Audition

So, lately my boyfriend and I have been watching quite a few foreign horror movies. Audition is a J-Horror movie that is a strange combination of romance and thriller and drama and horror and even a little bit of comedy. Released in 1999, it had a record number of walk-outs at the Rotterdam Film Festival and even caused one viewer to faint and be sent to the emergency room because of it's shocking images and ideas.

Audition tells the story of a widower, Shigeharu, who is looking to remarry. One of his colleagues sets up a fake movie audition where the two man are truly looking for a woman for the widower to marry. Upon reviewing the resumes and interviewing the girls, Shigeharu takes an instant liking to a young woman named Asami. The two begin dating, but after learning of the strange deaths and disappearances of everybody connected to Asami, Shigeharu starts to realize she isn't who he believes her to be.

This movie is truly one of the most shocking movies I have ever seen. At the beginning, my boyfriend and I weren't even sure that we had gotten the right movie. Going into it, I knew Audition was a horror movie, but the beginning felt like a drama or a nice romance movie. However, there was something creepy about it the entire time. Maybe it was because I went into the movie knowing what Asami truly is, but it was very disturbing to see how sweet and romantic she appears to be in the beginning of the film. Ehih Shiina does a brilliant job portraying the psychopathic Asami, starting the role as a friendly and angelic sweetheart and transforming into the most merciless and terrifying killer to ever star in a horror film.

Because the movie is Japanese, I had to watch it using subtitles. I feel that I may have lost a little in translation, but the dialogue was still quite captivating. It truly works because it tells the terrifying story in bits in pieces that leave the viewer wondering what is really happening until the end of the film. And even now I'm still left wondering what the film actually means. I'm sure it all means something. And I believe it has to do with caging your emotions inside of you and how freeing it is to release them. I say this because of one key plot point: as a child Asami was sexually assaulted by her step father. *(Spoiler)*This abuse led to her losing her sanity which caused her to decapitate him with a piano string. And many of her other acts of violence were also caused by provocation. However, this does not excuse her from being considered a complete psychopath for many reasons, mainly the final scene.

When I read about the person who fainted at the screening of Audition I was positive that it happened during the final scene of the film. It was described by Rob Zombie as being one of the hardest things he's ever had to watch and made me, a gore-hound, flinch and close my eyes. I have never seen such raw and terrifying evil in a movie. Sweet, gentle Asami, with her angelic voice becomes a demonic evil who will terrify viewers for years to come. This may be a spoiler but because it has been ten years since the release of this film I feel that I can discuss the final scene. The final scene of the movie is a disgusting torture scene. Asami takes acupuncture needles and says that it has taken her forever to learn to make it hurt. Then she sticks the needles into Shigeharu's stomach and eye sockets. Then she takes a piano wire, and with the biggest smile on her face, she saws off Shigeharu's foot. It was the most terrifying, disturbing, and disgusting scene I have ever seen.

It took Audition a while to get good. To be honest, my boyfriend and I almost turned it off. But for some reason we decided to keep watching and I'm so glad that we did. The ending of Audition makes up for the boring hour and a half you have to watch before you get there. But be warned, this movie is NOT for the squeamish.

-H