A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
Only a few movies hit a special kind of cord in the horror genre of films that can’t be unseen. When most people think of the movies whose images have made a lasting imprint on them, they are usually movies of grand spectacle, magical moments, or iconic characters. Horror offers a special delicious and those are the moments that will never escape our mind no matter how hard we try. This can go as far back as the placing of Teri McMinn on the meathooks in “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” or as new to the telephone pole in “Hereditary.” But almost smack dab in the middle of those two examples enters “Audition.”
“Audition” is a film that would have been met with fire and torches if it was made in 2019. But thanks to Arrow Video this 1999 Japanese horror film, directed by Takashi Miike, is back on Blu-ray and looking as terrifying as ever.
The audience follows Shigeharu Aoyama, a widower, who has now been pushed by his son to start dating again. In his fear of being able to meet a viable new woman, Aoyama concocts with his film producer friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa to set up a fake movie audition for a big roll in Yoshikawa’s newest picture. The two use this audition as a sort of pre-Tindr filter to quickly rate and interview many different women. It is in this audition that Aoyama meets Asami, a quiet mysterious girl that quickly becomes the object of fascination for Aoyama. After a serious of grooming dates, Aoyama finds that Asami may be more mysterious and even dangerous than he thought. With unknown addresses, missing people in her past, and former teachers who are scared to even speak her name, Aoyama tries to figure out who Asami is before it’s too late.
While the film itself feels pretty tame to start despite the men’s degrading ploy, the biggest strength the film has is the genuine rollercoaster it takes the viewer on the movie goes from a standard drama to quiche comedy, to a romance, to a mystery, to a horror, to an action film all seamlessly without missing a beat. Miike is so careful about creating subtle moments between characters that the audience isn’t even aware something is coming up until it’s too late.
Each moment of the film is shot in such a stylized wide way that lingers on each character. Letting not just moments build, but reactions fester and resonate with an audience that allows the viewer not to feel as if they are watching two characters on screen but as if they are sitting right next to two real people in the booth next to them. This is then combined with the almost dreamlike flow between scenes and time that makes every moment feel grounded and surreal at the same time. This perfectly encapsulates the way Aoyama feels, in love for better or for worse.
This journey is one that feels like it’s constantly building, and at a certain point the viewer starts to wonder “where is this going?” And it’s in that very moment that the film reaches its climax with one of the most dreadful scenes one can endure. Just like the meathooks or the telephone pole, what occurs between Asami and Aoyama plays in real time and, like the rest of the film, makes you watch. The film forces you into the space and forces you to stare, frozen in the long takes at the dreadful events taking place.
As someone who consumes horrific content every day, it’s rare that a horror movie causes the reaction of needing to shut down the player and to never look back. Give it a watch, and see a movie that will never be able to make its way out of the back of your mind. That is if you can make it through the end.
Now available on a Special Edition Blu-ray from Arrow Video
