Page 1 of Audition - Site and Visitor`s Reviews

I`ve just read ElbowRoom`s visitor`s review of Audition with interest.

Content can only be based on each reviewer`s personal opinion and taste - in the case of Audition, both Rich and myself thought the film is pretty poor, whilst ElbowRoom obviously disagrees - this is why we have visitor`s reviews so everyone airs their opinion.

My personal feelings about Audition are simple - the storyline has promise, but ultimately it`s not very interesting, and the only reason the film is so well known is because of the gory ending. Had the film had a "normal" ending, it would have sunk without trace like so many others.

Technically, it`s also very hard to recommend a DVD with such poor picture and sound quality.

WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW

Just thought I would also add a few opinions to this thread. As Chris says reviews are based on personal opinions. My review is what I personally thought of it - that doesn`t make it right or wrong, it`s just my opinion. ElbowRoom has his/her own opinion which is neither right or wrong, it`s their opinion.

Statements like "One of the problems with DVD review sites (including, sad to say, this one) is that while the reviewers are well up to scratch on being able to spot sound and picture quality, their critical judgement of the films themselves often leaves something to be desired" seems to imply that because we don`t agree with your opinion we are wrong.

As I said in my summary "Overall, the film is very slow paced, but this does work to its advantage and just about manages to build up a bit of atmosphere and tension. But then it almost turns into a completely different film as we move onto "that scene""

I`m not dismissing the film, I think that the "scene" spoils any good work that has gone before because it`s a complete change of pace. And the ending - what a waste of a character that you`ve spent so long building up, just to boot her down the stairs and be defeated by a teenage boy.

Surely one of the points of DVD Reviewer is that you can submit your review and your opinion. Everyone can then read that and get a balanced view. ElbowRoom, I note that it is your first review but I hope you will post more reviews as it`s always good to get other people`s opinions! And there`s no way that I`ll be going and renting Scary Movie as it`s a rotten film (in my opinion of course).

Scary Movie is definetly rotten, but Scary Movie 2 is unspeakably poor!

Wheyhey! I was sort of hoping from some feed back on this one.

The comments I made in my review weren`t intended to be personal jibes, but I do find on all DVD publications (online and print media) that often the quality of the film itself is glossed over in favour of the technical details, hence Star Wars Ep1 DVD being considered a must buy even though it`s a crap film, while a gem like Audition slips through the net. I agree that technically, the film fails to set the DVD world alight, however it is the only version available at the moment, and so I bought a copy because god knows how long it will take for a Special Edition to make an appearence, if at all.

Thing is, when the two issues - film quality and DVD specs - are confused. Chris mentions that "Much of this disinterest stems from the below par video and sound quality" which I couldn`t see myself (sure it was a crap transfer, but - I dunno - I didn`t get too bothered after about ten minutes). I felt that the film itself got an unfair assesment because of its poor presentation. I stand by my comments that I thought the film was excellent, and you`re of course entitled to your opinion (I`m not going to go "You obviously didn`t get it!" as I hate it when people say that to me about films I hated - Scary Movie, for example!) but at the same time, I`d hate to see people put off because they think it`s a one-scene movie, given that there`s a lot more going on there than the publishers themselves seem to realise.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 30th October 2001, 14:00

Did anyone really expect Scary Movie and Scary Movie 2 to be any good?

I think that applies to Charlies Angels. I could never understand why people went to the cinema thinking it was going to be a good film.

As for Audition. I thought it was a good film. A bit `nasty` in places. It wont win any Oscars though, but who cares.

Reviews are always going to be contentious. It`s like arguing about religion, abortion, politics or even football as peoples` views are too entrenched and you can never change someones` opinion.

But of course, it`s fun trying !!!

The tendency to review a DVD rather than the film itself is, admittedly, a bit of a concern, albeit a totally expected one. However, after reading both Rich`s, Chris` and Elbow Room`s reviews of this particularly disc I notice that Elbow Room, despite his comments to the contrary, himself avoids any really constructive analysis of the content in the movie, preferring instead to focus on what he perceives is a reactive gesture against the site reviews. I find this quite odd. Surely the best kind of antidote to these allegedly misguided reviews would be for Elbow Room to offer up an alternative perspective that looks into exactly why you feel this is a good film rather than simply affirming what we already knew, that you disagreed with Chris and Rich.

--Mike

*********AGAIN - MORE SPOILERS, FOLKS !***********

Opinion is great, and long may those who stand and fight for their right prosper !

"Audition" is admittedly a crumbily-presented DVD, but I happen to think the story line, to me as a Westerner, is highly entertaining. I learned a fair bit about 20th Century Japanese culture from the movie, and that alone was worth the £8 I forked out ages ago on an R3 copy from DDD house. The underlying humour throughout the film (a bloke trying to meet a woman by holding a false audition) is no more nonsensical than half the crap that Hollywood foist upon us, but to me the fact that it was done in such a tongue-in-cheek way had me rolling on the floor.

Okay, the film will only be remembered for the, ahem, "action" scenes at the end, and this came at a time when the film was starting to wilt a little. The sudden transformation into a bunny boiler classic was as unexpected as it was cringeworthy, but in my eyes brought the film up to classic status, particularly with the weirdness surrounding the hallucinations.

The disc ain`t gonna win no awards for star actors, pin-sharp soundtrack or cinema-style picture, but taken at face value (a budget film from Asia), this film was right up my street.

Naturally, you are free to disagree - this is my opinion, after all !

First and foremost, DVD Reviewer is a DVD website. That means the technical aspects of a particular disc are usually going to be foremost. Because DVD is a home cinema format, films that have been released over the last few years have typically had cinema releases, often a long time ago, before the DVD release.

Look closely at our categories:

content, video, audio, features, overall

Only content and overall will really have anything to do with the quality of the film itself, the others are all disc aspects.

Let`s face it, if we are reviewing The Phantom Menace, or The Godfather, it`s pretty unlikely that anyone who is buying it hasn`t seen the film and already have their own opinions on it`s excellence or otherwise. We are hardly likely to go into a deep analysis of the plot, acting and cinematography of the piece. I accept that a little-known piece such as Audition might be slightly different, but the trend still holds - we are reviewing the DVD. Film reviews are entirely subjective things, and I think most people reading those appreciate that fact.

BTW Elbowroom, your review does miss out any description of the positive aspects of the film you support so fevently. Also, I cannot reconcile these sentences:

"Chris mentions that "Much of this disinterest stems from the below par video and sound quality" which I couldn`t see myself "

and

"(sure it was a crap transfer..."

So you couldn`t tell the video was dodgy, but you KNEW the transfer was poor ?!?!

DanB

This item was edited on Wednesday, 31st October 2001, 10:19