By Daniel Zelter

I first heard about Audition from a friend who rents Japanese movies and tv 
shows in L.A. He told me he was totally disgusted, and nearly puked after 
watching it. Months later, entertainment sites like AICN started reporting 
about the film. I had the chance to see the movie at the Egyptian, but just 
didn't have the time. So when it came to the Nuart, I made it a point to 
catch the film. Unlike the movie theater where I saw Dead or Alive, the 
Nuart showed Audition as early as 4 p.m.

[I saw DOA at midnight, and the audiences that see movies at those times are 
a lot more casual about excessive sex and violence. So you can't get much of 
a shocked reaction out of them. Thus I figured it'd be more interesting to 
see what "Joe" and "Jane-mainstream-movie-goer" would do in the face of 
those alleged disturbing images. Unfortunately, as I will mention later, 
they weren't really horrified.]

The audience that came to see it was fairly average in size: Not too big, 
not too small. What was weird was that before the movie started, some catchy 
j-pop tune was playing in the theater. I don't know the name of the song, 
but three women were singing it, it had a type of country music beat, and 
the only word in English I could understand was "jealousy".

Anyway, here's the summary of the story, with spoilers. Audition tells the 
tale of an executive named Shigeharu Aoyama whose wife died, forcing him to 
raise his son alone. In a way, both Aoyama and his son(Shigehiko) are 
otakus. Shigeharu likes to fish more than meet new people; and Shigehiko 
likes to learn about dinosaurs, more than make new friends.

Unfortunately, the void left over by Shigeharu's wife is clearly felt. 
Shigeharu is lonely, and doesn't exactly have the expertise to teach his son 
about relationships with women. [His son seems to be more interested in 
dissecting fish, and learning about internal female anatomy(such as ovaries) 
than he is in talking to girls. And Shigeharu has no one to come home to.]  
So Shigeharu decides to get a wife: one who has traits similar to a geisha, 
in the sense that he wants someone who can entertain him. But uncertain how 
to find a prospective mate, he consults a friend in the movie industry who 
suggests that they throw a fake audition for a female part in an upcoming 
movie. The girl who "loses" the part is the one he should pick. [If I said 
how she "loses", I'd be revealing one of the best lines of the movie. So 
you'll just have to see it for yourself.]

Now right off the bat, you might be decrying Shigeharu as a manipulating 
chauvinist for taking advatange of the intentions of unknowing women. But in 
truth, he's really a romantic monogamist. When he's looking up pictures of 
prospective women, he feels guilty about even the photo of his dead wife 
facing towards at him; so he turns the photo around, so she's not "looking" 
at him. And he could easily gallavant around with women who have less moral 
fiber than his wife. But he looks for a woman who he can respect. Someone 
who's his social equal.

And he(theoretically) finds her at the casting call. Asami Yamazaki is an 
ex-ballerina who's aspiring to have some kind of career in entertainment. 
[She says she's connected to a record company.] Having first seen her 
picture, Shigeharu is instantly smitten with her, and doesn't bother with 
any formalities in asking her out. Gradually, he becomes too close to Asami, 
and they end up having a one-night stand, much to Shigeharu's disdain. 
Shigeharu then searches the locations she mentioned, and slowly uncovers her 
disturbing past which leads to a morbid(not to mention violent) reunion with 
Asami.

Now, initially, based on other reviews, I thought I'd be seeing a film that 
would be what you get when you crossed "Fatal Attraction" with "Faces of 
Death". But unfortunately, it was more like "Perfect Blue" in reverse. [I.E. 
the female protagonist is the stalker, and the male protagonist is the 
victim in Audition.] In fact, Miike often borrows Satoshi Kon's style, by 
using similar dream sequences to try to confuse you about what's real. 
Moreover, other critics have noted that the movie is calm at first, and 
shocking at the end. Frankly, I felt that the film was disturbing from 
beginning to end. I mean when your son describes to you the anatomy of a 
fish you're eating for dinner, wouldn't YOU be concerned?! Plus Asami tends 
to look away a lot, making you KNOW she's hiding something.

Finally, people told me that the last scene was so disgusting, you'd have to 
have a strong stomach to handle it. After seeing the movie I would have to 
say it was actually very disappointing. First off, the body parts looked 
really fake. They look like they belonged to a mannequin, not a human being! 
Maybe I'm just spoiled by a lot of gore in Troma movies, but I wasn't 
impressed.[And apparently neither was the audience, since a few people were 
laughing more than gasping.] Also, the blood looked more like paint than 
blood. At times, it even looked more like a translucent dye than anything 
authentic.

Second of all, like comedy, there's a general rule that can be applied to 
horror: timing is EVERYTHING. Without actually ruining the violent 
scenes-for those who want to still see the movie-the camera tends to linger 
too long on Asami before she attacks Shigeharu. [A good horror film speeds 
up the actual act of violence, and slows down the effect of that act. That 
way, the audience is "surprised".]  And she doesn't take herself seriously 
enough for me to be scared. Asami's playful to the point that she becomes 
one-dimensional and a cliche. She talks too much about her physical and 
emotional scars. She never really shows any rage or agression. If I wanted a 
serial killer to have "feelings", I'd see "Scream"! And Shigehoki asking his 
dad if he was ok at the end only added to the absurdity of the movie, and 
the comedy of those scenes.

On the positive, the characters were people you could relate to. Not 
samurai, not yakuza, but ordinary middle and working-class people. And the 
acting in the film is pretty good, up until that disappointing climax. I 
don't get bored, and I find the film easy to keep up with. Plus the use of 
dim lighting really enhances the drama. And the makeup artist did an 
excellent job on depicting hideous deformities. So it wasn't a total loss.

Overall,then, I would consider Audition a film that has excellent use of 
suspense, but a wretched pay-off. I'm sure people who've seen less gory 
films than myself will probably be more shocked. But I personally
find it rather ordinary.