B-movie auteur Takashi Miike has made a career out of gonzo splatter, but one of his most shocking movies is also one of his most restrained. That’s because the king of Japanese ultraviolence knows that sometimes, the best way to horrify audiences is to take them by surprise.
Audition starts off innocently enough — although “innocent” may be the wrong word for a story about a widower named Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi) who enlists his TV producer buddy Yasuhisa (Jun Kunimura) to help him hold auditions for a new girlfriend after his wife’s demise. Starting from that creepy premise, Miike’s film drifts into a dreamy romantic reverie, as our middle-aged protagonist seems to have found his ideal woman in the meek, compliant Asami (Eihi Shiina). But nothing is as it seems — especially Asami.
