent score regardless of my misunderstandings of some things. Asami has a lot of style but I swear if she said deeper even one more time, I was prepared to toss my laptop across the room.

overdarklord For some movies it is best to know nothing about them before you see them. No review, no trailer, no reading synapsis and in the case of Audition not even looking at the movie poster. Since you already did the mistake of searching for this movie and started to read a review about it I can tell you why.At first glance "Audition" seems to be a pretty straight forward story, which it kinda is. If you read the synapsis you know that it's about a guy who lost his wife a while ago, having an audition in order to find new love. Its tagged as horror and the movie poster shows a girl holding a syringe of some sort.. I wonder what's going to happen.... Some might say it's the most straight forward story there is, that is when you rule out the ending of the movie. Now I want to go into spoiler territory since I want to talk about the ending of the movie and go deeper into analyzing it, because that is actually why I am making this "review"... I want to analyze the ending. If you haven't seen the movie I highly recommend doing so and then come back and finish this analysis.The movies straight forward element kinda got mixed up by 2 inclusions that were made. For one the Symbolic imagery in the dream sequence the main character "Aoyama" experiences after supposedly drinking poisoned alcohol and the second one being the scene near to the end where he suddenly wakes up after being tortured. In this waking up scene it seems like all of the previous events were just a dream and the girl he fell in love with isn't a psychotic maniac who likes to torture people. Now after the scene, they continue with the torturing scene, or at least what's been left of it and you see the psychokiller version of Asami (the girl I mentioned before) dying because she fell down the stairs.I read a few reviews online claiming that the "waking up'-scene was just him (the main character) falling asleep, or fainting in the heat of the moment and he later wakes up and the events at the end occur in the real world. I couldn't disagree with that more. It for one doesn't make any logical sense, since he wouldn't just fall asleep in a moment where his son is in danger; he also doesn't strike me as a guy who would faint... the guy endured his foot being cut off a few minutes ago. Also this theory would also make that all the symbolism in the dream sequence was utterly meaningless. You know all the imagery shown, Asami as a child giving a crippled man her own vomit to eat, the reason you see her as an adult willingly getting tortured by her uncle, the reason why you see Asami killing her uncle while he plays the piano. All of this would be utterly devoid of meaning if we look at this movie from this angle.You see, there is another interpretation I have for this movie, maybe you have it as well, I haven't seen it anywhere online so I think it is rather unpopular: That all the events after Aoyama slept with Asami until the moment he woke up at the end, where just his imagination, him dreaming If you will. Now why would that be and what would that mean? It first of all means that Asami is not a psychokiller, that Aoyama just imagined her being a psychokiller. In order to understand why he would imagine her to be a psychokiller we first have to understand his character and for that, lets recall everything we know about him:Aoyama, the main character is the one we actually know the most about. The important parts are that he (of course) had a wife who had some sort of training (i imagine she played the piano) and that this was obviously a trade that he liked about her. Having a training or a skill such as "playing the piano" or "dancing ballet" is admirable for him and he feels himself drawn to such people (maybe because of his wife, maybe he liked it before he knew her). We also know that he likes Asami because of that reason, so it is rather logical to assume that he likes Asami because she reminds him of his former wife. This is also where our main source of reasoning comes into mind. The later shown imagery highly suggest that one part of his inner psyche is not over the death of his wife and feels guilty for trying to replace her with this younger version of her. This inner self of his tries to prevent him from finding love with his new relationship. Asami is just a normal girl basically, one with her own past experiences, the things she doesnt talk about. This is why this fear of her being a psycho killer comes into place. You see it is very easy to make yourself believe that something is wrong with someone if said person is very introverted and doesn't talk much about herself. This is why Aoyama is frightened to open up to her. What if she is a psychokiller who will eventually kill me, or worse even hurt my son? What if I am doing the wrong choice in finding new love? I shouldn't be so selfish if it ends up hurting me. This movie has a clear turning point of him being exited and full of longing of Asami and then being repulsed and disgusted by her. And the dream sequence of his is exactly this turning point.Basically the dream sequence purpose is the inner fight between the 2 personalities Aoyama has. His damaged self, represented by the man in the bag, scarred from the loss of his wife, searching for nourishment and closure. Which makes him do things he later regrets like sleeping with his coworker, or having sexual thoughts about his sons underaged friend. And on the other side you have his side that loves his wife and what she represents, that fears for his family and for the unknown. This side is represented by Asami's foster father. The side that would stop at nothing to make him stay loyal to his dead wife that doesn't want him to find someone new. The side that even would create an image of an abused psycho killer to make Aoyama leave his new found love. And through this dream you see which side is winning the fight. You see Aoyama being disgusted and shocked by his damaged side and the moment his abusive side repeats his own words (where he says "ore wa subarashi" or "you are amazing"), while playing the piano you know which path he has chosen and which side he has killed in the process.Everything after that comes as he wants it to come. He is being tortured by Asami because in his mind that's what might happen if he stays with her and his son being killed by her which would also be inevitable in his mind.And in the continuation of his dream at the end, where Asami is later killed, it is basically the continuation of his relationship with her. His fear for himself and his son's life will lead him to abandon her, wanting to never see her again. The things she says at the end would make a lot of sense if they are said after she hasnt heard of him for a long time and maybe met him by accitend on the street. It also works as a reminder of what he lost because she repreats a few lines she already mentioned.I could go deeper here and really take apart each shot and each dialogue spoken, but I just intended to give you a general idea of the symbolism of the movie and I hope I inspired you enough to do that yourself the next time you watch this fascinating movie.

missraze I'm sure when this came out it was deemed a "masterpiece," and it catapulted Miike to fame as a legendary mastermind and visionary, even though many of his other horror films simply don't live up to this. The untrained eye to Japanese horror or horror from a country foreign to the viewer would gladly accept "Audition" as a classic movie but I do not. When this film came out the hit horror films were slasher flicks mostly. And this isn't the cliché, so it probably wowed people a lot, I get that. I acknowledge how it's made others feel but I wasn't nearly as engrossed as others exclaim to be. And I've also seen worse films by Miike and better horror films by other directors in Japan. I won't say who because I'm not a promoter.This film was recommended by a former boyfriend, he rarely recommends things but we were talking about liking Japanese stuff, especially the kinky weird things. And then this filmed slipped out. He had seen it before me so I watched it on my own at first, then we watched it together. While watching both times, sorry but I was bored.What probably drew people to this film was inside a desolate tamami room, a sudden bag moving in the trailer, like a presence was inside it, and an eerie woman sat in front of it unaffected. It was a jump scare that has been played out in other films the years after this was filmed. Maybe if I had seen "Audition" closer to its debut date, and not 10 years later, I might be a bit more scared and scarred. But for me it was an anti-climax to see that it was a human being left in there because a tiny lady put him in? Not scary lol My boyfriend asked why I was bored with it and I struggled to explain but I said I basically don't like too complex plot twists. That I see it as trying too hard and it puts me off. He didn't really understand but oh well. I get not all horror films need to have paranormal activity, but that's truly the only type of horror film that gets me. So maybe I'm biased. But then certain psychological films that make me feel alone during and after also can traumatise me for probably life! This film however does not.It's more creepy in the sense that it's dragged out (with boring dialogue that I understand is foreshadowing maybe) and you're not quite sure what's gonna happen, so it might leave one on edge. That's a cheap tease to me. Because it sets up a looming fright and disaster but then...nothing really follows. Yes yes it IS truly terrifying to be drugged, paralysed and then tortured by someone who you trusted! But something was missing for this film to demonstrate that to ME. I first saw this two years ago from today, and normally I repeat stuff I like or need to rewatch to figure out but...I haven't done so for this. I totally get it and honestly it was a bore.

Leofwine_draca AUDITION is a film I knew little about before watching - modern Japanese cinema is something I'm not very knowledgeable about and Japanese "horror" films even less so. I had heard about AUDITION being extremely dark, brutal and disturbing with some amazing twists during its cinema run, so out of curiosity I had to rent it. What I got was a mixed movie, sometimes gripping but definitely not one I would call "entertaining" to watch. For the first hour and twenty minutes, it's a slow-paced tale of romance with some mystery aspects which keeps you watching through some interesting, subdued direction from Takashi Miike. This gives the film its realistic edge, and it also incorporates some strong acting on the parts of the two leads; Ryo Ishibashi creates a portrait of a sad, lonely middle-aged man so that you have a ton of sympathy for his character and can relate to his desperation. In comparison, Eihi Shiina's almost unearthly look - there is something very fragile and beautiful about her - sits well with her mysterious and unexplained character whom nobody else in the film seems to know much about. Shiina is excellent in the role and deserves to go on to a big career in Japan.For the first hour and twenty minutes - normally the running time for a "normal" Western film - there isn't much horror here to tell about, other than a few flashy disturbing images of a severed tongue slapping on the floor, a man getting his head slowly and deliberately sliced off, and a great shock sequence involving a moving bag. Then, at around that eighty minute mark, the film begins to change and become colder and disturbing. Dreams are mixed with reality to create a visually confusing film and Miike delights in tormenting the viewer with a hideous image of a man in a sack with no feet and few fingers. You begin to wonder what the hell is going on, and then the films ends ambiguously making you wonder whether what you just watched really happened or not.Before that ending comes one of the strongest - in terms of physical torture - segments of a film that I've yet to see, which is tough to sit through. Basically it's a scene of a paralysed Ishibashi being slowly and deliberately tortured by Shiina, who delights in getting as much pain as possible from her victim. First via the use of strategically-inserted needles, and then in the film's most stomach-churning moment, she actually saws his foot off - in graphic detail. This is far stronger and darker stuff than many of the shoddy and amusing video nasties that were prosecuted in the early '80s, yet is released uncut today in Britain - it shows how much our society has changed. The realism of this sequence makes it pretty nauseous and you can't help but be grateful when it's all over. So did it really happen? I don't know, and I don't plan on watching this film again anytime soon to find out. It's very interesting stuff and highly disturbing, as well as being well-made, but an entertaining movie it is not.