Still the scariest movie I have ever seen, Audition succeeds because of it's simple premise and surprisingly grounded execution. Takashi Miike's genre films are never subtle and this is the closest he comes to subtlety until the last 30 minutes or so. The first forty minutes play like a romantic comedy that makes the turn to horror like a roller coaster that suddenly switches direction. What makes Audition so scary is how relatable it is. I have always theorized that men who have either been single for a long time or widowers are.the ones who can relate to this movie the most. As a person who has been single basically my entire life I ask this question while watching: What if the woman I fall in love with ends up being someone like Asami Yamazaki? While Jaws is one people's minds when they go into an ocean, this film is in the back of my mind anytime I swipe right on Tinder. The film has the most extreme consequences for something every man has done which is objectify a woman.
While this film is scary, there are many themes that make it more interesting to talk about. It can be a film about a feminist female avenger. It can be about gender and age politics within dating. It can be about a heterosexual male's fear of female sexuality and the dynamics of that within a relationship. It is a film about miscommunication about what each person wants in a relationship, manifesting that in the most extreme ways. All of those "it cans" make this film something to think beyond just how disturbing it is.
Synopsis: This disturbing Japanese thriller follows Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), a widower who decides to start dating again. Aided by a film-producer friend (Miyuki Matsuda), Aoyama uses auditions for a fake production to function as a dating service. When Aoyama becomes intrigued by the withdrawn, gorgeous Asami (Eihi Shiina), they begin a relationship. However, he begins to realize that Asami isn't as reserved as she appears to be, leading to gradually increased tension and a harrowing climax.
This film deals with objectification and gender politics early on. When Aoyama eats dinner with his film producer friend Yasuhisa they hear a group of young girls laughing and Yasuhisa calls them awful and full of themselves. He wonders where all the nice girls have gone Aoyama then says he wants to date again. He says he wants a mature, career woman, but not too successful. When Aoyama's son Shigehiko brings home a girl to do homework with, she immediately apologizes for taking his dinner and offers to make him something. He says no but gives Shigehiko a signal that he approves of her. Even the housekeeper for their home is a somewhat older woman. The appropriation of gender roles is there. When Aoyama goes to work his secretary tells him she is getting married. She also tries to catch his attention later in the film when she says she is leaving for the day. She is basically saying I would rather be marrying you, but he pays no attention to her. He wants to be a man, as so many of us do, who does the chasing and pursuing. Many of us ignore what is right in front of us. That unrequited love, a twist in the film involving a woman too good to be true and her disappearing midway through would make this film a good double feature with Vertigo.
Ryo Ishibashi as Shigeharu Aoyama
The audition process reminds me of quite a bit of technology we have today. This film never predicts the accessibility to people's lives that social media brings. I couldn't help but notice something similar to people scrolling through Tinder or going on people's Facebook profiles while Aoyama looks through all the applicants for the audition. He is all ready objectifying here and not necessarily treating these women as human. As noble as his intentions seem to be he does get the most extreme consequences for this act of objectification later on. This audition never goes into Harvey Weinstein exploitation territory. It warrants consequences because about 40 women wasted time, travel, and maybe a little money on this audition that is really a buffet selection of women for Aoyama. You could say that they had every intention of making a film but they never do and Yasuhisa never feels any loss from it. The whole audition sequence is like a romantic comedy montage until Asami's scene happens which has no music and a long zoom in from the back of the room to where Aoyama and Yasuhisa sit, echoing the opening scene of The Godfather. Aoyama is attracted to Asami's acceptance of loss. Her application says something like losing ballet was similar to accepting death.
Aoyama and Yasuhisa at the audition.
Eihi Shiina as Asami at the audition.
On the first two dates they have, Aoyama seems more determined in getting to know more about Asami than revealing anything about himself. He never talks about having a son or having a wife that died. Asami never tells him the truth about her relationship with her parents or her job at the bar. She does concede that she lied about her representation from a Japanese record company. During a nightmare sequence later Asami does tell the truth about living with her Uncle after her parents divorce. In some ways those dream sequences, and/or flashbacks for the dates are like what Aoyama was really hearing. I think the film in those sequences is trying to say that Asami may have been telling him the truth but he was only hearing what he wanted to hear when those dates first happened. Asami just seems too good to be true. Saying things like "Can we do this again? Even if we only talk over the phone?" On the second date she can't stop smiling and seems overwhelmingly happy to see Aoyama again. While this could be true it could also be a ruse to lull Aoyama into a false sense of security. Asami seems like perfect the woman: young, submissive, honest, pretty. She has just as much interest in him as he does in her. Aoyama ignores the obvious red flags: The Japanese music director has been missing for 18 months, he has no idea where Asami lives, and she seems apprehensive about him visiting the bar where she works. Yasuhisa states the obvious: We don't know anyone who knows her.
The sequence in the hotel has always made me anxious. This is where the dream-like imagery and editing throughout the rest of the film starts. Asami's hair blowing in the wind and her look at the beach is something I always remember. Up until this point Aoyama has been the one in control. He called her, set up the dates, paid for the drinks and food. Once in the bedroom however, Asami takes full control and there is something almost unsettling rather than romantic about this sequence. The way she says "love me and only me." Most of the time people mean that as hyperbole. As we soon see, Asami means that quite literally. That sex scene is the start of some of the relationship dynamics between the woman being in control versus the man. It's almost like Aoyama is auditioning for her in that sequence.
Spoiler Section
I have not even talked about the phone sequence before the second date. Miike does such a great job of using loud and sometimes odd sounds to leading to scares. He builds up intensity, not really suspense and the payoff is usually a loud sound. The absence of music can be felt in these sequences. The scene where we first see Asami staring at the phone with her legs bent completely backwards with the sack in the background and the phone next to it. The next transition shows that she has been staring at the phone longer as one of her legs is crossed and she has her head bent down in what would be a very uncomfortable position. You see her start to smile when Aoyama finally decides to call her and then the payoff is the sack going flying with this sound that sounds something like a stomach gurgle combined with a roar. That same thing happens when Aoyama and Asami are about to have sex in the room and the sound of the bedspread is really loud. The transition to Aoyama waking up with no explanation for what happened and never really seeing what happened is the start of a dreamlike atmosphere in this movie. It could also be an unreliable narrator or a dream at the same time in some instances.
I like the filmmaking in some of the horror sequences in the second half. I also like the sense of mystery and reveal the film creates with Aoyama doing his investigation of Asami's whereabouts. When he goes to see Asami's stepfather there is something so creepy about him just stopping playing the piano and turning toward Aoyama. Again, Miike knows when to not use music to make a scene more creepy. I also like the dark orange color on display here. The next sequence at the bar where Aoyama hallucinates the severed body parts always freaked me out. You just don't expect it and that is where Miike's normal penchant for being outrageous and not subtle comes through.
Renji Ishibashi as the old man in the wheelchair, AKA Asami's stepfather
Miike continues to build up the intensity with the kinetic and chaotic POV sequences when Asami invades Aoyama's house. Rarely can you feel the emotion through a POV without sound but you can actually feel Asami's upset when she sees the picture of Ryoko, Aoyama's dead wife. I enjoy the time lapse photography as we see it go from day, to dusk, to night. What happens next is something that took multiple viewings to interpret as Aoyama drinks his whiskey and gets drugged and knocked out.
The film flashes back to their first date with Asami now revealing some of her history of abuse from her aunt and then her stepfather. We see sequences of her stepfather burning her with needles, showing how she got the scars on her legs. There is a sequence where we see her kill her stepfather with the same piano wire she uses later. She uses it to strangle him and the sound of wire wrapping around his neck is memorable. The most troubling sequence by far is when we see the bar owner come out of the sack without his fingers and his tongue. Asami feeds him her own vomit mixed with water, something he actually enjoys. Asami has forced him to be dependent on whatever she gives him for sustenance. Asami never replaced the co-dependence she had with her evil stepfather, who also abused her in many ways, something she never coped with.
These sequences are interesting to interpret. The date scenes could be seen as things Aoyama was hearing but because he was so in love he only heard what he wanted to hear. He can't be seeing the stuff in Asami's apartment because he never saw it. It could be the movie showing you all that stuff because some of these dream sequences seem like real things Asami has done but also things in Aoyama's head. Since this all seems to be in his subconscious it is also possible Asami is telling him this stuff while he is drugged and it is entering his mind. We never get Asami's mindset throughout this film until the end and it is interesting to think how long she planned this out or if she always had planned to do this. If Aoyama had ever told her the truth about his wife, or his son I wonder if she would have backed off.
The sequences in Aoyama's mind are when different women from his life appear and he seems scared of the interest they show in him. At one point Asami throws herself at him aggresively trying to give him a blowjob, in a cut Asami then turns into his secretary who then turns into Shigehiko's girlfriend. He seems afraid of the sexuality they are showing. These sequences show Aoyama's guilt over the audition and how he has taken advantage of women. His wife also appears on the second date and tells him not to marry Asami and that is further part of his feelings of guilt.
The torture sequence is 15 minutes of slow terror. Compare this torture sequence to something from the Saw series. The traps in the Saw movies last a minute or so with ramped up editing. Miike in this scene focuses on the small things. Asami rolling Aoyama's body over, putting the blanket down, getting her needles ready and then her piano wire ready. What I like is seeing Asami's joy, really the first time she seems happy besides the second date. At one point there is a jarring cut to her stepfather masturbating, a perfect synergy for how she feels when she tortures Aoyama. The sequence is more about her joyous reactions to the torture but also the sounds. Once again Miike avoids the use of music and that gives you no levity during the torture. You have no choice but to focus on all the ambient noise of Asami putting the needles into Aoyama's stomach and his eyes. Then later she uses the wire and saws back and forth, cutting Aoyama's feet off at the ankles. It descends more and more into a nightmare. Asami does say she gave him drugs to paralyze him but also a nerve agent so he can feel everything. She finally talks about her motivation here saying if you don't give everything to me I can't give my all to you. She talks about him having Shigehiko so he has other people to love in his life while she has no one. She does also bring up the audition and how men are all the same you have a fake audition and have sex with women later. That is a consequence of Aoyama's sin, however extreme. Asami says many quotes that are bulletin board material. "Words are all lies. Pain is real."
Asami readying her torture tools.
Shigehiko does come home at one point and sees his father lying on the floor. Asami comes up behind him trying to knock him out with some kind of mace and Aoyama goes into a dream again. This is a great moment because he wakes up in the hotel and for a moment you think he has been dreaming since then. Asami is with him in bed and she says I've decided to accept your proposal and I'm the luckiest girl from the audition because I found the love of my life. I'm not sure if this actually happened or if it was the happy version of what could have happened in Aoyama's mind. We never see the aftermath of their sexual encounter and therefore Asami could have left after they fell asleep. Miike inserts more investigation into the film that wasn't present in Ryu Murikami's book. Conversely, Murikami's book has more explanation during the hotel scene where Aoyama talked about his son at one point and Asami got mad and drugged Aoyama. Miike is allowing us to interpret things on our own.
What I've always enjoyed is how this movie ends. After Shigehiko kicks Asami down the stairs she is dead. Aoyama looks at her and sees her saying the same things she said to him on the first date. I'm not sure if this is in his mind or those are Asami's dying words, something she has rehearsed and said to many men she has tried to connect with.
Audition works because of the slow burn to horror as the other themes are developed. Miike makes this film go from a romantic drama, to a surreal dream logic film about men's fear of women's sexuality, to a harrowing torture porn climax. No movie has done transitions and bait and switches so well. People who say this is a feminist film leave out the fact that Asami kills a dog and a woman in this. You could say they are collateral damage in her quest to be an avenger for men who take advantage of her. Asami never recovered from her co-dependence or coped with her abuse. She sees any man who takes advantage of her as the same as her stepfather. She needs them to suffer how she did in order to make them love in her own way. All of the performances across the board are great. I enjoy seeing Jun Kunimura as Yasuhisa, a face familiar to many who have seen Japanese films. The same goes for Renji Ishibashi as Asami's stepfather. Eihi Shiina portrays the submissive, but at the same time unsettling Asami perfectly. She is my favorite horror movie villain of all time because no one has scared me as much. I also loved the piano laden score by Koji Endo.
Rating: 9/10
I love this movie but it is not one I can just watch all the time. It is a slow burn and a heavy film in terms of content and themes. For entertainment there are other Japanese films I prefer but this is incredible filmmaking.
Trivia: The dog bowl of vomit is actually Eihi Shiina's vomit, something she insisted on doing.
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