Audition

Horrorphile

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Audition

May 22nd 2008 02:56

“Please love me. Only me … You only love me. Only me.”

Japanese director Takashi Miike is a tornado in the modern horror world. Not only is he a prolific filmmaker with over 70 features since his debut in 1991, but he’s also one of the most ferociously original directors in the genre. Audition (1999) is considered by fans and critics to be one of his best, and I would agree most definitely.

Audition also features one of the most unbearably horrific denouements in the history of horror, but I’m not giving away too many details. The less the viewer knows the better … or worse, depending on how you look at it.

Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura) and Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) in audition mode

Based on a novel by cult author and director Ryû Murakami (it turns out I read his first novel, Almost Transparent Blue, when I was in high school), Audition tells the dramatic story of Shigeharo Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), a lonely widower who lives with his teenage son Shigehiko (Tetsuo Sawaki), whom suggests he find another wife before he gets too old.

Eihi Shiina as Asami Yamazaki

After discussing his sadness with his film producer colleague Yasuhisa Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura) they concoct the idea of using one of their film projects as a set-up to hold auditions. Through the audition process Aoyama can meet with numerous potential young brides and court the one he feels would be most suitable.

Asami in her dark crazy world

One of the very last to audition is 24-year-old Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), a tall and striking ex-ballet dancer. She is shy and reserved, but Aoyama is immediately smitten, having already felt an attraction when he first read her resume and saw her photo. The two begin dating, however Yoshikawa is wary of her, and when Aoyama decides she is definitely the one, he warns Ayoama not to be hasty, as he feels there is something not right about her, “something chemical”.

Aoyama and Asami go to a quiet hotel for the weekend and enjoy a tranquil night of love and surrender. Asami repeatedly asks Aoyama to love her, and only her. It is has become obvious through earlier conversations and through her mental and emotional fragility that Asami is damaged goods. Her childhood was traumatic, and when she had to abandon her dancing at 18 - a twelve-year passion - it was like “accepting death”.

Asami in revenge mode with uncle Shimada (Ren Osugi)

Aoyama awakens and Asami has deserted him. Back at work he can’t locate her; all her resume connections prove to be dead ends or false leads, but eventually Aoyama tracks down her uncle Shimada (Ren Osugi), who was also her ballet teacher. He is a cripple and a riddle. Aoyama is only more confused and concerned.

He arrives back at his apartment in dire need of a whisky fix. But it’s been Mickey Finned. Aoyama collapses to the floor, paralysed. His son is at a friend’s. But someone is in the house. It is Asami … and she has work to do.

Asami prepares for her greatest performance

Audition is a masterfully constructed film. A drama with a romantic edge, that slides effortlessly into an atmospheric, psychological thriller, which descends into the most sadistic tale of vengeance. Trust me when I say you’ve never experienced a horror movie like Audition. I saw it first a few years ago, and it rocked my socks off. Watching it again a second time, I’m prepared for a couple of the earlier shocks, but the lead-up to the movie’s finale and the act itself is still something truly horrendous. I found myself wincing and squinting, then hugging my knees to my chest! Argh!

Asami administers a hyperdermic through the tongue!

It is a powerfully effective movie with its resonant themes of loneliness, abuse, love, commitment, and the unhinged. Superb compositions, with arresting dream/nightmare imagery occasionally inter-cut. There is a delicate restraint to the movie’s mise-en-scene, with its dark-hued cinematography and precise editing, while the score is darkly seductive. The serenity of much of the movie lulls the viewer into a false sense of security, then Miike throws in an image of moment of insanity.

There is a brilliant extended dream sequence in the movie’s second half, where the storytelling falls into a nightmare limbo, yet cleverly provides the viewer with Asami’s backstory, all of it apparently occurring within seconds inside Aoyama’s mind. It happens again, near the end when all Hell has broken loose, leaving the viewer trapped in confusion … but only for a moment.

Hell hath no fury like ... Asami

The performances of the two leads – Ishibashi and Shiina - are exceptional; the naïveté of Aoyama contrasting with Asami’s controlled madness (hiding her dark agenda). Audition is a powerful film indeed, but if you are particularly squeamish, you have been warned.

I’m not posting any of the trailers because they all give too much away. Instead here is an extended clip where Ayoma and Asami consummate. Not a typical horror excerpt, but you get to appreciate Takashi Miike’s masterful atmospheric control, especially with the haunting piano score.

Audition DVD is courtesy of Siren Visual, many thanks!

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

18 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Cibbuano

May 22nd 2008 03:05

Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

a fantastic movie - I can't even stand the idea of watching it again, really. That noise she makes - yikes!

and the bag, oh the horrible bag!

Comment by Bryn

May 22nd 2008 03:16

Horrorphile

Cibby, don't give the bag away!! LOL ... yes, that horrific sound the wire makes, and her whispering "Deeper, deeper ... " This movie was acually better on second viewing, if you can imagine.

Comment by Damo

May 22nd 2008 04:44

Hmm
Must see this before I die.

Looks like nice creepy fun.

Comment by Bryn

May 22nd 2008 05:14

Horrorphile

Damo, it's more shocking than creepy ... Takashi Miike pushes buttons other directors would prefer to leave untouched! But You should definitely see it! Probably not one for the wife and kids though ...

Comment by David O'Connell

May 22nd 2008 05:20

20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic

Great review and I love this sick little film too Bryn! I've only seen it the once however - but those last few photos of Asami are bringing it all back very vividly!

Takashi Miike's amazing, he makes the most weirdly brilliant films - I also like Ichi the Killer but I'm especially fond of The Happiness of the Katikuris which makes me weep tears of laughter, it's truly one of the most insanely funny things I've ever seen!

Comment by Bryn

May 22nd 2008 05:22

Horrorphile

David, cheers mate! I'm on a Miike roll at the moment, as a lead-up to the Sydney Film Festival which will be screening two new Miike flicks. Ichi the Killer is on my hit list!

Comment by Damo

May 22nd 2008 05:54

Thanks for the warning.

Comment by Ayda

May 22nd 2008 09:53

Phantasmelodia

There's a specific song that I somehow assigned to this movie in my mind. Whenever I listen to it, I am taken to Audition. The song is:

Black Cat Bone by Laika

If you ever get to listen to it, you'll know why, Bryn. Don't want to give any spoilers to the reader hence the discreetness

I watched the Audition a few years ago with high hopes because every single horror fan I had met regarded supremely of it. Just like all movies you watch with great expectation, I was a bit disheartened. Still, nobody can deny the atmospheric horror this movie delivers successfully.

I still remember that scene where Aoyama walks down slowly toward the old dance studio. It felt like a descent into hell, the bosom of unwelcome truth.. That was a shudder. Actually my favorite parts of the movie are those that take place in that dance studio including the nightmarish memories of Asami regarding it.

The lighting of this movie is spectacular, too. It feels very surreal at times and Miike is one of the masters of dream sequence.

Great review, as always.

Comment by Cibbuano

May 22nd 2008 22:10

Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

Ichi the Killer is next on my list as well.. I might get around to it this weekend.

Watching Audition will make you terrified of petite Japanese girls who don't say much. I'm still scared.

Comment by JohnDoe

May 22nd 2008 23:06

Film & TV on DVD

Hi Bryn,

This is one frightening film, I'm not sure if its the male perspective or the manipulative pace but I was squirming, alot.

An essential Japanese horror that carries all the power of a real life nightmare.

Comment by Bryn

May 23rd 2008 01:34

Horrorphile

Cheers for the comments people,

Ayda, It's disappointing when a movie has been over-hyped and you come to ti with high expectations which aren't met ...

Cibby, Ichi will slap you into the middle of next week ...

JD, squirm is an understatement!

Comment by Wayne F

May 23rd 2008 02:32

Bucket Snipets

This looks totally bad ass. I gotta get my hands on it!

Comment by Damo

May 23rd 2008 04:36

Just went and saw a promo video for this and ....Holy Crap!
Now I am scared that my wife will see it and get some ideas.

Comment by Bryn

May 23rd 2008 20:06

Horrorphile

Damo, this is pure unadulterated horror, but so beautifully constructed as a movie. The ending pushes so many buttons.

Comment by Nathan 1

May 23rd 2008 22:05

Hi Bryn

I think because this film is so beautiful to watch that you just get comfortable and if you are desensitsed to violence then the ending just seems bittersweet rather than horrific. I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way but this film is peaceful in a way because it brings honesty to Japanese female stereotypes who are just perceived as humble and sweet. Audition shows the darkside of all that sweetness which is kind of a turn on heh.

Comment by Bryn

May 25th 2008 05:50

Horrorphile

Nathan, there is a serenity to the movie, which I mentioned ... I wouldn't describe the ending as bittersweet, but each to their own.

Comment by Nathan 1

May 25th 2008 09:33

Even though she turned out to be evil, she had the potential to be sweet and it was the abuse she suffered that made her a monster. She just wanted devout and unconidtional love from one person and because she couldn't get it she fell to far into the evil side. At the end when she's lying at the foot of the stairs muttering the words she said earlier to him about how she's happy now after being alone and just wants understading, kind of innoculated the previous torture scene. Then the whole you'll find life is wonderful one day with a shot of Asami as a girl preparing for ballet kind of made the whole thing a bit tragic. I guess that's another great thing about the film; how hard it is to define in terms of how we are supposed to feel about Asami. Audition is great.