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.
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