This is another of those entries which shouldn't be read by anyone who might ever consider watching the film in question themselves...
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Not sure how I heard of Audition, but if someone recommended it to me, I'd sorely like to know who it was. For much of its duration, the film is an almost aggressively everyday narrative, touched by genuine warmth (especially between Aoyama and his son) and humour (I'm thinking of the parade of unsuitable candidates who present themselves at the audition) and broken up only by a couple of rather Lynchian touches (the intercut scene where Asami, kneeling alone in her apartment, slowly raises her head, which has taken on the aspect of a death's head, followed by the violent jumping, gobbling movement of the mysterious canvas bag, definitely made me nervous). But the last third! The insertion of the needles was bad enough, but I was nauseated enough to have to look away while Asami was sawing off Aoyama's foot with the piano wire. I must admit that, despite initial impressions, the film as a whole seems to fit together cogently enough, both plot-wise and thematically, and in fact is a rather interesting meditation on any number of subjects (guilt, abuse, female objectification...), but the climax was so sickening that I'm almost reluctant to say so. Ugh.
