Audition

In Tokyo, Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) is a widower that grieves the loss of his wife and raises his son Shigehiko Aoyama (Tetsu Sawaki) alone. Seven years later, the teenage Shigehiko asks why his middle-aged father does not remarry and Shigeharu meets his friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura), who is a film producer, and tells his intention. However, Shigeharu has difficulties to approach to available women to date and Yasuhisa decide to organize a sham audition for casting the lead actress for the fake movie. They receive several portfolios of candidates and Shigeharu becomes obsessed by the gorgeous Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina). Despite the advice of the experienced Yasuhisa, Shigeharu calls Asami to date and he falls for her. But who is the mysterious Asami?

"Ôdishon" a.k.a. "Audition" is a great horror movie with a creepy, disturbing and even realistic story but with less violence, weirdness and gore than the usual, for a movie directed by the Japanese director Takashi Miike. The characters are very well developed and the beautiful Eihi Shiina is perfect in the role of Asami. The scene when she says "deeper, deeper, deeper" is scary and remains imprinted in the mind of the viewer. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Audição" ("Audition")

Note: On 21 March 2017, I saw this film again.

Well, we always knew the Japanese could do horror films with exceptional flair, but psychological horror hasn't been this exhilarating (and ultimately nauseating) since, well, since, I don't know when. Beware, this is not for the weak of heart, and don't be fooled by it's satiric comedic set-up. When the "audition" is through, you may want to throw up, or praise the film-makers for being so bold.

I was extremely underwhelmed by the much hyped Japanese horror film 'Ringu', so I approached 'Odishon' with some caution. I needn't have worried. 'Odishon' bears no resemblance to the lame supernatural chills of 'Ringu'. It is in fact closer to the more extreme moments of David Cronenberg, and the profoundly disturbing movies of Jorg Buttgereit, Shinya Tsukamoto, and Gaspar Noe.

Directed with great flair by Takashi Miike, and based on a novel by the amazing Ryu Murakami ('Almost Transparent Blue' and 'Coin Locker Babies'), 'Odishon' wipes the floor with Hollywood's recent output of supposedly "confronting" movies ('American Psycho', 'Boy's Don't Cry', 'Requiem For A Dream') and by-the-numbers serial killer thrillers ('Hannibal', 'Kiss The Girls', 'The Cell',etc.). Forget those safe, mediocre bores THIS is the real deal!

Miike lulls you into a false sense of security with his leisurely storytelling and quiet character development, which makes the pay off of the last part of the movie even more shocking and unexpected. Ryo Ishibashi is well cast as the middle aged businessman stuck in a rut, and the beautiful Eihi Shiina is absolutely astonishing as the girl of his dreams who turns out to be not QUITE what he expected.

The less you know about 'Odishon' the better. If you enjoy extreme movie making at its best you'll go ga ga over this first rate slice of shock cinema. Simply unforgettable.

There are about 15 minutes of "Audition" that everyone remembers and talks about, and about 95 minutes of movie that you'd think didn't even exist if you listened to others' comments. But this is the director's fault; when you set out to shock your audience as much as Takashi Miike does in this film, you can't blame the audience if all they remember about your film is the shocking part.

Which is a shame, because "Audition" is quite a bit more than a mere horror movie. It's really more of a feverish psychological drama along the lines of a David Lynch film. In fact, in structure and tone, this film reminded me of Lynch's "Mulholland Drive," and if Lynch didn't have his own unique style and brand of film-making, I might wonder if he was inspired in part by this film when he made his own.

What other comments here have done nicely is summarize what "Audition" is "about." A man (Shigeharu Aoyama) mourning the loss of his wife looks to find the perfect woman to replace her, and he holds bogus auditions for an ostensible film role in order to find her. But the girl who catches his interest (Asami Yamazaki) turns out to be a much better actress than he bargained for. What other comments DON'T necessarily convey, however, is how much of this film takes place in the world of dreams, and how blurred the line between reality and fantasy is. This dilutes the violence of the film's final moments, because there is a strong suggestion that this violence is taking place in the protagonist's nightmares.

Is "Audition" a critique of the confined roles women are forced to inhabit in Japanese society? Is it about Aoyama's guilt in feeling the need for a woman to replace his dead wife? Is it about his fear of finding a girl that actually can replace her, thereby diminishing what he had with her? Is the film about the extent to which all relationships are "auditions," where each person involved makes him/herself vulnerable and exposes him/herself to acceptance or rejection at the whims of another? A case can be made for its being about all of these things.

When the violence comes at the end, it's not as graphic as the hype would lead you to believe. Even so, I wish Miike hadn't pushed the envelope quite so far. One has to wonder if the emotional impact of the film would have been any less just because the violence was less graphic, and I suspect the answer to that is no. The violence feels gratuitous and cheapens slightly everything that comes before it. It mars the film, but fortunately it doesn't ruin it.

This is far more of a thinking man's film that its reputation would lead you to believe. Those who come to it for the titillating shock of its gore are bound to be disappointed.

Grade: B+

A class act horror film - not for anyone with a queasy stomach. Japanese subtitles don't deter from the fact that it can easily rank as a landmark in cinema horror, pushing back taboos. Like Sixth Sense, you could watch half the movie and not know it was going to be a shocker. When the shocks come they make you want to jump out of your seat right into the aisle and then crawl back under it with your face over your hands. More Hitchcock than Cronenberg, there is little in the way of special effects, but lots in the way of a very precisely crafted plot, great acting and editing, atmosphere and moments of evocative beauty as well as terror. The story concerns a Japanese businessman whose friend thinks of a novel way for him to look for a second wife. That's all I'll tell you!