Time for a soap opera. I'm being glib but I suppose in some ways it's true, at least for a while. Takashi Miike's monolithic body of work is known for the extreme horror scenes, as well as its melodramatic moments. Some of it's even family friendly after all. However nothing quite mixes these two modes together like this story of lonely widowers and troubled ballet students. Which at least on the surface is a fair synopsis. This is a film that aims to shock after all, so if you're not familiar with it I'll try and avoid too many details. Like some of the moments in Gozu or Visitor Q this is tale of sudden gear shifts and strange goings on, with are always best enjoyed fresh. Well I say enjoyed, perhaps that's the wrong word. It's an experience. But it's certainly an unforgettable one.
In many ways this is a kind of comfort food to fans of extreme cinema. When done right it still manages to be a stomach churning experience but somehow it feels quite cosy at the same time. At the turn of the millennium these kinds of films had started to appear on Western shores, with a variety of niche home video labels appearing to help supply horror junkies with something new. Re-watching Audition now it's like slipping into a comfy shirt but remembering a bad night out it was worn on... it's familiar and reassuring even though the approaching bait and switch is a familiar conclusion. There might be a lot of bizarre and gruesome moments in store, but it's done with a sense of glee. However, for new viewers that have avoided the details of this story I won't spoil the ride.
The films opens with tragedy as Ryoko (Miyuki Matsuda) dies in a hospital bed. Her husband Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi) doesn't think about having another partner until several years later when his son Shigehiko, now a teenager, (Tetsu Sawaki) thinks he should try and find romance. But nothing about this is straightforward, and his father has some weird ideas about dating. There's clearly something awkward going on with his secretary and his plan to find a new wife involves a scam orchestrated by his best friend, television executive Yasuhisa (Jun Kunimura). As things progress it's clear that something is off despite the overtones of a drama about an older man trying to rediscover love. There are a lot of masks being worn whether the players acknowledge their deception or not.
Yasuhisa is apparently fine with using his position and his company resources this way until Shigeharu actively becomes involved in the titular audition. After sifting through all the applications for a 'leading lady' and examining their suitability for the part he has in mind, only one stands out. Asami (Eihi Shiina) immediately makes an impression, one that is strengthened when they meet face to face. Yasuhisa feels that something is odd about her personality and her references, but his friend is already smitten. In a dumb romantic comedy all of this might be perfectly normal, the sort of paper thin plot nobody ever overthinks. But here there's a creeping sense of unease even during the first half of the story when things seem normal.
The really interesting parts come along when they start dating to discuss the phoney role, and the whole thing slowly goes off the rails. There's a distinct clash of styles as the romance and the horror start to merge, not only because of the narrative but the way it's executed. There are some masterful film making moments involving both the look of the lighting and the sound design, particularly when new characters are introduced. At first it's subtle when certain moments slip into dream like sequences, with camera angles and colours morphing the genre. But then there are strange cloth bags and mystery telephones signalling that the nightmare is only just beginning. An old dance and piano teacher (Renji Ishibashi) in particular shows up to completely smash the pretence of this being a story about mismatched lovers.
In this way it manages to be story that covers a lot of themes, whether it's taken as a film about guilt, objectifying women, abuse survivors, revenge, or simply lonely people that spend too much time away from their families. The original book is said to be about as clunky as the psychiatrist at the end of Psycho, but Miike's screen adaptation is far more vague and sinister. Do the victims of violence deserve what they get or are they just pathetic frauds? The conclusions drawn will depend on which character you feel is the true protagonist. Or the true villain. It's never quite as mystifying as the end of Ichi the Killer, but it's effective because of all the subtle story moments. But nobody will disagree that the results still harrowing even when a lot of the most gruelling imagery is off screen.
As a whole the film is never as disjointed as the two disparate storylines and the respective genres should be, and that in itself is quite an accomplishment. Fans will argue over which is his best film, but this is certainly a contender. It's a sad tale of trauma and grief, and yet at the same time a traumatising horror experience. In some ways it's a perfect parody of the soap opera, one that becomes more twisted and cracked as things progress. Whether you feel it's a film that robs you of some of your own innocence will depend in your level of desensitisation of course. Maybe you'll feel as betrayed as some of the characters, or maybe you'll come back for more. The central mystery can never be seen the same way twice, but it's a story which offers a lot of food for thought... if you can hold it down.
4/5
