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Still hate Audition. It just drags on and on. It's a film that's all about the payoff. But I'm not a big fan of films like that. I like films that can be watched over and over. Occasionally, a decent atmosphere reminds me of fondly of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (who does atmospheric horror like no one's business), but yeah. Audition blows in the context of some of his better stuff. I did rewatch Gozu though, and while it's a go nowhere mess of a film that people call "Lynch-like!" because there's a television with static in it... it does have some good scenes.
Miike is a huge hack, but he has some decent stuff. I think he's a good director, sometimes great, usually competent. Obviously, if you're into "Asian films", he's a horrible place to start, and sadly, the only director most people have bothered checking out (maybe not so much anymore -- that market is dead! Miike doesn't even seem to have fans anymore!). Try Kitano, Sogo Ishii, Seijin Suzuki, Shuji Terayama, Toshio Matsumoto, or anyone from my original list...! Japanese underground/experimental/obscure cinema is probably the best stuff ever, stuff like JUNK FOOD and NOISY REQUIEM are some of my all time favs... unfortunately a lot of the better stuff is still a bit hard to find, even on the internet...
I've been checking out the newer Miike stuff, like Crows Zero and Scars of the Sun. Not a huge fan, though his Yatterman reimagining was alright. Since I'm a wee bit older and wiser, I can say that my original "Top 10" list was right on, except I think his defining work is either the long version of Agitator, The Black Society Trilogy as a whole, or Bird People of China. But I still don't know where to place those in a context of a "top 10" right now, so I'll stick by my original ruling. I'd probably put BIG BANG LOVE JUVENILE A somewhere in the top 10 too.
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