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Fan Ju Ye Feng Kuang (2012)
Highly recommended viewing for veteran Chinese film enthusiasts
5-Minute Review of Crazy Dinner Party
An entertaining comedy-of-errors revolving around a Spring Festival dinner at an exclusive, secluded Beijing supper club. With an excellent ensemble cast, the script has surprisingly biting social commentary for a film released during 2012's Chinese New Year season (a time censors would usually be expected to be particularly sensitive to any social commentary at all). The film more or less lambastes the Chinese nouveau riche, their frivolousness, and their superficiality, in addition to poking fun at some more amusing and/or unsavory elements of modern Chinese (pop) culture itself (particularly in the end credit sequences).
Rising comedian Huang Bo (Lost in Thailand) plays a tertiary but giddily entertaining role that cynically plays upon Huang's own star status, portraying a washed-up, insecure, self-absorbed kung-fu star seeking scholarly advice on how to rejuvenate his career.
Meanwhile, the rest of the relatively unknown cast does an amazing job playing their assigned roles to a tee, with the credit for the ensemble's delectable chemistry going to director Shang Jing, who despite meager film industry experience, has proved he can make competent, entertaining, and socially biting commercial fare. (Shang's previous experiences were limited to a TV period drama, a film adaptation of it, and a co-screen writing credit for Zhang Yimou's poorly received Coen Bros. remake, A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop.) Underused Hong Kong bombshell actress Monica Mok should also have hopefully gained some renewed attention after providing a smolderingly sexy yet self-deprecating, fruit-dicing, stunt action-filled portrayal of the one of the film's two conniving antagonists.
Special mention goes to the struggling restaurateur protagonist played by Liu Hua of microbudget sleeper hit Crazy Stone fame (which this film's title seems to reverentially play off of), whose dignified performance is punctuated by hilariously explosive episodes of emotional collapse.
Although fairly steeped in Chinese cultural references, caricatures, and saddled with a mediocre English subtitle translation, this flick is highly recommended viewing for Chinese film enthusiasts wishing to delve a bit deeper into Mainland productions beyond over-bloated costume epics and poorly-written romcom star vehicles.
Ôdishon (1999)
Takashi Miike's subdued masterpiece.
Takashi Miike's Audition could easily qualify as Japan's sadistic version of David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. The problem is that most people who watch this movie are far too preoccupied with its reputed gorefest. so when they end up watching a slow-moving, amazingly acted, character(s) study in loneliness turned macabre psychothriller (and only in the last few minutes), they are sourly disappointed. That's really too bad, because they've missed out on a grand cinematic experience.
It seems as though I could be exaggerating, and for most who end up seeing this Japanese "horror" cult flick, that will be true. But consider this: I'll admit to not having seen that many Japanese films, most notably the classics. But from the varied sample I have purveyed over the years, Audition easily, easily qualifies as The Best Acted Japanese Movie I Have Ever Seen. Yes, dems is fightin' words, but I believe that whole-heartedly. But not in the traditional Hollywood melodrama context; that context unfortunately has so many limits. The serial killer genre, and especially the horror genre, are difficult acting contexts to transcend, most performances never achieving anything beyond simple adequacy for their respective roles. Much worse, many of those performances unfortunately careen over the top, serving merely as eye-winking self-parody. So it is a gift from above (or below, if you prefer) whenever a movie arises that refuses to parody itself and demands the viewer to take it seriously. That is the quality of the acting in Audition. It is not overly dramatic or expressive. At many times, it may even seem subdued. But pay attention to every actor's subtleties and one can easily see that each scene was carefully pondered before shooting. In fact, 98% of all the movie's scenes, including the more breezy audition scenes, convey a sense of amazing direction and thoughtful performances. The remaining two percent unfortunately goes to Sawaki's Shigehiko, whose god awful reactions to his father's stripped, punctured, sawed-off feet of a corpse just downright mars an otherwise flawlessly acted film.
And now to address the main draw for which most people will watch Audition: the sickening gore. Or rather, the dumbfounding absence of it. So to those Dario Argento fans waiting to see limbs hacked off, eyelids stapled open, and tongues mutilated, I laugh and point in your general direction. Boy, were you suckered. It's very akin to those going into the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre expecting to see gallons of blood and arms chainsawed off--and actually don't see much of anything. Yet compare the power of Tobe Hooper's 1974 classic to its more explicit 2003 remake and immediately, immediately, you understand the extreme power of implication over explicitness. More than anything, Audition's centerpiece torture sequence relies on the imagination rather than graphic violence.
Even so, Audition's twisted reputation is, in fact, the best thing going for it. I will explain why. Audition is not, even in its native country, one of those mainstream horror flicks that people randomly wander into in hopes of a jolly ol' time. The people who see this movie, in most cases, will already have some prior knowledge of the movie's marketing buzz--it's "explicit" violence. The poster itself, with Audition's anti-heroine wickedly holding a syringe, seems to promise tons of blood and guts like so many of today's slasher flicks. That includes Takashi's own oeuvre, most notably the recent ultraviolent serial murderer exploitation film, Ichi the Killer. And so, one begins to watch Audition with the highest of sadistic hopes, waiting, clawing for the inevitable gore. Much time passes with no streaks of red, and those who lack patience will lose faith early on. But for those who can wait it out a little while, the anticipation for violence only grows stronger and stronger as the movie drags along. It is this expectation of violence throughout 3/4's of the movie that lends such an effective underlying tension to the entire experience. And that is really The Best Way in which to read into the movie's tone and atmosphere--with prior knowledge that Asami, at some point, will commit unthinkable acts of torture. It is also the movie's slow pacing and Takashi's refusal to cheapen his vision into a gory slasher flick that demands we take Audition seriously. Set up, set up, set up. Anyone who believes otherwise can go watch Freddy vs. Jasons for the rest of their waking lives.
One last thing about the anticipation factor. There is a scene in a trendy restaurant where Aoyama and Asami meet for a date. As Asami meekly explains her disturbing past to Aoyama, there is a shot that places us behind our anti-heroine, staring directly at the back of her haunting presence and gazing straight into a seemingly massive wall of bright crimson red. This carefully planned mise-en-scene set-up shows us just how proficient Takashi is with the cinematic language, as we can't help but be filled with a dread we can't entirely explain at this particular point in the movie. Needless to say, the mise-en-scene throughout the rest of the movie is absolutely superb.
And aside from Audition's whirlwind of a hallucinatory "dream" sequence a la Mulholland Dr. (for, is it really a dream?), I think I've said all there needs to be said about Takashi's undeniable masterpiece. Go freaking see this movie.
Rating: 10/10
Movie Trivia: Daisuke Tengan, the screenwriter for Audition, is the son of legendary Japanese director Shohei Imamura.