"Audition" (1999)

(Originally released as Odishon)

Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi

First, the lowdown: A lonely widower gets more than he bargains for when he holds auditions for a new girlfriend.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love the Japanese ability to turn up the WTF factor in cinema. But before I get further into that, I’m going to divert a little bit. It’s not easy being a single guy, especially if you’re over 35. Most people consider the middle-aged to be more paternal than attractive, plus usually by that age you’re long since settled into whatever survival routine you developed early on. We live in a society where youth is king (but not king enough to be trusted to do anything on it’s own, apparently), so it’s of little surprise that people tend to look at 30 and 40 as being “old”.

In a hospital room a man, Shigeharu, pleads for the life of his ailing wife, Ryuko. The doctors can do nothing however, and the woman expires on her bed just as their son, Shigehiko enters to wish his mother well.

Fast forward seven years. Shigeharu and Shigehiko have since recovered from Ryuko’s death and are back into a normal routine. Shigeharu, however, is starting to feel the emptiness of singledom. In a bar he explains his frustrations to his friend, Yasuhisa, who works in the same television production company as Shigeharu. Yasuhisa comes up with an idea, however: a production is coming up that needs a female lead, so he suggests Shigeharu pick through the slush-pile of resumes and help with the interview process. While scanning through the resumes a background story catches his eye. The applicant, Asami, had devoted 12 years of her life to ballet, only to injure her hip before she could attend a London dance academy. Her life’s dream shattered, Asami has been dedicating her life to staying alive.

After an amusing audition sequence, we finally get to see Asami in person. Shigeharu is immediately smitten by the soft-spoken woman and eager to talk with her. Yasuhisa, however is uncertain, something about the girl doesn’t seem right to him. Ignoring Yasuhisa, Shigeharu sets up a date with Asami. The day of the meeting, Yasuhisa tells him that the record company Asami being connected with has never heard of her. What’s more, the producer for that company Asami referred to has been missing for a year. Shigeharu is still infatuated and dismisses it. The date is a success, and further ones are arranged, but the more contact he has with Asami the more things start to appear out of place with her.

Now, by this point you’re probably wondering where the WTF factor kicks in for this film. It occurs pretty abruptly, so much so that I’m not going to go into too much detail. I know that I’ve spoiled the ending for many a movie here before (mainly because I’m trying to warn you against them), but as queasy as parts of this flick made me, I was far too compelled to watch than to look away. What I will say is that the last 20-odd minutes are something that David Lynch would be proud of (with a John Waters-like nod thrown in).

Line of the movie: “Words create lies. Pain can be trusted.”

Five stars. Please recycle.