Audition – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Deeper, deeper…

There is nothing like the first time. It’s almost impossible to recapture that first trip into a Takashi Miike film, and for the vast majority of American audiences, Audition was that film we had our first time with Takashi Miike. How alluring it was too, with a widower taking a chance at the possibility of remarriage. The conversation he has with his buddy is respectable and enlightening. Like any two guys sitting around, taking a drink from the bar, one remarks on where all of the good girls have gone. At first this seems like a general statement, a broad stroke of analysis a decent guy could make about the dating scene. I’ve been there, this character of Shigeharu Aoyama (played beautifully by Ryo Ishibashi) has been there, and this is what draws us in.

He’s obviously lonely, but interested in the dating scene, as his friend’s remark has subtext towards the Japanese women of today. He’s from the old ways of Japan’s society, where the women are submissive and loyal, treating marriage and being a wife as a career, but in today’s Japanese society, the women are freer, and are now unwilling to partake in the old ways. You might think well good for the women there, in a women’s lib type of way, but at Audition‘s heart is this dilemma. It’s a clash that is handled with sweetness and innocence, only to erupt violently at the end.

I bring this all up because I’ve noticed within America there’s this male ideology still of what is a “woman’s place.” Some men are discouraged at the fact that American women are so head strong, career minded, and then there’s other men that embrace it. Miike plays with this mentality to great effect in Audition that has helped its reputation to become a genre favorite. We men follow Shigeharu and project ourselves into him, and for most of the film, the story treats this as a coming-of-age for this widower. After an hour, we realize that we have been secretly roped down into this very, very bad rabbit hole. We cannot escape, and for that masterful stroke of genius, this is one sucker punch of a film. We were tricked, and for that we will never forget our first time with Miike, who up until this 1999 production was an unknown, even though he directed about 35 films.

Much of the finale is the true reason this film is celebrating its 10^th anniversary as a classic, and it has become the staple of Takashi Miike’s reputation. True, but for me, Miike has always used violence in a sickening-and let’s face it gorehounds, pleasing way, but Miike has had a knack of the surreal. When I choose to remember Audition, the scenes of the man in the bag come to mind, or him eating the bowl of vomit, more than the torturing of our lead. Who knows what’s wrong with Miike, and I love that about him.

Audition gets this wrap of being misogynistic and so does Miike. I think, in terms of this film-for the sake of argument-isn’t misogynistic, but does walk a gray area around it. Sure Shigeharu Aoyama is a bit chauvinistic for staging these auditions to pick a wife, but the whole film is about deception. Whether you look at the film from his eyes, or from Asami’s point of view, everything in this film is about deception. If, for once, either one of them told the truth, they wouldn’t have come to the conclusion of violence as they did. So, look at the film from both of their points of view, and I think at least for Audition, one cannot label it as a misogynistic piece of film. Luckily, Miike wasn’t in the mood to tell us the truth either, and good thing to, because his lie trapped us into this downward spiral of hell that we will never forget.

Deeper, deeper…

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Shout Factory’s first foray into Blu-ray is a tough one to judge. Yes, it’s a step-up from the DVD counterpart with those scenes of deep blues and reds really standout, and clarity is reasonably high, but there are plenty of scenes with noise and grain, that almost sway you into thinking it’s an up-converted image. It’s not, and this might be the best Audition has ever looked, as I never thought of Miike being a director with some well-shot cinematography, so this is decent edition, just it feels a little underwhelming.

The audio is perfectly fine in the DTS track. Little bass though, but all in all, it accurately represents the audio. Shout Factory has kept Miike’s film as he wanted it, and that’s a great reason to give this a look.

There has been a few versions of Audition already, but Shout Factory’s new two-disc edition on Blu-ray is perhaps the definitive version.

Disc 1:

Commentary: Miike is here with screenwriter Daisuke Tengan and the chat is in forced subtitles, since neither can speak a word of English. Miike is a humble man, and the chat is very enlightening. A number of topics are discussed, and fans should really appreciate this chat.

Intros: Miike and actress Eihi Shiina give a brief thanks and words of wisdom before the film plays.

Disc 2 (this is a standard def DVD):

Interviews: Broken up into four sections or you can take them all in at once (a whopping near 75 minutes worth), we get plenty of discussions from the actors on Miike, the film, themes, and other personal bits of information, that wind up being a tell-all on Audition. I’ll admit, sometimes not all of it, is deep info-I think it’s a cultural thing on the lack of giving solid info-but it’s all worth watching for fans of the film.

Trailers: Japanese version as well as the International one are here.

Booklet by Tom Mes: This is a superb essay on the film that I highly recommend reading.

Conclusion: What’s left to say about Audition? It’s a classic, filled with the crazy climax, but also thematically rich. Shout Factory has delivered as solid Blu-ray that should be the definitive version for years to come.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating:

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