-----Original Message----- From: zorn-list-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:zorn-list-bounces@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of Perfect Sound Forever Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 12:05 PM
Takashi Miike: I've heard that another film of his, Audition, is even more graphic.
I had the chance to see "Audition" a few months ago -- "more walkouts than E. Elias Merhige's 'Begotten'!" I proudly told my friends -- and I'm of two minds about it. Yes, I'd recommend it, but rather guardedly; it really is best for people with strong constitutions, as it's the sort of movie your friends may hate you for afterwards. [very slight spoilers ahead] "Audition," on one level, is a satisfyingly manipulative genre flick; on another level -- well, I'm not sure there is one. There's a sense in which "Audition" is all about form, as it throws the audience into what seems, on the surface, a romantic comedy with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, albeit with sinister undertones. Then the audience gets to squirm all throughout because they know *something* will happen, and yet the film barely rises above a simmer for almost an hour. And then the rug is pulled from underneath the chief protagonist *and* the audience. Regardless of what you might already have read in reviews (and in that sense it's difficult to "spoil" the film), the sheer visceral impact of the conclusion is still quite intense. But beyond that -- critiques of patriarchal society notwithstanding, though Miike has disavowed that -- there's the lingering sense that there's little below the surface (not that that's such a bad thing). Later, Ben http://www.thewilyfilipino.com