KIRI KIRI KIRI!

I LOVE JAPAN, I didn’t know ‘I love japan’ until I went there earlier this year. Japan meant nothing to me apart from Studio Ghibli, Asia Extreme films and Akira Kurosawa. I’ve been to London and New York, probably the most famous cities for the garish ‘I LOVE…’ t-shirts, in my opinion they don’t deserve that revered title of becoming a seller of the ‘I LOVE…’ but Tokyo does. I would quite happily stroll around with a bright pink t-shirt declaring my undying love for the city, ok maybe not that far, but still it is a beautiful, clean and respectful country. Without a trace of litter anywhere, even their metro is sparkling clean. The Japanese care about their country and where they live, so they are capable of using their hands to hold on to a bit of rubbish! I wont go on, but if you ever get the chance to go to Japan- take it.

Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999) is what seems to be a romantic drama film. The storyline begins with the protagonist and son tragically loosing their wife/mother. Seven years on, the film follows a linear narrative in which the protagonist wants to find love again. We instantly care for this protagonist after witnessing his ordeal beginning. He and his friend start holding auditions to find an ideal woman for him to marry (they hide the real reason for the audition by saying it is being held for a part in an upcoming film).

I should mention now, I wont give away the ending, but I also wish I didn’t have to even give away any plot changes. My concern is that it wont be as surprising and fresh when the viewer knows the narrative twist that is coming up. The only other problem is that i want you to watch it so i will have to reveal a bit. As most already know this film is a horror/shocking film so this lovey dovey story is going to be thrown on its head at some point, the change happens after we meet the 27th candidate at the Audition. What we think is a cute, quiet and polite woman surprisingly isn’t, she’s pretty sadisitic. Its obvious she is going to get into the protagonists life but unfortunately about half way into the film the friends uncertainty to this new female is justified, with a brilliantly edited “dream sequence” half way through a lot of our protagonists fears and repressed desires are shown (luckily he decides against the blowjob from his sons new girlfriend ) To warn you there are a few gross shots but because it is made so well Miike focuses more on the sadisitic woman and her gleeful reaction than the graphic shots.

My memorable shots are the scene in the restaurant(the well lit one) where the camera is positioned behind a screen/window, this creates a stark frame between our protagonist and his new lady. This frame implies the distance between them and the frame makes our protagonist boxed in and vulnerable (what we get in the dialogue is the opposite, where we still perceive the woman to be quiet, shy and polite since this is before we know the full personality) The second great shot is the tilted shot when our protagonist is attempting to speak to the owner of the stonefish restaurant, the shot is also heavily red filtered, these two elements of mise en scene are justified by the truth which is revealed to our protagonist in his scene.

The film is as brilliant as the first time I saw it, and the ending is one that will stick in your mind for a while.KIRI KIRI KIRI (maybe we should put that on a t shirt instead)

Go and enjoy and let me know what you think, world cinema at its best, and a breath of fresh air to the horror films that are shown at the multiplexes.