Audition (1999)

After reaming myself with some of the most atrocious films committed to cinema in my self-proclaimed Month of Pain (but, trust me, The Month of Pain II: The Revenge of John Boorman will be coming soon!), I felt the need for something different and refreshing and, well, actually good. In fact, for quite some time now I've become aware that, perhaps since moving to Cold Fusion Video years ago, I've become oblivious to the "cult films" half of my site's mission statement. Taking my cue from Liz, I decided to look toward Asian cinema for my relief, and hence we have Audition. Needless to say, Audition proved to be everything I hoped for, and then some.

The movie starts on a sad, almost melodramatic note, with our protagonist, the businessman Aoyama, and his son Shigehiko witnessing the death of his wife at a hospital. About two decades later, Aoyama harbors the idea that perhaps he should seek a new bride. When he describes this goal to a friend and complains about how hard it is to find a good woman (at least, one that is young, pretty, and willing to put up with Aoyama's middle-aged, pot-bellied ass), the friend, who works in the film industry, mentions that he is working on putting together a movie and plans on holding auditions for a female secondary character. He suggests that Aoyama help with the audition for the one character and use it as a pretext for finding a bride. While sorting through the resumes and photos of the applicants, Aoyama almost immediately catches sight of a girl named Asami, who had hopes of becoming a famous ballet dancer until an unspecified injury forced her to give up her dream. At the audition itself, Aoyama fumbles the ball and blatantly hits on the girl (even though most of the talk involves Asami's expressed suicidal feelings over her injury and the film gives the rather creepy suggestion that this is exactly what turns Aoyama on).

What follows might as well as the set-up for a romantic comedy of sorts. Despite a few dark undertones, mostly revolving around the introduction of Asami, and some black comedy (one of the girls at the audition proudly shows the scars from her latest suicide attempt), the plot, at least thus far, is a sweet, harmless one. The audition scene, except for the aforementioned Sylvia Plath imitator, is handled with quick, light comedic touches as a parade of bizarre but innocent personalities come through. It's the sort of scene you'd expect in one of the fifty or so romantic comedies that come out every other summer and always seem to star Matthew McConaughey.

It's sadly misleading though, since the movie gradually starts to reveal that something indeed is very, very wrong with Asami and it's not exactly a 'problem of the heart.' Nevertheless, Asami and Aoyama hit it off, even after he admits the real reason behind his involvement in the audition, and takes their relationship further, despite the warnings of his friend who feels that Asami has something "chemically wrong" with her and has discovered that she lied about various aspects of her past. On the weekend he plans to propose to Asami and he makes love to her, only to wake up to find that she has disappeared...

To go any further would be the spoil the movie, although you can probably get the gist of what happens next. Looking at the overall plot it would be easy to consider-well, condemn-this film as a "Japanese Fatal Attraction." Certainly a few of the same conventions of the sub-genre movies like Fatal Attraction spawned are there: a small, blissful family (only in Audition the family is missing a wife/mother figure, but the cute pet who eventually becomes, sad to say, a victim is there) is threatened by a dangerous outsider brought in by the sexual escapades of the husband/father figure. However, and this is what sets this movie apart, Asami is a far cry from Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. For one thing, through a montage of flashbacks and hallucinations, Asami is unveiled as more of a complex and tormented figure than most femme fatales in recent Western films. Besides the standard awful childhood (which, I admit, is presented and explained in a way that makes it seem far from standard), Asami's rage at her past tormenters and shattered emotional state are depicted in a completely respectful manner. Her insanity is of such a cool, calculating nature that it's a refreshing contrast to the usual image of the screaming, hysterical female homewrecker/homicidal maniac. Although the movie stops short of allowing Asami to steal the audience's pathos away from Aoyama, one never loses the impression that Asami is as much a victim of the cruelty of the world as Aoyama is a victim of her insanity, and even the film's powerful last moments are devoted to the tragedy of Asami's short life.

This is not to say, though, that the film doesn't also paint Asami as a vicious, dangerous killer. Indeed, the movie does engage in the sort of graphic gore that Japanese genre films are often accused of indulging in. There's mutilation, decapitation through piano wire, and countless pins stuck into flesh, among other things. Yet the true horror in this movie comes from more subtle sources: Aoyama approaching a strange, silent man playing a piano; Asami sitting silent and motionless beside a phone while waiting for it to ring; the cheerful demeanor Asami wears even as she torments Aoyama...even the noisy activities of a bartender are used to create dread. Although many would complain that the barrage of memories and dreams toward the end of the film is disorienting (God forbid a movie should stray away from a traditional narrative), it is the climax of the film, where we're given a series of images, all equally terrifying and tragic, and all giving insight into the minds of Aoyama and Asami, victim and killer.

What's most interesting about Asami's motive, mired in madness as it is, is that, unlike Glenn Close, she does seem to have some justification. It is the feeling that Aoyama has exploited her sexually that drives Asami to attack him and, unlike a Michael Douglas character, Aoyama isn't cleared of all blame. Aoyama's attitude about the 'ideal wife' (one of his qualifications is that she must be young, quiet, and obedient), the use of the audition to get an assembly line inspection of various women, and the harmful past between Aoyama and his secretary that drives her to try to destroy him all suggest that the film has a more complex understanding of women's role in Japanese society than what one might assume simply reading a plot summary. It also suggests that Asami is reacting violently and desperately against a mindset that encourages men to view women as patient sources for sex and servitude. While on the surface Aoyama's love for Asami seems pure, on closer inspection his interest in her, at least subconsciously, does indeed seem motivated by a need for control.

The other aspects of the movie are a match for the script. The acting is excellent, undisrupted by the sudden shift in atmosphere about halfway through the film, and Eihi Shiina deserves praise for her approach to the role of Asami. The cinematography and direction are both exquisite, down to the vivid shots of extreme physical torture. On the rental box, I noticed one reviewer had the 'blasphemy' to compare this film to the works of Alfred Hitchcock. At the time, I thought it was just an undeserved exaggerated praise. Now I'm not so sure.