Big Man Japan / Audition

Big Man Japan – 2007(JPN), 2009(UK), Hitoshi Matsumoto
Sometimes I see a trailer for a film and I think ‘I gotta watch that shit’

And afterwards I realise it could never have lived up to expectations.
Big Man Japan plays out a lot more slowly than I expected.
But the climax was completely unexpected and absolutely hilarious.

This film was written and directed by a Japanese comedian who plays the lead. For a reason I can’t explain, I really want to like Japanese comedy, but it just doesn’t translate. The funniest thing to come out of Japan is Takeshi’s Castle, and that’s not scripted. Why do Japanese horror films travel better than Japanese comedy? Because being scared shitless is universal.

Audition – 1999(JPN), 2001(UK), Takashi Miike
Sometimes I hear so much about a film that I think ‘I gotta watch that shit’

And afterwards I realise it could never have lived up to expectations.
Audition played out just as slowly as I expected.
But I expected more from the climax, only because I’d heard so much about it.

Why was Ringu remade in Hollywood and not Audition? Because Ringu is about a scary little girl, something we are familiar with (The Exorcist) and Audition is about a woman who tortures men to death.

Ringu started the whole ‘Scary little Japanese Girl/Young Woman’ craze, and is the reason the genre exists, but Takashi Miike’s Audition was only released a year later.

But why Ringu? Because Ringu does what Audition does, only better; slowly, slowly lures you in, revealing that you might be in store for something...preparing you...but no matter how prepared you are you still won’t be ready.

Horror films are a ‘love them or hate them’ thing, but I think being terrified by a film is underrated. Fear is uncomfortable, and discomfort reminds us we are alive. Horror films provide fear in a controlled environment. The most recent horror film I saw was the Spanish film [REC], which is also very good.