Takashi Miike and Audition

Bam!

For this blog post i figured i'd talk about Takashi Miike, a Japanese director, and one of his films.

Miike is a director I like, but it’s hard to recommend him to others mainly due to how incredibly bizarre his output is. Almost entirely occupying the realm of low-budget direct-to-DVD releases (although some of his films have had cinema releases in Japan, and even here in Australia in the case of Thirteen Assassins, which you should see if you like old-school Samurai films) Miike has directed a little bit of everything, and everything he’s directed is, in some way shape or form, weird.

Some are downright bizarre from beginning to end (the musical black comedy The Happiness of the Katakuris involves Claymation fight scenes, singing zombies and one of the most hilarious random lines ever said during a volcanic eruption ‘Oh No! Grandpa’s soul is escaping his body!’). Some of his films are only momentarily bizarre (the gritty gangster film Dead or Alive, which is quite thoughtful and poignant at times, is bookended with absurd craziness involving rocket launchers and fireballs).

A lot of his films are downright disturbing, such as the short film Imprint (which, despite some cheap effects, is deeply unsettling) and Visitor Q (don’t ask, you don’t want to know). He’s directed some kid’s films, like The Great Yokai War (which, apart from being pretty violent, also has one of the bleakest endings ever seen in a movie for children) and he’s even done straight horror (such as One Missed Call, which is like Ring but with mobile phones instead of a videotape)

Another reason why it's hard to recommend his work is because of how hopelessly uneven his output is. They vary wildly in style, content and quality to a ridiculous degree. He's directed close to a hundred films, averaging about three a year, and some of them are just trash. For every great film he directs, there'll be two or three crap ones.

I'm here today to tell you about one of the great ones. 

Audition

Audition is fantastic.

It’s better to know as little about the film as possible before watching it (which is just about impossible; the DVD cover itself is a massive spoiler) so I’ll try to keep this relatively spoiler free.

Aoyama is a lonely widow who hasn’t been able to properly move on after the death of his wife. His son and friends see that he is unhappy, and suggest he starts dating again, something Aoyama is uneasy about. His colleague at the television production company he works at suggests an idea to him; they stage a fake casting session for a non-existent film in order to get women in and interview them to find somebody for Aoyama.

Hesitantly, Aoyama agrees, and they go about the auditions. Very quickly, he finds himself infatuated with Asami, a former ballet dancer whose beauty and demure manner attract him. Slowly, he starts to strike up a relationship with her. Things look perfect for Aoyama when Asami seems to reciprocate his feelings, and it looks like they’re heading for a happy ending.

Then Asami goes missing, and things get dark. Real dark. I don’t want to go into any detail, for risk of spoiling things, but the tone shifts completely from a light romance to psychological (and physical) torment on a grand scale. Put simply, it’s rated R for a reason.

The acting is top notch (which it needs to be for this sort of film), especially where Asami is concerned. The cinematography is also great, particularly in the second half when things get weird. The use of sound is on another level entirely, especially in the finale. So from a technical level, it's all good.

I suggest you find it and watch it. Maybe you won’t like it as much as I do, but it’s still worth watching if not for the final third alone. 

Blog #1: Intro and The Raid

Bam!

So here we go with my blog. This is something i had meant to start years ago, but never did due to multiple reasons (laziness being the main one). But whatever. This has happened so i'm going with it.

What can you expect from this? Reviews, synopsises and rants about movies, tv series, books, video games, and all that jazz, along with me complaining about things that piss me off. Things aren't going to be kept PC friendly and my views aren't for everyone, so expect some mind-altering levels of random hostility aimed towards people and things that maybe don't deserve it. Also expect creative swearing. Fuckpants.

Also expect spelling and grammar errors, since i rarely edit anything i write. That's the machine's job, not mine.

So let's go with Blog Numero Uno.

I could kick off my blog by talking about a lot of things, like how John Carter is garbage or why The Hunger Games is overwhelmingly mediocre or why Romeo and Juliet's romance was a broken, superficial mess and not the greatest tale of love that people make it out to be (he was a womaniser/virgin hunter and she was a naive, stupid virgin; do the fucking math).

Instead i'll use my time on something worth watching which you wont see anyway.

Do you like action? How about crazy martial arts stunts? Gun fights? Knife Fights? Explosive violence?

Go watch The Raid

It's an Indonesian action movie playing at some cinemas that will blow you away.

The story is simple: a team of twenty special forces cops raid a fifteen story apartment complex. Their target: the criminal kingpin that lives at the top floor. But there's a lot of hurdles in the way: the apartment complex is a haven for junkies and criminals, all of whom are eager to kill some cops. And they know the cops are coming. Uber-cop Rama is the main character, and he kicks major ass through it with some of the most brutal kung-fu skills seen in years. Of course, he can't act in any way shape of form, but he makes up for it by punching a lot of dudes in the face and slamming people's head into walls.

The action is fast paced and brutal. Gunfights, fist fights, knife fights and machete fights are spread thickly across the film's ninety minutes and all end in suitably gory fashion. Throats are slashed, necks are broken and brains are blown out with reckless glee. And it's all so amazingly fun. These are some of the best action sequences to come out of a film in years, beating the crap out of the high-budget, CGI laden Hollywood offerings that have swamped cinemas recently.

There are subtitles, but this isn't a dialogue heavy film. Moments of story and character development are short and sparse, so you won't be doing much reading if that sort of thing is an issue with you (in which case go away, you're missing out dozens upon dozens of great films and i have no use for you).

In the end, The Raid is just a fun, exciting movie that deserves to be seen. I can't really think of anything in particular that's wrong with it; it moves at breakneck speed and delivers all the goods.

So go watch The Raid. It gets my thumbs up.

One note: Despite the film being released this year, the Americans are already planning a remake. I take issue with this: The Raid is not the sort of movie you remake. A thinly plotted stunt-heavy action film like this is not something that needs to be remade. The stunts and action choreography are the film. Why change it? Why do it again?