Audition
Most American's are familiar with Japanese horror only through the remakes of the supernatural ghost stories that had become popular the last decade. Movies like the Ring, based of the Japanese film Ringu, and The Grudge based off of the Japanese film Ju-on, and One Missed Call based off the Japanese film Chakushin Ari are familiar to American audience's through their westernized versions. This horror is palatable to us as it's familiar territory with ghosts, goblins and things that go bump on the night. Audition isn't one of those.
There's another side to Japanese Horror. A gory underbelly that's steeped in blood and guts and over the top cartoonish violence. Audition isn't one of those either.
What Audition is, is a mind trip. It sets up expectations and slowly tears them down. What little bit of blood and gore is in the film only occurs near the end and even then it's for effect only really. The movie is shocking however and if left to ponder what you've witnessed it will leave the viewer a little ill and shaken.
Audition is directed by Takashi Miike, is the story of Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), a widower and single father who's raising a teenage son after his wife dies from (what I assume is) cancer. His son Shigehiko (Tetsu Sawaki) feels that Shigeharu has become depressed and should remarry again. After revealing this fact to his friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura) who is a movie producer of feature films (where Shigeharu produces documentaries) he suggests holding an audition for a potential mate. He's recently come into possession of a script the could go into development and will hold auditions for that, but allow Shigeharu to pick the women coming to the audition so he can interview for candidates of his dating life. If it seems pretty sleazy, it sort of is. Shigeharu comes across as a fairly traditional, but respectable kind Japanese man, even though his counterpart Yasuhisa does not.
While going through the applicants to pick out thirty to come to the audition he comes across one from Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) and based of the picture, beautiful yet demure in appearance, and an essay where she writes about losing the ability to do ballet any more and the sense of loss ("like death") it gave her, he naturally invites her to the audition. After viewing a majority of the candidates she arrives. He asks her about her ballet and a little bit about her life and becomes even more smitten with her. Yasuhisa rightly accuses him of picking her out before the audition and warning Shigeharu that there's something about her that he doesn't trust.
He calls her, and the go out to eat at a nice restaurant Yasuhisa warns his friend that the references she gave at the audition are all dead ends. The record exec that she mentioned is no longer at the company, and the bar that she claimed to work at isn't where she said it was. Shigeharu is undaunted by this, and ignores his friends warning and calls her again. She's made to appear to be waiting for his call alone in an empty apartment except for a large burlap sack that rolls across the room when the phone rings. This is the first implicit indication to the audience that something is not right.
After a series of dates he invites her to a retreat near the ocean. On the retreat Shigeharu is nervous, but Asami disrobes and asks him to look at her. She reveals scars from years of abuse and asks that he accepts her and loves only her. He promises that he will and they make love. In the morning she's gone and he's left addled and confused.
He goes to Yasuhisa, asking his friend to find out where she lives. Yasuhisa is convinced that she lied to Shigeharu and tells him to forget about her. Shigeharu, angry vows to look for her himself. The first place he goes is the ballet school that's listed on her resume, finding it boarded up, but hearing music coming from inside. He pulls a few boards loose and goes in to find a man in a wheelchair playing piano. The man, presumably the dance instructor (Renji Ishibashi), laughs at Shigeharu and tells him to give up looking for Asami. He reveals that he's missing both of his feet just above the ankle and we the audience see a flashback of him burning the inside of Asami's thighs with hot wires. Shigeharu then goes to the address that Asami gave him for the bar. It sits deep in a basement and it too is abandoned. A man passing by reveals that the bar closed a year ago when the owner was killed and dismembered. Something about a love affair with a recording agent. The police found three extra fingers, a tongue and an ear at the crime scene.
During Shigeharu's search we see a scene from first person of someone going into his house and finding the picture of his wife, then going to his decanter of liquor. We flash forward in time, with Shigeharu just getting home, listening to a message from his son about staying at a friends house. He pours himself a drink to relax and soon the drug takes effect. Getting up to, staggering across the room he falls over backwards and blacks out for a moment.
This is where the movie diverges. Through a series of flashbacks and dreams we see that Asami revealed a lot of her abuse to Shigeharu during dinners they had with each other. Her parents were divorced and she was given over to an uncle and an aunt who hated her.
Shigeharu then appears in Asami's apartment. She offers to fellate him, telling him she enjoys pleasing him. Then she changes to Shigeharu's secretary, more than hinting at an affair the two had previously. (This is hinted at earlier with a couple of awkward scenes between the two.) Then she morphs into his sons girlfriend, seemingly getting sadistic glee from his discomfort He pushes her away and the bag that was shown in earlier scenes comes to life.
A man, wearing a diaper crawls from the bag. He has both his feet hacked up just above the ankle, three fingers are missing off of his right hand, he's missing an ear and his tongue has been cut out. He motions with his mangled hand and utters a word that translates to "meal." Shigeharu shrinks against the wall and we hear Asami vomiting in the kitchen. She brings the bowl of vomit to the man from the bag and laps it up, saying "good."
We then flash back to the hotel stay. Shigeharu and Asami talk, she asks him again if he'll love her and only her. He promises and falls asleep. He awakes with a jolt, feeling his feet which are intact, and Asami asleep peacefully next to him. We then cut back to now, with Shigeharu struggling against the drugs on the floor.
Asami appears and tells him that it only paralyzes him but doesn't actually stop pain. She accuses Shigeharu of having too many other people in his life: his son, his dead wife and others. She tells him that it isn't acceptable and that he promised to love only her. She then explains that the only way to know what is real is through pain and slowly sticks long acupuncture needles deep into his torso, and then just underneath his eyes. She then takes piano wire and cuts off his right foot, getting ready to cut off his left when Shigeharu's son, Shigehiko arrives home, his friend fell ill and they had to call an ambulance.
Shigeharu yells out for his son as Asami goes after him with a spray of cloroform. We then flash back, once more to the hotel, Asami tells Shigeharu that she accepts his proposal. Flashing back, Asami chases Shigehiko up the stairs. Tripping when he reaches the top he kicks frantically and knocks her down, she lands on her head, breaking her neck. He then calls the police and asks them to come quickly. As Asami lay dying her and Shigeharu watch each other, we hear her saying all the things that made Shigeharu fall for her to begin with.
Roll credits.
Auditon is more than a horror film. It's a commentary on gender roles in modern Japan. It's also two completely different stories: one is about a woman who endured an accident and lost her ability to what she love and is ultimately "saved" by a loving caring man. The other is about a woman who has been abused horrifically taking vengeance on the male gender who did this to her. Both movies play out at the same time, only being revealed to the audience in the disjointed dream sequence. One, the one where Shigeharu and Asami end up, at least engaged and happy, is what could have been. What could have been if Asami hadn't been quite as broken as she was. The other is what really happened. Asami isn't sweet. She's selfish. She wants not a friend or a lover but a wholly dependent slave loyal to only her. Shigeharu, for his part is a decent man, but he's still somewhat steeped in traditional gender roles and his chauvinism, though naive, is still apparent in his use of the audition to find a mate.
This is one of the few horror movies where I can say that the acting is a bit more than solid. Both the leads are good. They bring depth to the characters that help raise this movie above the normal shlock of horror. The direction works really well and after having seen a few of his films I can honestly say I am a fan of Takashi Miike. The one complaint, perhaps, though I feel it adds to the effect of the film overall is the plodding pace. It's a slow film. It does however build up a distinct flavor of dread as it progresses and you can feel the "wrongness" growing with each scene.
This is a movie that is easier to watch after the first time you view it. The shock of the first time and the sense that you missed something slowly fades away with each subsequent viewing. Most people however won't get that far. Sure there's more shocking fair out there these days, but this film was reviled when it was first released in 1999. People didn't understand it, what they were presented with was a love story that went very, very wrong. They didn't like that. If you can make through the film and not feel disgusted by it, both the chauvinists and the sadistic female lead, then it is worth watching again, because you'll certainly get more from another viewing. If you're willing to try.
4 out of 5 Beards.
Shigeharu then appears in Asami's apartment. She offers to fellate him, telling him she enjoys pleasing him. Then she changes to Shigeharu's secretary, more than hinting at an affair the two had previously. (This is hinted at earlier with a couple of awkward scenes between the two.) Then she morphs into his sons girlfriend, seemingly getting sadistic glee from his discomfort He pushes her away and the bag that was shown in earlier scenes comes to life.
A man, wearing a diaper crawls from the bag. He has both his feet hacked up just above the ankle, three fingers are missing off of his right hand, he's missing an ear and his tongue has been cut out. He motions with his mangled hand and utters a word that translates to "meal." Shigeharu shrinks against the wall and we hear Asami vomiting in the kitchen. She brings the bowl of vomit to the man from the bag and laps it up, saying "good."
We then flash back to the hotel stay. Shigeharu and Asami talk, she asks him again if he'll love her and only her. He promises and falls asleep. He awakes with a jolt, feeling his feet which are intact, and Asami asleep peacefully next to him. We then cut back to now, with Shigeharu struggling against the drugs on the floor.
Asami appears and tells him that it only paralyzes him but doesn't actually stop pain. She accuses Shigeharu of having too many other people in his life: his son, his dead wife and others. She tells him that it isn't acceptable and that he promised to love only her. She then explains that the only way to know what is real is through pain and slowly sticks long acupuncture needles deep into his torso, and then just underneath his eyes. She then takes piano wire and cuts off his right foot, getting ready to cut off his left when Shigeharu's son, Shigehiko arrives home, his friend fell ill and they had to call an ambulance.
Shigeharu yells out for his son as Asami goes after him with a spray of cloroform. We then flash back, once more to the hotel, Asami tells Shigeharu that she accepts his proposal. Flashing back, Asami chases Shigehiko up the stairs. Tripping when he reaches the top he kicks frantically and knocks her down, she lands on her head, breaking her neck. He then calls the police and asks them to come quickly. As Asami lay dying her and Shigeharu watch each other, we hear her saying all the things that made Shigeharu fall for her to begin with.
Roll credits.
Auditon is more than a horror film. It's a commentary on gender roles in modern Japan. It's also two completely different stories: one is about a woman who endured an accident and lost her ability to what she love and is ultimately "saved" by a loving caring man. The other is about a woman who has been abused horrifically taking vengeance on the male gender who did this to her. Both movies play out at the same time, only being revealed to the audience in the disjointed dream sequence. One, the one where Shigeharu and Asami end up, at least engaged and happy, is what could have been. What could have been if Asami hadn't been quite as broken as she was. The other is what really happened. Asami isn't sweet. She's selfish. She wants not a friend or a lover but a wholly dependent slave loyal to only her. Shigeharu, for his part is a decent man, but he's still somewhat steeped in traditional gender roles and his chauvinism, though naive, is still apparent in his use of the audition to find a mate.
This is one of the few horror movies where I can say that the acting is a bit more than solid. Both the leads are good. They bring depth to the characters that help raise this movie above the normal shlock of horror. The direction works really well and after having seen a few of his films I can honestly say I am a fan of Takashi Miike. The one complaint, perhaps, though I feel it adds to the effect of the film overall is the plodding pace. It's a slow film. It does however build up a distinct flavor of dread as it progresses and you can feel the "wrongness" growing with each scene.
This is a movie that is easier to watch after the first time you view it. The shock of the first time and the sense that you missed something slowly fades away with each subsequent viewing. Most people however won't get that far. Sure there's more shocking fair out there these days, but this film was reviled when it was first released in 1999. People didn't understand it, what they were presented with was a love story that went very, very wrong. They didn't like that. If you can make through the film and not feel disgusted by it, both the chauvinists and the sadistic female lead, then it is worth watching again, because you'll certainly get more from another viewing. If you're willing to try.
4 out of 5 Beards.
posted by F.G. Shaw @ 11:33 PM
0 comments
