Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) is the owner of a video production company. He has been living a solitary life, raising his teenage son Shigehiko (Tetsu Sawaki), since the death of his wife seven years ago.
When his son suggests that he should re-marry, Shigeharu and colleague Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura) use a casting session to audition for potential wives. Amongst these, Shigeharu finds his ideal woman – a delicate 24-year-old ex-dancer by the name of Asami Yamasaki (Eihi Shiina).
Despite continual warnings from Yoshikawa that the girl’s background is a mystery and that she is not to be trusted, Shigeharu finds himself enchanted by Asami and pursues a relationship regardless. It soon becomes clear, however, that beneath Asami’s submissive and withdrawn fasade lies a past steeped in horror and abuse, leaving her with her own twisted desire to take vengeance on those who cross her path.
Director Miike Takashi
Miike Takashi has made quite an impact in film since his arrival on the scene in 1991. His Shinjuku Triad Society marked him out as a director to be watched, and his 1999 hit Dead or Alive (not to be confused with the 2006 film based on the popular console game) offered a dark and gritty action-drama capped by an utterly unique, unforgettably bizarre, ending.
Just months after DOA, however, Audition was also released as Takashi’s first full-blown foray into horror, making an instant mark on the industry. Alongside Hideo Nakata’s masterful Ring, Audition is arguably responsible for the boom in the horror genre which has since spread from Japan to the West.
Audition Cast - Ryo Ishibashi and Eihi Shiina
While the supporting cast give strong performances that make sure the film doesn't falter at any point, there are only two truly noteworthy parts in Audition.
Ryo Ishibashi fulfils the requisites of his part admirably, bringing a great feel of solitude and melancholy to the character of Shigeharu. He also displays a very believable and youthful infatuation on first sighting Asami and this helps to endear him as a character.
Ishibashi has gone on to become an international star, featuring in 2002’s Suicide Club, 2004’s The Grudge and it’s sequel in 2006.
Eihi Shiina had not long been in films when cast as the psychotic Asami and she explored a variety of work besides film, including being a fashion model. She is now also an internationally recognizable star for her role.
Japanese actresses know how to play understated parts and to appear submissive. Shiina does it beautifully (quite similar, in fact, to Yukie Nakama’s touching performance in the Ring prequel, Birthday).
Here, however, Shiina is required to then metamorphose into a complete mental case who likes to keep her victims tied up in burlap sacks, offering them an incredibly stomach-churning diet and a lifetime of horrific torture. She is exceptionally frightening in the film’s closing scenes and deserves all her plaudits.
Audition Analysis and Summary
In almost every conceivable aspect, Audition is a superior brand of film to the majority of releases over the last decade – horror-based or not. With that said, however, this film is definitely not for the overly sensitive viewer and will always have a limited sense of appeal due to it’s extreme content.
Takashi’s vision for Audition is a perfect blend of traditional value and shocking innovation.
The first half of the film’s running time is intensely foreboding and expertly directed. Long, single-shot, scene follows after long, single-shot, scene in which the camera, along with the characters, are neatly framed and barely mobile. Casual conversations and protracted silences also help to start the film at a crawl, injected with character background and even some well-placed humour to keep the more hyper viewer from switching off.
As the film progresses, however, the solidity of the story begins to fray at the edges as Shigeharu moves deeper into Asami’s world. The incredibly dark undercurrents of the film start to surface through flashbacks into Asami’s past and hallucinations from Shigeharu (these can be quite baffling, making it difficult to track the progression of the story – all of which is intentionally done to unsettle the audience, who up until now has had an easy ride).
Darker, richer, colour palettes and dynamic lighting is successively used and director Takashi begins to off-set the neat framing and to cut scenes quicker and quicker, giving the viewer a sense of uncontrollable momentum toward the inescapably terrifying and graphic finalé.
By the time that finalé is even reached, Audition will deeply unsettle viewers through it’s combination of disturbing subject matters – similarly frought with uncomfortably suggestive imagery – and the very deliberate framework of direction from Takashi.
This is an all-too rare standard of excellence in horror, which shows that when horror is at it’s best it can dare to go places and to do things that other films just aren’t willing – or able - to follow.
- Producer: Satoshi Fukushima
- Director: Miike Takashi
- Screenplay: Daisuke Tengan
- Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi
- Released: march 2000 by Omega Project.
- Running Time: 115 mins
