I know there are other threads about this horror movie, because the SDMB is how I heard about it in the first place, but I can’t find the other threads now. Anyway, I just saw it last night and I’m perplexed.
My basic question is: is there anything more to it than just the lurid horror movie? Granted, it’s got the single most horrible scene I’ve ever seen in any movie, ever (when we see what comes out of Asami’s bag).
And I’m not a horror film connosieur or anything, but I’ve gotten to expect a few layers to them. Silence of the Lambs gives you all the gruesome horror stuff, but is also a character study of Starling and Lecter. The Shining is a modernization of the haunted house story and is also an allegory about alcoholism. The Exorcist has all the crucifix masturbation and vomiting and such, but also talks about religion and faith and hopelessness. And The Ring (the original) is a modern combination of urban legend and Japanese folklore, with a message about child abuse and abandonment thrown in.
Audition starts out as if it’s going to be a psychological suspense story, but then it just seems to devolve into… torture. Really graphic and lengthy depictions of torture. (I’m really just guessing about the “lengthy” part, because I fast-forwarded through the final 15 minutes or so, then rewound it and played through again with my hand over everything except the subtitles.)
I thought it was going to be about loneliness, but it didn’t say much other than “don’t be lonely or this could happen to you.” I thought it was going to be about the objectification of women, but a lot of screen time goes into pointing out how Aoyama chooses Asami because of her essay, not just her picture.
So did I miss some subtext or something? Or am I missing the point – it’s just supposed to be a graphic, lurid horror movie and nothing more?
I just saw it too and was also less than impressed. yeah, it was creepy, but that was about it. I also saw Jacob’s Ladder around the same time too which I thought was a great psychological horror/mystery.
I think the movie exists predominantly as an exercise in lurid horror although it does try (not too successfully imho) to address the issue of loneliness. It also turns the stereotypical view of Japanese women being subserviant upside down.
I didn’t know it was a horror movie when I saw it. It probably had an effect on me because as the story progresses it shifts from romantic comedy to detective story to lurid horror in a way I’d never seen before.
I don’t believe loniless was the main theme that Miike was working on, but more about the treatment of women in Japanese society. (Note how the protagonist has a secretary/underling who he’d slept with and then treats like she doesn’t exist.)
Right. Even though we think he’s been a nice guy throughout, he’s never really paid attention to what Asami has been saying… the key is in the flashback scenes to their dinner right near the end.
Leechboy has it about right. I think of Audition as Oleanna plus blood.
Ah. Well, that’s it. I can’t believe I missed it. He believes (and by extension, the audience infers) that he’s basically a lonely guy who’s still showing more depth than his creepy producer friend and all his sex questions. But in fact, Aoyami doesn’t care about Asami herself, he just wants her to fill the role of his dead ex-wife. That’s actually kind of subtle, for a movie with so much garrotting.
I knew it was a horror movie from the start, both because of the mentions on this message board and because the DVD cover has a creepy picture of Asami holding a long hypodermic needle, not something you typically see on a romantic comedy. (Plus, the DVD menus have all the creepy Ring-like video static stuff that let you know it’s a scary movie.) I’d seen the flashbacks at the end, but figured that they were just cheap director’s tricks, like the “It was all just a dream… OR WAS IT?” bit. I thought it was just withholding information from the audience until the end – instead, it was Aoyami remembering that he hadn’t really been listening to what he was saying, or rather that he’d only been hearing what he wanted to hear.
The same with the secretary character. I thought she was just there to further the whole miserable, lonely, nihilistic feel of the movie, and to show just how obsessed Aoyami was – in effect, she was the equivalent of Barbara Bel Geddes’ character in Vertigo. In fact, she was another example of how selfish he’d been. It didn’t occur to me that they’d he’d slept with her and then neglected her. In retrospect, she comes right out and says that in a flashback at the end, doesn’t she? I was too busy fast-forwarding and holding my hands over my eyes, I guess.
So I still wouldn’t say that I like the movie, but I have a good bit more respect for it now.