Before going into this, I was under the assumption that it was a horror film. Well, this ain’t a horror, this is a weird, psycho-thriller with a horrific ending.
Audition is a Japanese movie that has since achieved ‘cult’ status amongst horror circles. The BBC’s Mark Kermode, a self-proclaimed horror fanatic, labelled it one of his favourite horrors of all time. (I’m sticking to the fact that this isn’t a horror though – still a thriller for me). It tells the story of a man who has recently lost his wife to an illness. As he works in the film and TV business, his business partner suggests they ‘audition’ girls for a part in a new movie they’re making, but it should all be a ruse to find him a new beau.
It’s a slow burn of a film, and it starts out pretty slow in an effort to build a certain tension. For the most part, director Takashi Miike (also known for his other cult hit, Ichi the Killer) achieves that sense of anxiety in spades. My gripe with it was that there was a lot of build-up that led to a relatively short, not all that shocking pay off in my opinion. Yeah, the climax was gruesome, but was it scary? No. Was it the world’s worst way to die? Quite possibly. Chilling it certainly was, but after waiting the whole movie for it, I expected more.
What is extremely enjoyable her are the actual auditions sequences, which made it feel very romcom-esque. The music, the way women were shipped in and out as if part of a cattle market; it was all very firmly in one genre basket before leaping into the creepy thriller part of it. Perhaps if I didn’t know the true genre beforehand I’d have felt differently about the movie as a whole? But probably not, I won’t lie.
All of the performances in this were very good, and it’s a very well made movie… but there were just too many loose ends. Maybe it was left like that on purpose but I personally hate it when they leave things open to interpretation. You know like the way Inception is basically a perfect movie but then there’s that ending? Yeah, this is like that. Some people obviously enjoy that sort of thing though, so I’m sure there are thousands of viewers who would disagree. But again, this is just personal preference.
Takashi Miike does prove that a ‘horror’ movie can have some brilliant cinematography in it at least, and I can’t fault the technical achievements he aimed for here.
Would I watch it again? No. Would I recommend it? Depends who you are. This is a very particular movie for a very particular audience.
Audition is available to stream on the BFI Player.
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