Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike (三池 崇史 Miike Takashi, born August 24, 1960) is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over one hundred theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions. His films range from violent and bizarre to dramatic and family-friendly.
Films Analyzed
Splooshies wins
1 award on FYR PodcastTheme Analysis
The recurring motifs and narrative DNA of Takashi Miike's filmography — each theme tested film by film.
Cinematography
Unflinching graphic nature of the violence
Brutal justification to right the wrongs
You HAVE to do Visitor Q simply because of how batshit crazy it is.
Commentary on Japan/World
Unchecked desires/passions
What is real.What is not
Prostitution/Sex Work
Brutal justification to right the wrongs
Women in dominant positions
Emasculation
The interaction between sex and violence
Sexual liberation
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Join on PatreonThe Courses
4 episodesOne film per episode — each course a full deep-dive with its theme verdicts.
Director Trivia
Table talk from the degustation — context, behind-the-scenes, and the odd easter egg.
Context
7Described by Quentin Tarantino as a "true masterpiece if ever there was one," in a video discussing his favorite films released between 1992 and 2009.
The film was slated at one point to get an English-language American remake, in the 2000's when Asian horror remakes were over saturating the market. Negotiations fell through however, and it never got made.
Takashi Miike has said that he doesn't see this movie as horror, because in Japan horror is considered supernatural and this is about real life; but in the West, horror has a wider purview.
Takashi Miike felt that the book was a love letter to a woman; so the script was made as a reply from that same woman.
Takashi Miike was so excited when he got an offer to direct the film that he did not sleep for three days.
In the manga and anime, the Nijimura brothers' father never had a name. In this film, he is named Mansaku.
Behind the Scenes
4When the film was screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2000, it had a record number of walkouts. One woman, who had actually sat through the entire film, immediately walked out of the ensuing Q&A session past the stage, and hissed "You are sick!" at director Takashi Miike, much to his amusement and delight. At the Swiss premiere, someone passed out and needed emergency room attention.
Heavy metal musician and horror movie director/actor Rob Zombie admitted he found this movie to be the most creepy and unsettling of any horror movie he's ever watched.
Audition was shot in approximately three weeks, which was about one more week than usual for Takashi Miike's films at the time.
Audition has been read as feminist or misogynistic by different people, based on various scenes. However, Ryû Murakami (novelist), Daisuke Tengan (screenwriter) and Takashi Miike (director) have always denied any overt feminist angles in the movie. In fact, film scholars have pointed out that Western feminism has very little traction in Japan, and depictions of abuse against women (such as rape and violence) in Japanese popular culture are not only very common, they are also broadly accepted. Most cinema experts therefore see the movie as an abrupt reversal of these gender roles, out of an expression of male fear of what women could be capable of.