AUDITION A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): 1/2
Pointless and painful, very painful.
Takashi Miike's AUDITION (ODISHON) is divided into two distinct halves. The first is such an easy going and tentative romance that it would be hard to stay awake were it not for the hint of intrigue. Specifically, who or what is in that body-sized bag in Asami Yamazaki's (Eihi Shiina) sparse bedroom?
Then there is the second half, which has the dubious distinction of being the movie that kept my eyes off of the screen for the longest amount of time ever. And since this was a subtitled film it meant that I was forced to miss much of the dialog. If this part has any redeeming merit, it may make you appreciate your feet more. You'll be happy that they're still attached and that no ghoul has slowly and painfully severed them from your legs. Other directors might spare us some of AUDITION's needless gore, but not Takashi Miike. He pulls his camera in close in order to make us look away or barf. Watching this painful movie is like having to endure an especially sadistic fraternity hazing.
The plot concerns a middle-age director, Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), who auditions young women, looking primarily for a wife but ostensibly for an actress to be in a film, which may or may not ever get off the ground. The first time he sees Asami's picture, he falls in love with her. The 24-year-old Asami has perfect creamy skin, long flowing black hair and the slenderness of a professional model. In the audition he learns that she was a ballerina who had to give up her passion after injuring her hip. This loss of her life's vocation is like death to her. Later he describes why he is so infatuated with her. It is because she is so "beautiful, classy and obedient." One of these attributes will be seriously called into question in the second half of the story.
With shades of FATAL ATTRACTION, Asami's one demand of Aoyama is, "Please love me. Only me. Okay?" From there the story rapidly moves from one disgusting scene to another. You'll feel like begging for mercy and be praying for the ending credits to put you and poor Aoyama out of your collective misery.
AUDITION runs oh-so-painfully long at 1:55. The film is in Japanese with English subtitles. It is not rated but would be NC-17 for pervasive, graphic violence.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 14, 2001. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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