Reviews

takashi miike pulls no punches in this movie that is clearly not for the squeamish. the movie is devious and gory, yet credible enough to keep the intelligent viewer wondering.

The PLOT: aayoma, the lonely widower, meets asami a pretty single young woman through an audition set up for the purpose of helping aayoma find a suitable girl. as aayoma begins to fall for asami hard, there is more to her innocent pretty-girl looks than meets the eye. a dark sinister secret surrounds her and her demanding love results in a tragic and incredulous end.

The ANALYSIS: Audition has its shock value, but is there more to the movie than that? definitely. the plot (based on the infant terrible of Japanese literature, ryu murakami's novel) which starts off in a linear narrative hurls the audience through an impossible vortex as it hurtles through a horrifying finale, where the narrative spans through time and reality back and forth, leaving the viewer guessing what is real and what is a dream.

PLOT BREAKDOWN -(SPOILERS herein): Aayoma falls for asami, he goes on a date with her, they spend a weekend together at a resort where he proposes marriage, she accepts, he wakes up while in bed with her having a nightmare, she realises that even while in bed with her, his thoughts are not entirely hers. asami's brittle and disturbed mind takes this as a sign that he doesn't love only her. presumably sometime he has discussed with her how much he loves his son too. anyway, he wakes up the next morning to find her missing. he investigates, finds out about her, her lies, her past involving her uncle, her aunt (who she probably mutilated and murdered, it is upto the viewer to decode and understand this). her record company agent has incurred her wrath too and he gets 'suitably' punished by asami. asami sneaks into aayoma's house and drugs his drink, kills his dog. in the drugged state, even as aayoma's subconscious is beginning to unravel all this information mixing up his own personal inner demons with the realisation about asami that he is figuring out, asami enters to wreak havoc. she is not done with aayoma yet. she begins to inflict serious torture on aayoma, including amputating his feet. enter aayoma's son and he saves his father from suffering more. end of story.

FINAL VERDICT: Audition is an audacious movie, it subverts the viewer, throwing sadistic images and thoughts at him. However what makes it work is the study of alienation, childhood abuse, loneliness and the subtle insights into the working of a sick mind, what makes it so compelling is that the sick mind hides in the body of a gorgeous woman (Eihi Shiina who plays asami is a former model). Audition is a sick metaphysical tour de force, that leaves the viewer gasping for breath, while the beginning is a bit too slow-paced it is essential in shocking the viewer by lulling him into a sense of complacency leaving him totally unprepared for the sick mayhem that follows.

A definite must-watch, but only if you have the stomach and heart for some very scathing cutting-edge cinema

What a movie!! Shyamalan scores again with an absolutely riveting thriller. i can totally understand why many people think the ending is disappointing, but for me, this is one of the most poetic, beautiful endings ever. forget the ending though, which by now is the thing that everybody is really looking forward to in a "Night Film".

The movie starts chillingly and stays that way right through, the sustained tension, built up eerily in the most beautiful way. the director proving it is not what one sees but the unknown and the unseen that is truly scary. using it to great effect, we hardly get to see any aliens, alien space-ships or anything of that kind for 95% of the movie.

the performances are simply brilliant, the kids deserving special mention. manoj shyamalan himself is very convincing in his cursed role.

i will not say much about the plot, it is pretty well-known. what i will tell you is .... wait!!

*******SPOILERS HEREIN*******

Everybody came to the theatres expecting a scary movie. that they get. another thing evreyone expects is a movie about aliens. how shyamalan uses it as a hook to pull the audience into the theatre and tell a beautiful message at the end deserves high praise. forget the bigger issues of whether god really exists, or whether everything was a coincidence (of course Night answers these questions in his own way in the movie, but it is just a story). it is the beauty of the story and how every single element fits in to make these strange coincidences add up to the Big truth of the existence of God is extraordinary. and this coming from an atheist is quite something indeed.

an absolute must-watch at least once, and for me a few times to soak in the poetic beauty of it all!!

An Exciting, Scary but Beautiful 10!!

Hitchcock's nemesis - poor endings strikes here again. but for a few movies like Vertigo, 39 steps and Marnie, most of Hitchcock's films tend to have predictable and straight-jacket endings that do not leave much to be pondered about. Rope which is tremendously gripping and captivating for most of its 80 minutes cold have been an absolute masterpiece if it had been just a little shorter and had the movie ended differently.

that having been said, the performances of almost everyone is brilliant. the script is very taut and the lines are a total treat for lovers of dry wit and humour. apart from offcourse the interesting cinematic style - the real time narration, the long shots and so on.

the movie as terrific as it is fails to become a masterpiece because of it's, as i said before, predictable ending.

here is my take on how the movie "could" have been a masterpiece.

*******SPOILERS HEREIN******

Rope's ending could have been so much more powerful had it been a little more intriguing. my take is that the movie should have ended before rupert sees what is inside the chest. he does not know for absolutely sure what happened, but there is a tacit suggestion that he has a very good clue, especially with the "rope" in his hand and with brandon's expression. rupert leaves the house then and the movie ends. what happened? maybe rupert went and informed the cops. maybe he did not, maybe brandon got away. or maybe rupert went away to plot brandon's downfall in his own evil way. this open ending would have left it open and upto the viewer to take a mind-trip. the beauty of art!!

this movie is totally whacky and wonderful, forget the metaphysical, philosophical meanings and everything else. this is one very hilarious movie. the plot is quirky, but what stands out are the brilliant lines, great situations and absolutely outstanding acting.

****spoilers herein****

john malkovich is totally mindblowing, when he plays craig schwartz, you see john cusack and not malkovich. truly brilliant. catherine keener has the most attractive role and she does full justice, cameron diaz in a deglamorized role shines.

apart from the acting, the quirky movie is radiant with brilliant humor that makes one laugh out loud. the weirdness of the situations get more and more complex and are very well handled by the director spike jonze. this movie has a terry gilliam feel to it, without going totally overboard. the plot gets quite absurd, but honestly, i didnt care. it was a fun movie. weird, yes, but wonderful.

a quirky 8!