Audition is notorious for its change of register, its movement from quiet romance setup to extremely intimate scenes of torture. At some early screenings, audiences don’t seem to have known that they were headed for horror at all. Was there a moment when you felt the film shift? When was it? Why did you choose that scene? If you never felt a shift, why not?
18 thoughts on “Audition 1”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I agree with a lot of my peers in that the shift is most noticeable during the phone call scene. I think what makes this so effective was the jump cut. The previous scene was extremely short and with the contrast of the next scene being uncomfortably long, it created this feeling of suspense. The framing also added to the horror because we are so up close and personal with the character, yet because we can’t see her eyes it creates a sense of uneasiness instead of closeness. I think there are more obvious shifts later in the movie as far as the narrative, but I think this scene hints at what’s to come with the actual style of editing creating a shift.
I started felling a shift when Asumi and Aoyamma were on their date in the café in public. When watching it there were parts that the scenes seemed to jump and cut. I thought I imagined it or it have been a technical issue until I saw the background and noticed that the two characters were the last one’s there. Aside from that the afternoon seemed to have changed to the early evening. This indicated that at some point we would return to this scene and we dis since it revealed Asumi’s backstory. At this point this editing technique intrigued me as before when Aoyamma was calling Asumi she was hunched in a very creepy way staring at the phone waiting for him to call her and when be did she gave a smile.
I agree with Clyde – the phone call was one of the first marks of a shift towards horror. It is clear that Asami’s one and only goal is to wait for the phone call. She sits on the floor of her humble apartment, waiting for what she knew was coming. She is hunched over, her face shadowed, her expression relatively blank but dark. Not only is she like a predator after its prey as Clyde stated – but she is not the type of predator that necessarily chases its prey down. She is there sitting and waiting for what she knows is coming. She is not an anxious woman waiting for someone she likes or wants to out with to call. Her smile once the phone rings is not one of someone who is happy to talk to someone she cares about. She seems cold and calculated – it is much more a smile of satisfaction that Aoyama has falled into her trap in the way she knew (somehow) that he would. As if the scene is not dark enough, the body bag shifts once the phone rings. It is clear that someone or something is inside, and that Asami is the one in control. She knows she is the one in control.
I also noticed that the closeness felt uncomfortable. Oftentimes, a closeup will show the emotions of a character, but in this sense it exploits the lack thereof, as if we are looking for something in the frame.
The noticeable shift in tone reached me when Asami is completely alone. There is complete silence surrounding her, yet there is a noticeable bag creeping around the background. The tone of her character totally shifts here; from a delicate, docile woman she is transformed into something that maybe we should not trust as previously assumed. Her behaviour in the scene is a complete shift from the built-trust I had watching earlier scenes. Instead of being calm or at rest, the scene is disturbingly quiet… This manifests in her creeping smile which is hidden behind her hair. This felt like a significant shot: as though her hair represented the false trust I had placed in her character and the smile behind it marking her true being. The bag moving around was also terrifying. I went from seeing her as a soft character who had experienced hardships to villain arc…
I think the key shift in the feeling of the movie for me occurred when Asami was waiting for a phone call in her home. Before this scene, I could see a few glimpses of this film going in a dark direction. However, for most of the first hour it is fairly lighthearted. Especially the scene where they are holding auditions. This scene in particular feels like if it was in a different film it would be setting up a cute meeting scene in a romantic comedy. Once we are at the scene where Asami is waiting for the phone call, however, I knew the plot was turning very dark. The way the camera focuses on her crouched body and zooms in on her spine combined with the eerie lighting and bare room is really unsettling. The abrupt ring of the phone combined with the person in the body bag moving abruptly was definitely a jump scare for me and put me on the edge of my seat for the rest of the film. After this the film once again seems to be treading in a lighter manner. However, once the film gets to the scene where they are in the old ballet studio with the old man in the wheelchair going back and forth between laughing creepily and pausing to talk in a serious tone, I knew there weren’t going to be more calming scenes. This scene marked the beginning of a quick escalation of violence and horror in the film.
The significant shift for me occurs when Asami is sitting in the room waiting for a phone call with a body bag nearby. The camera captures her from a side angle, casting a shadow over her face and with her hair completely down, which reminds me of the girl from another Japanese movie, “The Ring.” This scene gives me the impression of a predator awaiting its prey. She anticipated the call, and sure enough, he called, which brought a smile to her face. This moment represents a drastic change in dynamics from the earlier part of the movie, where Asami was portrayed as an innocent, humble figure, unaware of Aoyama’s intentions, to now preying on Aoyama. This eerie feeling reminds me of a line from the Discovery Channel I watched “The most sophisticated hunters often appear in the guise of prey.”
The eerie feeling also surfaces when Aoyama’s colleague warns him about the dangers of Asami and her lies about her past.
I find it interesting to read other people’s comments and see that many felt eerie starting from the audition scene, influenced by Asami’s behavior, posture, and manner of speaking. However, to me, it seemed normal. Asami’s behavior—her over-shyness and habit of keeping her head down when speaking—appears just like that of an educated, humble, ordinary girl typical of the culture I come from. Just an interesting observation.
Early on in the film, it felt like a romance film. For example, the bright, jazzy music during the audition scene made the audience feel comfortable and relaxed. However, the film started to reveal minor signs to the audience that this film is not inherently about romance. For instance, the jazzy music suddenly stopped when Asami Yamazaki stepped into the audition, and how the camera slowly zoomed into Shigeharu and the film producer was a moment I felt a slight shift in the film. However, the moment where the film clearly shifts to horror is the phone call scene where Asami gives a creepy smirk when she finally receives a call from Shigeharu while sitting in a dimly lit living room where there is a mysterious large burlap bag placed in front of her. I personally think the chilling setting of the Asami’s living room and her smirk was what shifted the movie from romance to horror.
Early on in the film, it felt like a romance film. For example, the bright, jazzy music during the audition scene made the audience feel comfortable and relaxed. However, the film started to reveal minor signs to the audience that this film is not inherently about romance. For instance, the jazzy music suddenly stopped when Yamasaki stepped into the audition, and how the camera slowly zoomed into Shigehara and the film producer was a moment I felt a slight shift in the film. However, the moment where the film clearly shifts to horror is the phone call scene where Yamasaki gives a creepy smirk when she finally receives a call from Shigehara while sitting in a dimly lit living room where there is a mysterious large burlap bag placed in front of her. I personally think the chilling setting of the Yamasaki’s living room and her smirk was what shifted the movie from romance to horror.
To me, there was a tangible shift in tone at the villa. While there was the scene with the person in the burlap sack and her hunched over the phone, I think that it could have been written off as some fantasy or dream inlcuded for artistic appeal, since everything continues as normal afterward for a while longer. The real descent downhill begins when Asami rolls over Aoyama, then he wakes up with no recollection of what had happened. It was as if he had been roofied and robbed of his wallet. Compounded with the conext clues of her fabricated story, this shift is confirmed to be in motion with no turning back when Aoyama goes to the bar where she ‘worked’. That, or when Aoyama went to the ballet studio, I forget which was first
Because I came into the film knowing that it was a horror movie, I was more alert for red flags and on the lookout for an eerie feeling. I think the first time I sensed that something was off with Asami was when she was sitting in the audition room. She stood out from the rest of the women and something about her dark hair against her all-white clothing was unsettling. If I hadn’t known that this was a horror movie, I think I would’ve definitely felt the shift when the camera switched to her sitting alone on the ground of her apartment next to a body bag.
However, the way Asami was presented even after that eerie scene of her in her apartment made me feel like the movie was still a romcom, where Asami was the perfect, innocent sweet girl going on dates with Aoyama. I think this may be because there are two shifts: one through the audience’s point of view and one through the protagonist’s point of view. In the beginning, the audience knows that there’s something off with Asami, but Aoyama has a delusion of her that keeps the romcom narrative going for the majority of the movie. It’s hard to pinpoint where exactly his shift is but I think his overall realization at the end of the movie that Aoyama is not this perfect girl is when the narrative turns to extreme violence.
The change in register was particularly noticeable during her audition. I think her shy nature was especially different from that of other women who partook in the audition process because she was meek but had a mysterious and darker demeanor than the other women, this tone is partially set by the content of her essay. I think that her creepiness touches upon some of the discussions we had in the beginning of the semester regarding uncanniness. She is 100% without a doubt, uncanny — her facial expressions and her interaction with the men is not a comfortable experience because while she is clearly human, she seems out of touch with human experience or feeling maybe. I think another layer of the vibe shift in this film is her appearance too. She is dressed in mostly white every time we see her (except her overcoats, maybe that means something but I don’t know) and her hair is long, straight, and black. Her image is aligned with the Japanese depiction of ghosts, which can sometimes be vengeful spirits motivated by great feelings of jealousy (among other things). While I’m not super familiar with how they are represented in film, I am aware of their presence in pop-culture and art.
I felt the film begin to shift when it was revealed that her supposed manager had been missing for 18 months. This was the point where I began to realize that she was up to something, but I obviously had no idea of the depths to which the movie would descend. Even through this marked the moment in which I realized something was wrong, I don’t think it would have been enough for me to identify this as a horror movie without the context I had. Its status as a horror movie slowly became clear, though, with the repeated shots of her crouched in her apartment awaiting his phone calls.
This may be an early shift, but I really do think something started to shift for me as early as when Asami walked into the audition room. From the very start, she is very reminiscent of a ghost-like spirit so a bit of unease starts to build there. However I think when Aoyama was talking to her about what she wrote in her essay is when I started to feel strange and like I could tell the movie was starting to lean into the horror. At this point I couldn’t fully tell which of the two was supposed to be the aggressor and who would be the victim, but there was definitely significant unease growing. Something about him relaying her thoughts about life and death really unsettled me, even though it seemed to be presented in a way that was supposed to show him falling in love. The actual audition happened fairly early in the film, but there was still a lot of buildup to this point so it definitely made things feel differently. This unease shifted towards actually knowing more of what the dynamic between Asami and Aoyama was when we got the shot of her alone in her apartment with the phone and the large burlap sack. She is positioned in such a strange, distinct way that it becomes clear that something dangerous is coming with this woman. Maybe I felt the shift so early because I knew it was going to be a pretty hard to watch horror film, even without knowing anything that was going to happen. It did really feel like quite a visceral shift even from the first moment they were in the same room.
I have to agree with this. The cinematography gave us many hints before the horror really started to take place. She received a very different introduction than the other women walking in for the audition. The camera started far away, stayed far away, and it felt like we were waiting for her. She moved very slowly and stayed very still. The camera mimicked this. We see the back of her more than we see the front of her, making her feel like a prop rather than an active participant in the scene. When we do start to see her face, she has a very flat affect and even blinks extremely slowly. Everything about her is eerie and uncanny, causing lots of discomfort for those in the audience, and creating a small tonal shift.
The noticeable shift in tone, for me, was the cut to the scene of the body bag, Asami hunched over uncannily, and the telephone. At this point, the friend’s foreshadowing of something being sinister about Asami is made concrete for me. It seemed clear at that point that she was a serial killer or something.
She waits by the phone for his call so scarily. The framing of that shot, and the one soon to follow where the bag flops around were terrifying in their own right. The closeup on her smile was as well.
At this point, it seems certain that Aoyoma will be her victim.
Everything after this is so clearly tinged with horror, even when it switches back to a romantic theme after. During their dinner, there are still consistently ominous moments
When they go away together I felt certain that Aoyoma would not return.
The whole seduction thing is super eerie, despite the continued romance music playing in the background.
“Please love me, only me” is scary when repeated because this seduction stuff is all taking place in the context of her definitely being dangerous.
I was surprised that he survived the night.
I was even more surprised he survived the movie with only partial disfigurement. It felt like a twist ending because there was, prior to Asami’s fall, no escape for Aoyoma. This felt true from that first scene of Asami sitting in the room with the bag and the phone. All the plot-development, visuals and backstory that followed, while elaborating on Asami and Aoyoma as characters, did not, to me, change the seeming inevitability of Aoyoma’s fate at the hands of Asami.
In Audition, the shift from a quiet romantic setup to horror becomes most apparent when Asami is shown sitting alone in her empty apartment, silently waiting by the telephone and with a mysterious sack lying in the background. Until this scene, Asami presented herself as a delicate and soft-spoken young woman. This gentle demeanor, along with references to her difficult past, draws both Aoyama and the audience into a false sense of intimacy and trust – making it impossible to suspect any darkness or corruption in her character. However, this scene, along with Asami’s behavior in it, directly contrasts the gentle tone that the film previously established. In addition to the stillness of her apartment, which comes across as deeply unsettling, Asami bends her head down and stares at the phone with a blank expression. As her hair partially obscures her face, revealing only a glimpse of a devious smile, viewers can’t help but feel that something deeply horrible will happen. In addition, her intense focus on the telephone makes her stare feel disturbingly unnatural. At this moment, Asami isn’t merely longing for Aoyama – instead, she demonstrates a creepy fixation and obsessive anticipation for his call. The large sack in the back further shifts the film from romance to horror. Its mysterious presence not only leaves viewers feeling uneasy about its purpose, but also raises disturbing questions about Asami herself – why does she have such a strange object in her home and why does she not react to it? The tension surrounding the sack reaches an all-time high when it suddenly starts moving, revealing that someone is trapped inside. Visual cues are not the only element creating a shift from romance to horror – the sense of dread is also heightened by sound. During this particular scene, there is a subtle change in the film’s music (rather than playing a romantic melody, it shifts to a constant and horrifying droning sound).
On one hand, I’m glad we were given something of a trigger warning because that movie genuinely almost made me throw up. On the other hand, I think seeing this movie with no warning and entirely outside of a horror class would have been a genuinely iconic experience. This movie’s first 90 minutes set up a romantic drama, though there are flashes of something else, those flashes are so short they feel almost forgettable. For me, the biggest shift was the moment Asami leaned forward on the needles in Aoyama’s stomach. I think because that movement from her was not just sadistic but also mocking. She took what would, in most other contexts, be an erotic moment, and made it absolutely horrifying. Scenes before that one had a “this could be just a dream” or “he could be just imagining” or “she could have her reasons” or “what is even happening” but that particular moment, where she leans on the needles was the big shift for me.