The latest movie from Dario Argento, the master of the giallo film, is called, perhaps unsurprisingly, Giallo. Perhaps influenced by the self-referential Tarantino/Rodriguez movie Grindhouse, Giallo is another film named after an exploitation genre. What IS somewhat surprising, however, is that Giallo isn't really a giallo at all. Argento seems to have instead opted to have a go at the sub-genre known as torture porn. This is a bit perverse from a man whose output has been made up almost exclusively of gialli, or at the very least non-giallo movies that retain many of the conventions of the genre, i.e. the mystery killer attacks of the supernatural horror films Suspiria and Inferno. So it may seem like a joke on the director's part that Giallo isn't a giallo. Why doesn't it fit into the genre? Well, the main reason is the fact that the killer's identity is revealed early in the film; gialli can vary greatly in content and style but the one thing they must retain is an element of mystery and this film abandons that early on. Instead the film adopts the approach of the torture porn sub-genre, of films like Hostel, dwelling as it does in scenes of torture rather than murder set-pieces. This extends to the grungy and grimy look and colour scheme; we don't have the rich, vibrant colours of Argento of old, or the inventive camera-work that he was once famous for. Giallo is quite an ugly looking film, fitting perhaps as the title villain (Yellow/Giallo) is one ugly dude; he looks a bit like the bastard child of Carlos Puyol and Mark Knopfler, only much, much worse. He is very repellent but I, for one, much prefer Argento's androgynous black leather clad maniacs of old. I also preferred their HINT of sexual deviancy, as opposed to the spectacle of Yellow masturbating in front of his laptop to images of bloodied women. Too much Dario, too much...
For those of you hoping for a homage to Argento's gialli classics of old, I have to sadly say this is not it. I have read that Argento was actually a director for hire in this movie and that would not surprise me as the feeling I had watching this was that the director wasn't entirely giving his all in this film. It all seems a bit half-hearted. And that extends to the acting performances too, which are a bit stiff throughout. Although I don't see much point in saying too much about this as its par for the course with Argento movies, his scripts and direction of actors have been notoriously uneven throughout his career. However, the same cannot be said of the soundtracks in his previous films, the music from the likes of Deep Red and Suspiria is legendary. Here, sadly, the score is a bit uninspired. Not bad exactly, just unmemorable and workmanlike. The look of the film too is very pedestrian. Sadly, not very Italian looking.
On the plus side it's briskly paced and is never actually boring. And some of the unintentional silliness is really quite enjoyable if you approach it with the right frame of mind. The flash-back scene near the end of the film had some people in the audience at the screening I attended in absolute hysterics, although, in fairness, this is not something that will necessarily surprise Argentophiles, as much of his output does contain a fair bit of daftness. It has to be said that Adrien Brody does put in a very hammy performance as the cop, which is almost in Frank Drebin territory. Although some of the humour was surely intentional too, the scene where the coroner and Brody light up cigarettes over the corpse was hysterical. I suspect there cannot be a smoking ban in effect in Italy. Of additional note is the rather strange ending. I won't describe it but it does seem really wrong, and dare I say it, pointless, I will leave you to be the judge of this for yourself though.
Sadly, I don't think Giallo is going to kick-start the moribund Italian film industry into producing superior horror and thriller films. It isn't really a return to form for the director either. But, ultimately, perhaps last night's audience reaction wasn't too far off the mark. There was quite a bit of laughter at some of the sillier scenes, however, at the end there was a round of applause. And I must admit I joined in too because despite the myriad of faults in this latest Argento offering, I did quite enjoy myself.
For those of you hoping for a homage to Argento's gialli classics of old, I have to sadly say this is not it. I have read that Argento was actually a director for hire in this movie and that would not surprise me as the feeling I had watching this was that the director wasn't entirely giving his all in this film. It all seems a bit half-hearted. And that extends to the acting performances too, which are a bit stiff throughout. Although I don't see much point in saying too much about this as its par for the course with Argento movies, his scripts and direction of actors have been notoriously uneven throughout his career. However, the same cannot be said of the soundtracks in his previous films, the music from the likes of Deep Red and Suspiria is legendary. Here, sadly, the score is a bit uninspired. Not bad exactly, just unmemorable and workmanlike. The look of the film too is very pedestrian. Sadly, not very Italian looking.
On the plus side it's briskly paced and is never actually boring. And some of the unintentional silliness is really quite enjoyable if you approach it with the right frame of mind. The flash-back scene near the end of the film had some people in the audience at the screening I attended in absolute hysterics, although, in fairness, this is not something that will necessarily surprise Argentophiles, as much of his output does contain a fair bit of daftness. It has to be said that Adrien Brody does put in a very hammy performance as the cop, which is almost in Frank Drebin territory. Although some of the humour was surely intentional too, the scene where the coroner and Brody light up cigarettes over the corpse was hysterical. I suspect there cannot be a smoking ban in effect in Italy. Of additional note is the rather strange ending. I won't describe it but it does seem really wrong, and dare I say it, pointless, I will leave you to be the judge of this for yourself though.
Sadly, I don't think Giallo is going to kick-start the moribund Italian film industry into producing superior horror and thriller films. It isn't really a return to form for the director either. But, ultimately, perhaps last night's audience reaction wasn't too far off the mark. There was quite a bit of laughter at some of the sillier scenes, however, at the end there was a round of applause. And I must admit I joined in too because despite the myriad of faults in this latest Argento offering, I did quite enjoy myself.