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Audition
Seven years ago Shigehiko Aoyama’s (Tetsu Sawaki) mother Ryoko (Miyuki Matsuda) died. Shigehiko is ready for his father Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi) to get remarried because he’s looking old. After describing his perfect woman to his friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura), he suggest that Shigeharu hold an audition to find her. It will be easy since Yasuhisa is in the movie industry. The girls will think that the audition is for an actual movie, but the first group of girls (1%) would never make it as actresses because they’re too happy and he can choose from them. As the audition proceeds Shigeharu shows a lot of interest in a 23 year old named Asumi Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina). After the audition for the girls is over he has already chosen Asumi and he calls her that night asking her to talk. Yasuhisa feels uneasy about the girl and none of her references check out. He asks Shigeharu not to call or see her anymore because he has a bad feeling about her. Although Shigeharu promises not to call her, he finds himself drawn to her, constantly staring at the phone. He finally breaks down and calls her and they begin to date regularly. They decide to take a trip so that Shigeharu can ask her to marry him and they make love. When Shigeharu wakes up in the morning Asumi is gone. He doesn’t know where she lives and she won’t answer her phone so he decides to hunt her down. The more he seems to discover about Asumi while he searches, the weirder the situation becomes and the darker the past Asumi has. Will he be able to find her? Or are some things better left as they are…
You Learn Something New Everyday...
Zing!
"Happy people wouldn't go to that concert. The whole of Japan is lonely." -Shigeharu's Assistant.
Simon Says...
The best way to describe this movie is to compare it to riding a roller coaster for the first time. First, you go up the long trek to the top before you can go down to the exciting part. You know it’s going to be scary/crazy but you don’t really know what to expect…you’re basing your opinions on what you’ve heard from your friends. The way up is slow but not boring because you’re anticipating. When you finally reach the top…you look down as you’re suspended for mere seconds and then you plummet into a crazy ride that makes your heart plop into your stomach. That is how this movie is. The first hour of the movie seems very normal. A man who is lonely and thinks that holding an audition is the quickest and most effective way to find a wife. What he forgets, however, is that these girls are actors…and may just be saying what they think he wants to hear. I didn’t find this movie as disturbing as I’ve heard people call it. Yes, I did find one particular scene extremely (and excuse my language) fucked up, but in a whole, I didn’t feel disturbed. Perhaps I’m jaded, but I didn’t find the very end too terrible. It was some crazy stuff, for sure, but it didn’t leave me feeling horrified. If you’re squeamish, this definitely is not the movie for you. This movie would have had a greater impact if I went into it not knowing anything about it. Thinking that it was just about a man trying to find a wife…and here I am spoiling it for you…but the most interesting part of the movie is the last 30 minutes…so that’s what I have to work with. The back of the case spoils it and the trailer spoils it even more. So, try to go into this with the least amount of knowledge possible. A lot of people find subtitles distracting and the story is a bit slow (but, again, never boring) but if you see it through till the end…your efforts will be rewarded. Trust me. As for us...we give Audition
That Wasn't so Bad Was It?
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In Japan doctors don't try to resuscitate a patient when their heart fails.
