After almost three decades and hundreds of films, the wildly prolific Takeshi Miike’s Audition stands as the director’s towering achievement. A dyed-in-the-wool classic, this dement dark and deranged Horror Romance has inspired works from PT Anderson to Eli Roth. Though none can touch the original’s power to shock and to provoke the most startling of reactions.
Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), a small-time TV executive, lives a small existence. He has a teenage son, a dog, and his work. At his son’s suggestion, 7 years after his wife’s passing, Aoyama attempts to find a wife. His best friend Yasushisa (Jun Kunimura), a producer, hatches a plan to hold Auditions for a non- existent part in a non-existent film. Aoyama becomes smitten with Asami (Eihi Shiina). Little does Ayoama know that he is not in store for your typical romance. Point, in fact, Aoyama is headed to where not even Michael Douglas’ characters tread.
For many, Audition is one of those renegade films that has a reputation for the extreme Ending it has, so much so that it has created a mythos akin to Martyrs. Audition is nowhere near Martyrs or The Inside or A Serbian Film. The brilliance of the film is that 85% of the film is an astute broken romance of a character study. Miike’s film chooses to observe and provoke in some instances rather than direct you to feel a specific way about a character. The reason the film raises a reaction is because of just how good a character study it is.
Miike, with the help of screenwriter Daisuke Tengan, adapting a novel from Ryu Murakami of the same name, has shaped the film to lull you into a sense of safety. They make Audition begin at a slower pace. Though things turn and get dark, that pace never changes. Even during its brutal ending, the pace remains that ever-constant slow burn. This is the brilliance of Miike. This technique has been used almost to the point of cliche now, but here it still remains a perfectly rendered and pure. Here it is in service to the story and not the horror set pieces, when the opposite is true of every other film that uses the cliche.
Audition stands above the other films that attempted the style of bravado filmmaking that Miike succeeded at. The reason is singular; it is not by design a horror film. At its core, Audition is a romance and love story. Albeit this romance is deeply disturbing and Sadomasochistic in a way a film has never been before or since but is still a romance. Everything that Asami does, she does out of a true love for Aoyama. Therein lies the brilliance of Takeshi Miike and Audition. While all see it as a horror film, Audition and its director do not.
The Transfer
The all-new 4K restoration from the original Super 16mm camera negative by Arrow Films, approved by director of photography Hideo Yamamoto, presented in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible), is about as perfect a presentation on home video the film has had. This 4K restoration is a true upgrade from even Arrow’s own Blu-ray edition. Arrow has kept the grain structure and deep contrast levels within the image without sacrificing the sharpness of the dynamic range of the colors of the image. Bravo to Arrow for such a considerate restoration and upgrade to their existing edition.
The Extras
They include the following;
Introduction by director Takashi Miike
Audio commentary by director Takashi Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan
Audio commentary by Miike biographer Tom Mes
Callback, a brand-new interview with actor Ryo Ishibashi
Ties that Bind, an interview with director Takashi Miike
Damaged Romance, an appreciation by Japanese cinema historian Tony Rayns
Archive interviews with stars Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Renji Ishibashi, and Ren Osugi
Deeper Deeper Into Audition, an audio essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Trailers
Image gallery
Introduction by director Takashi Miike (1:15) – In a very fitting introduction, the director discusses briefly what he feels about his film (a decade later, this was an archival piece recorded around 2009).
The commentary is hosted by Film Critic Masato Kobayashi, featuring director Takeshi Miike and Daisuke Tengan. Kobayashi is very thorough with his prompting of both Miike and Tengan with a variety of questions about the production, the novel, the actors, the development of the script, and the Festival Tour Miike took around the world with the film. All is covered here. This commentary is in Japanese with subtitles
Tom Mes is a solo commentary with the critic as he dissects not just the work here but gives you a better understanding of the Japanese Culture that this particular film sprang from. Mes goes into detail discussing how the project came together; the development/adaptation process; the way that this project uniquely came out of the Japanese/Korean co-production; Miike’s role in the film as director (he does refer quite often to Miike’s commentary that’s included here); the horror genre both in Japan and elsewhere and how this film eschews the genre within Japan; discussion of DTV or V-Cinema in Japan that Miike rose in prominence to; the various themes and cultural touchstones that the film deals with; the various actors, their roles in the film and their respective careers; and much more.
Callback: Ryo Ishibashi on Audition (8:00) – In this all-new interview, the star begins with how he was cast in this unique project. Ishibashi goes on to discuss the details of the plot and how Miike took real auditions and placed them into the film; what he loved about the project; his experience filming the climactic scene; and much more. In Japanese with English Subtitles.
Archival Interviews – a selection of archival interviews from various other home video releases collected under this submenu.
Takeshi Miike: Ties that Bind (30:05) – is an archival interview with the director about the origins of the film and the film itself. Miike begins talking about how specific a Japanese film he thought that it would only be for them, but to his surprise, the film found an international audience. Miike goes on to discuss how he is labeled as a horror director specializing in violence, which he loves. Divided into sections, the director talks about the novel, his actors, the production, and everything you’d want to know.
Ryo Ishibashi: Tokyo- Hollywood (16:13) – is an archival interview with the actor. From his beginning, and the difficulties of getting roles because there is no studio system or any system for that matter. The topics range from typecasting, Audition, working with Miike, working on Black Rain and other American films, and life post-Audition.
Eihi Shiina: From Audition to Vampire Girl (20:09) – is an archival interview with the actress. Discusses, among other things, how the “kiri-kiri-kiri” came about, her auditioning process, not having acted prior to the film, and her career post-Audition.
Renji Ishibashi: Miike’s Toy (20:55) – is an archival interview with the actor who played the Ballet School instructor. The actor discusses his work with Miike that extends way beyond Audition, the work in Audition, how close the two are, and their working relationship, among other things, and how he aptly describes Miike as one who destroys rather than creates.
Ren Osugi: The Man In the Bag Speaks (16:25) – is an archival interview with the man who plays one of the more disturbing and iconic roles in the film. Osugi talks at length about getting into acting in the 70s.
Damaged Romance (35:20) – An archival featurette/appreciation by critic Tony Rayns is a 35-minute visual essay that is actually an interview with the critic. Rayns discusses Miike’s career from its beginning in V-Cinema (aka the Japanese DTV scene) and how he got to Audition. Discusses the ending, how there is no Feminist movement, and how this is not a feminist movie, among other fascinating details.
Deeper Deeper Into Audition (11:18) – is an all-new audio essay by critic Alexandera Heller-Nicholas about the film. Opening with a discussion of a very key fact from the film and how careful it is about detailing this notion. Heller-Nicholas goes on to insightfully discuss the adaptation of the film and how that key detail has been changed from the novel, but also how the critique of the middle-aged man, their misogyny, and its gender politics, using these topics to dive into this masterwork.
Japanese Trailer (1:38) – There is a text before the trailer saying it does have some spoilers. In Japanese with English Subtitles.
International Trailer (1:13)
Image Gallery – The still gallery contains about 31 behind-the-scenes images from the production that can be navigated through using your next and back chapter stop buttons on your remote.
The Final Thought
Audition is a masterpiece. A dark romance that’s more akin to The Phantom Thread than any of the “Extreme Horror” it helped birth. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS!!!
Audition, the Japanese horror masterpiece, comes to 4K UHD thanks to Arrow Video with a new restoration and special features.
The Film
After almost three decades and hundreds of films, the wildly prolific Takeshi Miike’s Audition stands as the director’s towering achievement. A dyed-in-the-wool classic, this dement dark and deranged Horror Romance has inspired works from PT Anderson to Eli Roth. Though none can touch the original’s power to shock and to provoke the most startling of reactions.
Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), a small-time TV executive, lives a small existence. He has a teenage son, a dog, and his work. At his son’s suggestion, 7 years after his wife’s passing, Aoyama attempts to find a wife. His best friend Yasushisa (Jun Kunimura), a producer, hatches a plan to hold Auditions for a non- existent part in a non-existent film. Aoyama becomes smitten with Asami (Eihi Shiina). Little does Ayoama know that he is not in store for your typical romance. Point, in fact, Aoyama is headed to where not even Michael Douglas’ characters tread.
For many, Audition is one of those renegade films that has a reputation for the extreme Ending it has, so much so that it has created a mythos akin to Martyrs. Audition is nowhere near Martyrs or The Inside or A Serbian Film. The brilliance of the film is that 85% of the film is an astute broken romance of a character study. Miike’s film chooses to observe and provoke in some instances rather than direct you to feel a specific way about a character. The reason the film raises a reaction is because of just how good a character study it is.
Miike, with the help of screenwriter Daisuke Tengan, adapting a novel from Ryu Murakami of the same name, has shaped the film to lull you into a sense of safety. They make Audition begin at a slower pace. Though things turn and get dark, that pace never changes. Even during its brutal ending, the pace remains that ever-constant slow burn. This is the brilliance of Miike. This technique has been used almost to the point of cliche now, but here it still remains a perfectly rendered and pure. Here it is in service to the story and not the horror set pieces, when the opposite is true of every other film that uses the cliche.
Audition stands above the other films that attempted the style of bravado filmmaking that Miike succeeded at. The reason is singular; it is not by design a horror film. At its core, Audition is a romance and love story. Albeit this romance is deeply disturbing and Sadomasochistic in a way a film has never been before or since but is still a romance. Everything that Asami does, she does out of a true love for Aoyama. Therein lies the brilliance of Takeshi Miike and Audition. While all see it as a horror film, Audition and its director do not.
The Transfer
The all-new 4K restoration from the original Super 16mm camera negative by Arrow Films, approved by director of photography Hideo Yamamoto, presented in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible), is about as perfect a presentation on home video the film has had. This 4K restoration is a true upgrade from even Arrow’s own Blu-ray edition. Arrow has kept the grain structure and deep contrast levels within the image without sacrificing the sharpness of the dynamic range of the colors of the image. Bravo to Arrow for such a considerate restoration and upgrade to their existing edition.
The Extras
They include the following;
Introduction by director Takashi Miike (1:15) – In a very fitting introduction, the director discusses briefly what he feels about his film (a decade later, this was an archival piece recorded around 2009).
The commentary is hosted by Film Critic Masato Kobayashi, featuring director Takeshi Miike and Daisuke Tengan. Kobayashi is very thorough with his prompting of both Miike and Tengan with a variety of questions about the production, the novel, the actors, the development of the script, and the Festival Tour Miike took around the world with the film. All is covered here. This commentary is in Japanese with subtitles
Tom Mes is a solo commentary with the critic as he dissects not just the work here but gives you a better understanding of the Japanese Culture that this particular film sprang from. Mes goes into detail discussing how the project came together; the development/adaptation process; the way that this project uniquely came out of the Japanese/Korean co-production; Miike’s role in the film as director (he does refer quite often to Miike’s commentary that’s included here); the horror genre both in Japan and elsewhere and how this film eschews the genre within Japan; discussion of DTV or V-Cinema in Japan that Miike rose in prominence to; the various themes and cultural touchstones that the film deals with; the various actors, their roles in the film and their respective careers; and much more.
Callback: Ryo Ishibashi on Audition (8:00) – In this all-new interview, the star begins with how he was cast in this unique project. Ishibashi goes on to discuss the details of the plot and how Miike took real auditions and placed them into the film; what he loved about the project; his experience filming the climactic scene; and much more. In Japanese with English Subtitles.
Archival Interviews – a selection of archival interviews from various other home video releases collected under this submenu.
Damaged Romance (35:20) – An archival featurette/appreciation by critic Tony Rayns is a 35-minute visual essay that is actually an interview with the critic. Rayns discusses Miike’s career from its beginning in V-Cinema (aka the Japanese DTV scene) and how he got to Audition. Discusses the ending, how there is no Feminist movement, and how this is not a feminist movie, among other fascinating details.
Deeper Deeper Into Audition (11:18) – is an all-new audio essay by critic Alexandera Heller-Nicholas about the film. Opening with a discussion of a very key fact from the film and how careful it is about detailing this notion. Heller-Nicholas goes on to insightfully discuss the adaptation of the film and how that key detail has been changed from the novel, but also how the critique of the middle-aged man, their misogyny, and its gender politics, using these topics to dive into this masterwork.
Japanese Trailer (1:38) – There is a text before the trailer saying it does have some spoilers. In Japanese with English Subtitles.
International Trailer (1:13)
Image Gallery – The still gallery contains about 31 behind-the-scenes images from the production that can be navigated through using your next and back chapter stop buttons on your remote.
The Final Thought
Audition is a masterpiece. A dark romance that’s more akin to The Phantom Thread than any of the “Extreme Horror” it helped birth. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS!!!
Arrow Video’s 4K UHD Edition of Audition is out June 16th.
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