Audition *** (1st Time)
1999, Miike, Japan
Seven years after losing his wife, a TV producer finds the woman of his dreams at a staged casting audition.
A plodding, neatly paced slight drama turns into a chilling social commentary on the question of today's question of what masculinity actually is; the climax, whether hallucinatory or not, is disturbingly violent and horrifyingly effective.

Irréversible **** (2nd time)
2002, Noé, Fr
When his girlfriend is raped at a party, a teacher and his friend hunt down the rapist at a gay bar.
Unrelenting, uncompromising, and utterly brutal depiction of humanity and the evil hole from which it cannot escape; verging at least twice on the unwatchable, this is also one of the very few films this decade which knows exactly what it wants to do throughout.
> #47 in Top 100: On a second viewing, I found no faults in this film. One of the best of the decade, and a must-see.

Fear Eats the Soul * (1st Time)
1974, Fassbinder, WGer
In Germany, a Moroccan immigrant marries a sixty-year-old citizen, and both are subjected to racial prejudice.
The director's interesting visual technique is here wasted on a tale with little lasting significance--at least in terms of the way in which it puts its point across.

NB: Add Irréversible to your Netflix and to-buy lists, people.

Mick