Audition

Part of The Loft Cinema’s summer series, 1999! BEST. MOVIE. YEAR. EVER.

4K Restoration!

One of the most infamous and unforgettable Japanese horror films ever made returns to the big screen in a terrifyingly beautiful 4K restoration! Recent widower (and movie producer) Shigeharu is advised by his son to find a new wife. On the suggestion of a film company colleague, he decides to hold “auditions” for a movie that doesn’t exist – in reality, these are auditions for a new girlfriend masquerading as an acting job. Shigeharu quickly becomes enchanted with Asami, an oddly spooky young woman who is responsive to his charms. But things aren’t quite what they seem. Far from an ordinary Fatal Attraction-style thriller, Audition disorients and unsettles as it carefully pulls the audience through a wrenching exploration of deep male fears and the stereotype of submissive Japanese women. The film also served as a turn-of-the-century flash point signaling the prolific and unique talent of director Takashi Miike, whose expertly-calibrated thriller shocked audiences worldwide with its grisly, white-knuckle finale and ingeniously creepy, slow-burn build-up, in the process ushering in a bold new wave of Asian horror. (Dir. by Takashi Miike, 1999, Japan, in Japanese with English subtitles, 115 mins., Rated R)

Restoration courtesy of Arrow Video and the American Genre Film Archive.