HANDLE WITH A LOT OF CARE : "AUDITION"

I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard of Takashi Miike. And I am also pretty sure that what we heard wasn’t exactly pretty. I mean, I’ve had to watch a few of his films for one of my modules this year. And Ok, it definitely isn’t what you might call “pretty”, but I mean on a lot of levels you have to admire the guy, he pulls some pretty amazing stunts in his movies – and gets away with them! However, although I did toy with the idea of having a “Takashi Miike week”, I kid you not, I was afraid you might give them all a go, despair of my taste and never visit the blog again. Please note that I am not trying to be funny, the possibility seriously concerned me. Thus I have decided to put bold lashings of “Handle with care” all over every entry of his and “sprinkle” the Miikes throughout the blog if you will. Here is my first attempt, and my favorite of the films I have watched so far. This doesn’t mean, however, that you will find it easy to watch. I mean I couldn’t watch bits of it. But overall it’s worth the effort. Let me try and explain what I mean by that…
Mrç Aoyama is a film director. His beloved wife has passed away and he is doing a pretty good job of bringing up their son on his own. However, time goes by, loneliness begins to set in and he decides to remarry. There is a problem though. He doesn’t want to marry just anyone. She has to be a) quite a bit younger than him (he is now in his 40s) and b) similar to his ex-wife. What starts as a joke with a friend in a bar however, soon turns into a rather bizarre undertaking. Our hero's good friend is a producer. He says they can cook up a film project – something that doesn’t “really” exist of course – then, advertise for the “character” and hold auditions. This way ?? can pick and choose is wife with ease. And who knows, they might even be able to actually make the film… So auditions are held and Mr. Aoyama is instantly taken by Asami, an ex-ballet dancer. She is beautiful, graceful, meek and seemingly obedient. Our hero is ready to marry her straight away his friend however, basing himself on the premise that if something seems too good to be true it usually isn’t, urges caution. Love however, as we know, laughs in the face of danger and so does Mr. Aoyama. This, as you can guess, will turn out to be a mistake.
Now, I will try and explain, without giving anything away, what makes Miike’s films so brilliant and so difficult to watch. Miike is a master of suspense. All through the films information is “eked out”, we are constantly forced to keep guessing as to what is going to happen next. The beauty of it is, that Miike’s stories are so far off the wall, such a long way away from the beaten track that the chance of your actually figuring out what happens next or how it comes about is pretty darn slim. Now this, as you can guess, is a good thing and a bad thing. Because when Takashi Miike is concerned unusual, usually means unusually violent. Or violent in a particularly “creative” way. I mean, I’m a massive fan of Quentin Tarantino. He is notorious for the amount of blood spilled, the profusion and violence with wich this blood is spilt and lastly, the unexpected way said violence erupts. I have pretty much seen all of Tarantino’s work, and I pretty much love it all, but all that definitely did NOT prepare me for the finale of Audition. At the grand old age of 29, I actually peeked through my fingers at it. No kidding. But if it’s adventure, adrenaline and mystery to tease your mind that you want, look no further than Audition. There is a strong possibility it will give you nightmares, but it is DEFINITELY one heck of an experience.