ARGENTO DOUBLE FEATURE: Do you like Hitchcock? and GIALLO

 

ARGENTO DOUBLE FEATURE:

DO YOU LIKE HITCHCOCK? and GIALLO

I was really happy with DO YOU LIKE HITCHCOCK? (2005) Dario Argento's homage to Hitchcock turned out to be a lot of fun for me. It's a rather basic story, but the execution is fun and entertaining. The story line is very "giallo" feeling and is really nothing new. There's been a murder and someone has witnessed it. Who did it and why? Will our witness live to tell the tale?

The Hitchcock aspect is fun. You can really see the call outs to Hitch throughout the film. Is it brilliant? Is it another SUSPIRIA? Nope - not at all. But, it was an entertaining romp with some fun twists and turns and some grand tension throughout.  And, it was made for TV, so people with a short acceptance of gore won't be too agitated with this one. It's far from SUSPIRIA levels when it comes to the viscera.  It's well worth a viewing.

I think this is one that is held up as "the last good Argento film". I was going to say the same thing, but after seeing GIALLO, I'm not so sure.

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GIALLO  (2009) was a bit of a mess, but I didn't hate it afterwards like I did with MOTHER OF TEARS. The kind of "MAN! I want my two hours back!" kind of bitterness that I felt with MOTHER was not present with this film at all. Most of the mess stems from some bad makeup effects applied to the lead baddie in the film. It's not fooling anyone and I found it to be really rather distracting.

 

However, that's where the trauma ended for me. I was ok with everything else in the film including the gravel voice acting of the film's main star - the "amazing" Adrien Brody. :)  now, I know what you are thinking. "WHAT?!  Adrien Brody is in this?!  It MUST be a 10 out of 10 star film, right?!"  Well, contrary to popular belief, Brody is a bit of a wanker in this film, but it's not as bad as his PREDATORS, Dark Knight voiced performance. He's a tough, New York City cop on the case in Italy and he's not gonna take any bullshit. That's right. He's a tough guy. :)

The film score by Marco Werba struck me and stuck with me as well. I'm not sure why, but I really loved it. It has a striking, big sound that made the film something special. It took it into an old school direction that worked really well with the way the film presented itself. I felt like I was watching older, cooler Argento right off the bat.

The film manages to entertain and there are some good moments mixed in with the bad. The bad moments really are what made the film. It went from ok, to bad, to worth the viewing bad within minutes for me.  I found myself blurting out, "Wait...WHAT?!" a few times while viewing it. 

I told a friend about it and he watched it at once. I was immediately flooded with updates while he watched - most of which were comical, "WTF?!" exclamations while the film washed over him. I thought it was a lot of fun and pure Argento madness that was also well worth a viewing.
 

Keep an open mind and give these a view!