Audition

aka Ôdishon
1999 / Dir. Takashi Miike / Written by Daisuke Tengan / Starring Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, and Jun Kunimura

A gut-wrenching, pillow-clenching tour-de-force from the master of extreme Japanese cinema, Miike’s (arguably) best film to date is a seminal entry in the popular and controversial J-Horror phenomenon. Other leading entries in the movement, including Ringu, Ju-On, Honogurai mizu no soko kara, Janghwa Hongryeon and Gin gwai, have all received the Hollywood remake treatment (The Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water, The Uninvited, and The Eye, respectively.) Much of the content in the originals has been toned down in their American counterparts – even to PG-13 standards – so that many of the larger issues that the ample and often shocking violence and sexual content stands for in J-Horror is misrepresented or completely negated for the sake of raking in some extra box office dough from the lucrative 13-to-17-year-old demographic. There is no way that Audition can receive the same American treatment, unless the storyline becomes so sanitized that it becomes a different film altogether. The film starts innocently enough in comparison to the last hour, although the premise in itself is problematic from the beginning: Ishibashi (also of The Grudge) plays Shigeharu, a down-on-his-luck widower who is urged by his teenaged son to get back into the dating scene lest he continues to languish in middle-aged lovelessness. A film director friend proposes that he and Shigeharu host an audition and “cast” him a potential wife. The problem is, all the women auditioning believe that they are trying out for an actual role. The relationship that does blossom between Shigeharu and beautiful, demure Asami (Shiina) is already problematized because he lured her into his life under false pretenses. Turns out, it is not the first time Asami has been deceived by a man, and in the past she has exacted revenge accordingly. I won’t go into detail about what transpires after the first hour or so of the film, which is a melodramatic and oddly sweet (but eerie) courtship. The slow pace accelerates dramatically as we learn more about Asami and what she has in store for her new beau – but I can guarantee you, it is probably nothing that you could ever imagine on your own. Miike takes every spine-tingling moment to the very extreme of what many directors will show before they cut away, daring to elevate Asami to a vengeful anti-heroine, particularly in a culture where women have been subjugated for centuries. Because of how equally disgusting men are portrayed in the film, Asami may serve on a larger level as a distorted neo-feminist seeking redemption for her oppression – and a warning for all men who continue to perpetrate wrongs against the “secondary” gender. You may be tempted to look away, but Miike certainly doesn’t want you to – so take it all in, and see which side you land on.****

Note: this film is based on the original novel by Ryû Murakami.