Audition was the turn-of-the-millenium flash point signaling the talent of Takashi Miike: a film artist twice as prolific as Fassbinder, a provocateur as multifaceted as Von Trier and a genre-bender as bent as David Lynch. Recent widower Shigeharu is advised by his son to find a new wife. On the advice of a film company colleague, they stage “auditions” for a new girlfriend that masquerade as an acting job. Shigeharu becomes enchanted with Asami: a spooky twentysomething responsive to his charms. But this is no ordinary Fatal Attraction-style thriller, for it carefully pulls the audience through a wrenching exploration of deep male fears and the stereotype of submissive Japanese women. Socking arthouses worldwide with its white-knuckle finale and ingeniously Sirkian slow-burn lead up, Audition trailblazed a fresh Asian horror wave across American screens for which we’re eternally grateful.