Audition

Pros: unique themes, excellent direction, intense, dramatic
Cons: slow build up, disturbing climax, violence, torture

Audition, produced in 1999 by Omega Entertainment in Japan, was released in the US on DVD in 2001 with an MPAA rating of Youth Restricted Viewing due to strong violence and sex. The unsuspecting American public was in for a rude awakening with the ...

Pros: The end is interesting...
Cons: The rest of the movie is pretty boring...

The premise of 1999’s Audition (Ôdishon) is simple enough. A widowed father has finally decided to move on with life after seven years of grieving and wants to remarry. Unfortunately after all those years of self-imposed seclusion he doesn’t know how ...

Pros: Incredible climax
Cons: None

Takashi Miike is basically a cottage industry in Japanese cinema. The filmmaker has made an amazing number of films in a very short time—turning out more product in under ten years than most Hollywood filmmakers produce in a lifetime. Apparently ...

Pros: Takashi Miike delivers a well done romance plus what you expect of Miike.
Cons: Those who don't know Miike may be in for a surprise.

Being a member of Netflix for over three years, I was bound to discover Japanese director Takashi Miike eventually. I was introduced to Miike's style of filmmaking with the very violent Ichi the Killer and the twisted, sick Visitor Q. This ...

Pros: Direction, Script, Look, Suspense, Music, & Cast.
Cons: None, Though Might Be Too Extreme for Audiences.

In recent years, Asian cinema has been getting more attention. Notably for the reinventing the horror genre thanks to films like Ringu, Ju-On, and Dark Water that allowed for American studios to do remakes with some successful ...

Pros: haunting, surreal nightmare
Cons: exhausting to watch

Rated Not Rated

Directed by Takashi Miike


My rating: B+

Hollywood seemed to have lost its touch in the horror genre. Just slap in a couple of teen stars, add a glimpse of tits and a$$, and finish it up with...

Pros: Great portrait of loneliness, involving and tense
Cons: Some of the surreal and brutal parts may turn folks off

For us Westerners, Japan has always been a bit of an enigmatic country. There's a lot that's formalized and ritualized that us high-fivin' white guys in the states treat casually. Everyday interaction becomes a polite dance, instead of our freewheelin', ...

Pros: Great acting. Terrific script. Truly shocking last act.
Cons: The twisted last 30 minutes might make some viewers turn the film off in disgust.

Audition is an original little Japanese film that was originally released in 1999 but didn't see a proper U.S. theatrical release until 2001. The film quickly found its way onto numerous critics' "best-films-of-2001" lists. I had heard about this ...

Pros: Good characterization, excellent story, disturbing and surreal, well performed, directed flawlessly.
Cons: Extremely disturbing, difficult to watch...did I say disturbing.

I'm an avid horror fan.  I'm far beyon you're average person who likes a good scare although I fall considerably short of the whole horror geek persona.  I have no models of severed heads or disturbing movie posters in my room.  I have a ...

Pros: Truly horrific, masterfully paced, exciting film that shows huge potential.
Cons: Too horrific for some, an uneasy marriage of genres, that remains somewhat facile.

Every once in a while there comes a film which is unique, transgressive, intelligent and of devastating power. For genre fans specializing in the appreciation of horror, the release of Takashi Miike’s Audition represents just one of these occasions. A...

Pros: Superb acting and a bone-chilling experience, even for the most hardcore.
Cons: When I think of one, I'll come back to mention it.

Can you believe that I was completely dissapointed with the Japanese film Ringu? That's what my friends say. They can't believe it didn't scare me in the least. I'm the type that simply can't be swayed or tortured by film and will relentlessly see ...

Pros: Definately not mainstream Hollywood, great acting.
Cons: Violent and confusing

Let me say right from the start, that this movie is not for everyone. Long before Quentin decided to get Michael Madsen to lop off an ear to the sound of " Stuck In The Middle" and definately long before mainstream Hollywood opened up to the perverse ...

Pros: One of Miike's best movies, great A/V quality,fair Spanish subtitles
Cons: Terrible English subtitles, boring and inane special features

I was fortunate to see this in a theater a few days after its general release, despite missing its last ten minutes in order to accomodate a flight in one of my more ill-planned schedules. At the time, Audition only seemed to tell an intriguing ...

Pros: Horrifying, great effects, pacing, direction, story
Cons: May move too slow for some, REALLY brutal

I love Takashi Miike. In my humble opinion, he's one of the greatest filmmakers out there at the moment. Not only does he pump out more than five movies a year, but four of them are almost always award worthy. He's smart, competent, and most of all, ...

Pros: The last 30 minutes will crawl under your skin and make you squirm
Cons: First half pacing is EXTREMELY slow but it builds a great setup

As of late my favorite genre has been of the Asian variety. After I watched the smash-hit Japanese film Ring, I was recommended to watch this film. I wasn't sure what to expect, as this was a Takashi Miike film that in the past has done rather...