Ôdishon (1999)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Ryû Murakami (novel)
Daisuke Tengan (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 March 2000 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

She always gets a part

Plot:

Widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all...

Plot Keywords:

Audition | Widower | Friend | Dinner | Sack

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Ryo Ishibashi	...	Shigeharu Aoyama
Eihi Shiina	...	Asami Yamazaki
Tetsu Sawaki	...	Shigehiko Aoyama
Jun Kunimura	...	Yasuhisa Yoshikawa
Renji Ishibashi	...	Old man in wheelchair
Miyuki Matsuda	...	Ryoko Aoyama
Toshie Negishi	...	Rie
Ren Ôsugi	...	Shimada
Shigeru Saiki	...	Toastmaster
Ken Mitsuishi	...	Director
Yuriko Hiro'oka	...	Michiyo Yanagida
Fumiyo Kohinata	...	TV station presenter
Misato Nakamura	...	Misuzu Takagi
Yuuto Arima	...	Shigehiko as a child
Ayaka Izumi	...	Asami as a child
Nattsu Tanabashi	...	Hotel front desk
Kimiko Tachibana	...	FM announcer
Tatsuo Endo	...	Doctor (as Tatsuo Endô)
Koshio Jindôji	...	Nurse
Kanji Tsuda	...	Bartender
Party	...	Gangster
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takako Katoh		(as Takako Katô)
Yayoi Ôtsu
Saori Tachibana

Directed by
Takashi Miike

Writing credits
Ryû Murakami		(novel)
Daisuke Tengan		(screenplay)

Produced by
Satoshi Fukushima	....	producer
Jun'ichi Shindô	....	planner
Akemi Suyama	....	producer
Toyoyuki Yokohama	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Kôji Endô

Cinematography by
Hideo Yamamoto

Film Editing by
Yasushi Shimamura

Production Design by
Tatsuo Ozeki

Costume Design by
Tomoe Kumagai

Makeup Department
Yûichi Matsui	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Takeshi Suzuki	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bunmei Katô	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Kenji Shibazaki	....	sound effects editor

Production Companies

• AFDF
• Creators Company Connection
• Omega Project (as Omega Project Inc.)

Distributors

• American Cinematheque (2001) (USA) (theatrical)
• Bir Film (2004) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• Metro Tartan Distribution Ltd. (2000) (UK) (theatrical)
• Primer Plano Film Group (2003) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Rapid Eye Movies (2001) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Sagittaire Films (2002) (France) (theatrical)
• Vitagraph Films (2001) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Xenix Filmdistribution (2001-2002) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Art Port (Japan) (DVD)
• Art Port (Japan) (VHS)
• Audio Visual Enterprises (Greece) (video)
• DeA Planeta Home Entertainment (2003) (Spain) (DVD)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2001) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Gateno Films (2003) (Peru) (all media)
• Impuls Home Entertainment (2003) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD) (North America)
• Maple Pictures (2005) (Canada) (DVD)
• One World Media (2002) (Germany) (video)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Palisades-Tartan Acquisitions (2008) (UK) (DVD)
• SBP (2004) (Argentina) (DVD)
• SBP (2004) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Shout! Factory (2009) (USA) (video) (Blu-ray)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2002) (Australia) (DVD)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2007) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (2004) (UK) (DVD) (collector's edition)
• Tartan Video (200?) (UK) (VHS)
• Universe Laser & Video Co. Ltd. (200?) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Vivendi Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Audition (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Oodishon (Japan) (alternative transliteration)
Audition (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Audition (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Ölüm provasi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Akroasi (Greece) (festival title) [el]
Anjo ou Demónio (Portugal) [pt]
Audition (Germany) [de]
Audition (Finland) [fi]
Audition (Audición) (Spain) [es]
O Teste Decisivo (Brazil) (festival title) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for violence/torture and sexuality.

Runtime:

115 min | USA:113 min (R-rated version)

Country:

South Korea | Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo | Dolby SR

Certification:

Sweden:15 | Chile:14 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Portugal:M/16 (orginal rating) | Portugal:M/18 (DVD rating) | Belgium:KNT | Argentina:18 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Australia:R (original rating) | Canada:R | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (cut) | USA:Unrated

Company:

AFDF

Trivia:

When the film was screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival 2000 it had a record number of walkouts. At the Swiss premiere someone passed out and needed emergency room attention.

Goofs:

Continuity: During their weekend getaway, Asami clearly removes all of her clothing then lies in bed and covers with a sheet. She then raises the sheet to expose the wounds on her thigh. The white panties can clearly be seen despite the fact that she just removed them.

Quotes:

Asami Yamazaki: Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Departed (2006)

Best horror movie in the world!

Movies like Scream, I Know What you Did Last Summer, and their teenage-pheremone-reeking ilk have absolutely no right to call themselves "horror movies" when we have a film like Audition to watch.

This movie starts out very slowly, very sweetly, and builds to a fantastic gruesome climax that you don't see coming. Genuinely scary. I am a huge horror movie affectionado, and I have NEVER in my life watched a movie that made gasp like this one did. I was revolted, I was disturbed, I was scared.

Why is this movie so much better than anything I've seen? Subtlety. This movie makes good use of silence, sound effects and off camera action to SUGGEST instead of SHOW you what's happening. It's much more satisfying to watch a movie with this kind of approach than it is to watch people get stabbed with blood spraying all over the place. This movie follows no classic "horror movie rules". It's completely original.

It's not without its faults, of course. The plot is a little strange, and as the movie progresses on it sometimes gets a little hard to follow. Some would also argue that the beginning is too long and too heavy, but I think this is a perfect and even needed contrast to the crazy goings-on that will unfold.

This is a fabulous movie. Check this out if you'd like to see a REAL scary movie.