Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-20 04:53:15

The sorry state of Argento

This review is from: Giallo (DVD) The first time I saw a Dario Argento film I was blown away by his artistic depiction of dreamlike violence. The colors, the strange music, the fluid camera work connected with me on an almost spiritual level. I needed to see more. Thus began a quest to purchase every title directed by the Italian master of the macabre. I wasn't disappointed until I bought "Phantom of the Opera" with Julian Sands. I thought, maybe this was just a fluke. A bad movie with no redeemable value. I stuck with him through mediocre fare like "Do you like Hitchcock?", "Sleepless" (which was actually pretty good), and "The Card Player", not to mention the terrible "Jenifer" for Showtime's Masters of Horror. Then, came "Pelts", which made me realize the master still had it in him. I was nearly ecstatic when he declared he was going to make "Mother of Tears", his finale in the tale of the Three Mothers. When I finally bought and watched it, I was blown away by the unspeakable mess of a movie he just created. An utter bomb, completely unwatchable. But still, I didn't give up on the master. Now, with "Giallo", a movie that seems to have Argento's trademark right in the title, I felt this might just be a comeback for him. After watching it, I have to say that I've finally given up on the Italian Hitchcock. Although not as bad as "Mother of Tears", it's not much better. Argento has given up on creating artistic, dreamlike violence on celluloid and has just been offering us excessive bloody violence. No art, no style, just non-stop screaming, cussing, blood-spilling trash. I can see why Adrien Brody didn't want this movie to see the light of day in America. It's not because he didn't get paid (I believe he did). It's because he didn't want to be associated with this mess of a movie. Poor Dario, please just stick to producing movies from now on. God forbid your "Dracula 3D" ever gets finished. I can just imagine what that would be like: Look at that bat on a string coming out of the screen. A scene only Ed Wood could appreciate. The future of Italian artistic horror now solely lies in the hands of Michele Soavi. But, how long do I have to wait for "Catacombs Club"?

revival05 2012-05-19 19:20:05

Profondo giallo

At the noble age of 68, I find it honorable that Dario Argento has thewill and the ability to make the films he wants to make. Any creativemind will have to find it's own way to express itself, and not getcaught in what is expected. I never understood fanbase criticism ofArgento's later work, specifically the idea that Argento has somehow"lost it" (lost what?) and suddenly, out of the blue, lacks any talenthe mysteriously and inexplicably seemed to have 30 years ago. I canunderstand that a lot of people are depressed not to find his"trademark" visuals anymore, since the flamboyant flair and elegantviolence was what made people like him in the first place. But I thinkit's quite a shallow admiration if all Argento has ever done well iskilling girls in sexy fashion. In Giallo, there is a scene where thekiller masturbates to his own images of his bloody murder victims. Iwouldn't know for sure of course, but I think this is a self-ironiccomment to these upset fans. And to the Argento of the 70's and 80's aswell.Naturally, Argento knows exactly what he is doing, and he has purposelyabandoned his old style of surreal fantasy horror to make quite theopposite; thrillers, first and foremost psychologically oriented, thatworks on a meta level in first hand, with plot somewhere down thatpriority list. Style isn't even a concern. The color scheme of bothGiallo and The Card Player, is gray, white and black. I can be a tadsad and nostalgic about it too, but I think it's time we get over it.It's not like Argento didn't try to keep doing movies as if "Argento"was a genre of it's own - Trauma, The Stendhal Syndrome, Phantom of theOpera and even Sleepless, in part, all express the same thing: Alegendary master of style on spare fumes. They were automatic,obligatory, they all express one thing and that is that "it's over". Incontrast to those titles, his latest movies are vivid, fresh,interesting, here and now. And I dare to say, once you care to takeinterest in Argento as a film maker, a movie like Giallo is just asinteresting as Inferno or Opera. But if you just want his old, stylizedgore, don't bother even watching anything he has done or will do postOpera. Rob Zobie's Halloween II is probably something you'll enjoymore, so I guess I'm actually recommending it.The key to Giallo is Adrien Brody in the title role, a bitter cop inItaly on the trail of an outlandish killer who traps beautiful girls inhis taxi to make them just as ugly as he is and then kill them. Itbecomes clear after a while that the movie's focus is by no meansdirected towards the plot (which is so straight and automatic that itseems as if it's designed for the audience to more easily get it out ofthe way). What the movie is about is Brody's character and thedisfigured killer and the similarities they share. When you considerthe invisibility of the plot in contrast to the extremely noticeablecasting choices, I think it's fair to say that Argento isn't interestedin doing a giallo. Rather, it seems like he is doing some seriousre-evaluating of the genre: the movie is not a giallo, it's ananti-giallo named giallo - and the killer isn't smart, diabolical oreffective but merely messed up, over the edge and so ugly it's amusing.He is also a buffoon, as clumsy as they come, and it basically takesone clue in the investigation to track him down. What is interesting isthat he comes off as more or less an outraged victim, where Brody's copis a mellow executioner. Both characters are results of a traumaticpast, both live isolated in two separate cellars (literary speaking),they are both killers, the killer is guilty of crimes of passion andthe cop, with one exception from the past, is guilty of simply justkilling, without emotion or conviction. While Brody does an oftenamusing parody of cop language álacigarette-by-the-autopsy-"whatawegot" (he does it straight, which evenmakes it subtle) the nature of his character is deeply unsettling. Hehas no life. And I don't mean he seems bored and unimaginative, Iliterary mean that he walks and talks and kills but that's it. He'snobody to root for. And besides his badge and good looks, he is nodifferent from the killer. Argento makes that very, very, VERY clear.Against Brody, we have Emanuelle Seigner as the character who is todeliver the emotional punch. Unfortunately, well, she sucks. And badacting certainly isn't the only flaw in Giallo. More backstory andstraight-to-the-wall suspense wouldn't have hurt. But Adrien Brody is ariot and, I found, truly wonderful to watch. Giallo becomes thoroughlyentertaining because of him. While he acts it out to the limits ofdeliberate over-acting scene by scene, Argento experiments with parody,duality, his own heritage and the movies he has made in the past. WhileMother of Tears came off as a more campy self-parody, Giallo is farmore complex. One of the murder victims at one point, for no reason,screams that she's actually absent and "not in this body" or somethingsimilar. It's as if Argento for the first time acknowledge that he hasalways been killing vacant characters in vanity, and now actually triesto tell a story where a kill is a kill, no matter who pulls the triggeror jabs the blade into the heart.Sure, complexity alone doesn't make Giallo a masterpiece. However, Iliked it as intelligent entertainment. And if the stabbing is stillmore important to you, feel free to watch Suspiria for the 45th time.I'm awaiting the DVD release for Giallo with excitement.

tombxtra 2012-05-10 01:23:44

Quasimodo moved to Italy

WOW, this shriek fest topper turned into a laughing matter after thefirst sighting of the baddie monster. The lead psycho in this movieuses a cab to kidnap the victims and as it always goes kidnaps but notkills a family member of the lead role. In this case the persistentsister.Sister teams up with weird 'i work alone' police officer Adrian 'thepianist' Brody. A slim non-impressive officer acting like Mulder fromthe x-files. Weirdly enough the officer is a killer himself. He killedthe butcher-killer of his wife at a young age. Its unclear how he couldbecome part of the police force. That his officer skills are bad we cansee in his pursuit of the killer in the hospital, after he spots the-LIMBing- killer he starts he lame pursuit and looses him.But OK, when finally on track with the where abouts of mister psychoclay face he trows the garbage of the roof and leaves the persistentsister to find the family herself. Movie ends with a parking guarddetecting a bleeding car. victim sister did the escape all by herself.Huray for this finger-missing victim.Well this movie was 1 thumb up and a cut off finger down. Dario pleaseleave the future presentations to you lovely daughter !

2012-05-09 21:22:35

Adrien Brody restrained is such a pity.

Adrien Brody plays a cop kept in check for most of the film with a little hint of his Predators awesomeness when he promises aloud to get the sadist who leaves behind such a mess. It's trick baby vs. trick baby apparently except the baddie looks like some kind of hybrid with very tiny eyes and a strangely shaped nose and jawline - just his entire head - from the baddie's first appearance in the rear view mirror, I actually thought it was Adrien Brody - but alas ... ain't nothing like the real thing. The Yellow is about Billy Rubin that is jaundice in babies from ingesting feces that is more prevalent in Asian babies and was a common type of torture during the Japanese invasion of China.Meanwhile, Adrien Brody although too tidy in this film should inspire an entire daily soap opera with gorgeous actors with big schnozzes - cast Lady Gaga! I see Paz de la Huerta as his true love (and I guess the exception to the big nose school of beaute')!I didn't have a problem with half-watching this film while web surfing. I'm not so sure that this film would have been enjoyable if I had nothing else going on.

2012-05-04 22:16:50

Unmistakable Argento!

This review is from: Giallo (DVD) I really am an Argento addict. My friend thought Giallo was unwatchable and reportedly Argento himself disliked the final producer's cut so much he disassociated himself from the film. Fair enough. Given the poor reviews I had very low expectations for Giallo, but I saw it last night and I actually thought it was very good! The sets, colors, camerawork, the entire rich universe that Argento creates, are all there in spades. From the first frame to the last, viewers are swept away into a beautiful, languid world of bright colors, sweeping cityscapes and skewered perspectives--punctuated, or course, with gut-wrenching violence! The acting was quite good as well. I'm disappointed, as I thought with a few big names like Adrien Brody, Emmanuelle Seigner and Elsa Pataky this might be a big mainstream hit for Argento. However the film was held up for so long for various reasons that it lost any momentum it had, even among the Argento faithful.The film was a very good giallo and, aside from Argento's distinct vision, nothing more, nothing less. I do believe that people expecting Argento to make another Susperia will be forever disappointed. Really, Susperia aside, all of his films are deeply uneven. And Susperia also contained elements that most American viewers would probably consider "corny." Argento's movies are unapologetic horror flicks, you simply can't hope for the smoothness of a big-budget Hollywood production. Many viewers continue to just not get it. It's like people are so used to driving flawless Honda Accords that they simply don't understand the beauty of the Maserati. Argento's films have always had convoluted plots, archetypical villains and been fairly raw. But in my opinion they are real art, unmistakably Argento. I think he simply dispenses with a lot of film convention because it's boring to him. He's more concerned with creating atmospheric universes. The opening shot of the opera house in Giallo alone makes it worth watching. It immediately says, "I'm back!" He is my favorite director.

TrevorAclea 2012-05-04 14:52:53

Not terrible, just not very good

Even the worst Dario Argento films have managed to at least get DVDreleases in the past decade or so, so the fact that Giallo was filmedtwo years ago and is still unreleased in most of the world aside from ahandful of badly received festival screenings where it was laughed offthe screen doesn't exactly fill you with confidence. It may not be thedirector's favorite film by a long shot – despite the misleading'written and directed by' credit, he was simply a director for hirewith the script written by the separately credited Jim Agnew and SeanKeller with the producers apparently no longer returning his phonecalls – but it's fair to say that it's a long way from being his worst,thankfully never descending to the depths of Phantom of the Opera orthe lacklustre The Card Player. Unfortunately it's also not especiallygood.The story is serviceable enough, with model Elsa Pataky abducted by adeformed serial killer who likes to take his time destroying beautifulthings and her frantic sister (a haggard Emmanuelle Seigner) teaming upwith Adrian Brody's broody Italian-American cop to find her whilethere's still enough of her to find. Despite the set-up, it avoidsgoing the Eli Roth torture porn route, but there are few of Argento'ssignature flourishes. Not only are the gloves literally off but thefilm's one 'big' death scene is nothing to write home about: just asimple fall from a tall building. Worse, a couple of minor twistsaside, the plot just plods along with not much happening until the lasthalf hour before a last scene that feels like it was tacked on not somuch to give the film a happy ending but because what you suspect wasthe original ending didn't pack enough of a punch.While it's generally better executed, there are fewer ideas to playwith than his less than impressive Mother of Tears, and what there areare fairly familiar cop movie clichés. True, Adrien Brody's lone copdoes have a rather neat backstory explaining why he has a talent fortracking down predatory killers, but the early hints of having adamaging Will Graham-like empathy with his killer come to nothingdespite Brody playing both hunters because they're such wildlydifferent performances linked only by silly voices (a grizzled JackNicholson-Mickey Rourke hybrid for the cop and an Italian Quasimodo forthe killer). It's probably the killer's voice that provided the lion'sshare of the laughs to those derisive festival audiences, but BrodyMethodically overdoes the tortured doleful looks as the cop, at timeslooking like the Eighth Dwarf, Goatee, after Snow White bit the apple.On the plus side, thanks to Frederic Fasano's cinematography it's thebest-looking Argento film in years. It's not a return to the extremeand vivid colors of the Suspiria years but it's a welcome move awayfrom the pallid and lifeless look of many of his latter movies tosomething with a bit more warmth to its color scheme and a good eye forthe Turin locations. But overall, despite all the Argento touchstonesthe writers incorporated in the screenplay, it's a rather softby-the-numbers effort that could have been made by almost any capabledirector whose heart wasn't quite in it but still tried to make thebest of what he had to work with. You won't have trouble making itthrough to the end, but you won't have trouble sleeping after seeing iteither.

Psychohistorien 2012-05-04 06:34:41

A huge joke

I've seen the TV version of this hilarious movie...The theatrical version may contain all the bloody (and maybeinteresting) close-ups you can only imagine in that edited-for-TVversion, nevertheless it is so full of clichés you can only stay infront of this movie if you choose to laugh. Emmanuelle Seigner is justacting like a whiny robot, keeping asking Adrian Brody "but why won'tyou help my sister?", "please help my sister!", where Brody as anAmerican cop (from NYC of course) in Rome, roughly imitates a 1930'sold fashion cop, who keeps saying "I'm a ruthless cop", "my methods areruthless likewise", blah blah blah... but he's so ridiculous you won'tbelieve a word of his ruthless attitude...Then there is the bad guy, the killer, played by Brody himself...strange choice of Argento's, considering there is no link between thecop and the killer. Art may be the answer :) There is a obvious lack ofimagination for defining each character: Girl wants her sister to besaved (let's say this one goal is quite OK), cop wants to kill thekiller (because he is "ruthless" of course) and I'll keep my mouth shutabout the motivations of the killer, ridiculous as well... ("Youbeauuuuuutifulll..." says Quasimodo before dismembering the princess-so pathetically uninspired)In fact after 15 minutes, you're teared up between running away from abad picture with extremely bad dialogues, poor script and terriblecharacters, or staying for fun... finally I stayed.Argento may have done many great pictures, this one's just a big joke.If you're curious, please try the theatrical version, at least therewill be (hopefully) blood and stylistic violence...

kosmasp 2012-05-03 20:12:45

Accidentally funny?

Now this either one of the most genius attempts, to spoof the "Giallo"movies or just another proof that Argento "lost his touch" (if youbelieve he even had something like that to begin with). Don't get mewrong, you can enjoy this movie and I kind of did. But to do just that,you have to accept this movie as a comedy. Not Horror, not thriller,not even something worthy of the acting talent of one Adrien Brody, buta silly comedy.A movie or a play that you would probably see kids playing. Althoughthat might be insulting to the kids (which I'm not trying to do), it isreally embarrassing for the actors. Watching Emmanuelle Seigner "act",it will either hurt you (physically and psychologically)! But again, ifyou accept this all as a comedy, even the villain Mr. Byron Deidra (andyou know who that is, believe me, maybe he shouldn't have played in themovie at all!) is off ... as is Mr. Brody. I'm not going into details,because this is supposed to be a big thing/twist, but it's reallyridiculous! While I had fun and almost laughed through the whole movie, someArgento fans, really had a bad time and were angry that people actuallylaughed at the movie. I think it's better than crying, but there you...

2012-05-01 23:46:58

GIALLO is GREAT

I only saw it at a recent horror film festival some time ago. I enjoyed it and Argento's is back with the gore galore.Not his best, that one is Tenebre, but Giallo, who a lot of people and so called expert horror writers seem to think, that he's past his best. NOT SO!GIALLO is great horror and great entertainment!

brucev13 2012-05-01 14:09:35

Not worth your time!

When a director distances himself from a movie that is never a goodsign. And after watching this movie I have to say that he is right todo so. This isn't a movie to be proud of. There is not one scene thatshows the master's brilliance. It does make me wonder what the moviecould have been without the interference of the producers. It alsodoesn't help that the story is quite weak. There are no twists andturns. Well,maybe a very little one. None concerning the Killer. Butthe biggest flaw of "Giallo" is the lack of real tension and suspense.Even when the killer is known a giallo movie should provide thrills.Otherwise what would be the point of this movie. (Thinking aboutit,this movie can be seen as a bad parody about the giallo genre.)Adrian Brody and the beautiful women are the only things that stand outin this below average product. Avoid big time!

shawn e 2012-04-30 22:20:40

Another Great Adrien Brody Movie

Not sure why some gave it a D, I actually liked it. Adrien Brody is a brilliant actor and the movie kept me on the edge of my seat. Great suspense movie.

The_Void 2012-04-30 09:52:00

Run of the mill modern thriller, from the Master of Giallo

Probably one of the reasons why Dario Argento is still making filmstoday while many of his counterparts are not (aside from the fact thatArgento is still alive, obviously) is because the director moves withthe times. In the seventies, he made stylish seventies films; in theeighties, he made trashy eighties films, in the nineties he madeover-complex nineties thrillers; and in the decade just gone, he madesoulless genre films (the fantastic Sleepless being the exception). Itwould appear that Argento was trying to hark back to the good old dayswith this film - which takes the genre name as its own title - butunfortunately he's missed the mark rather badly. The plot is pureGiallo, however. Several women in the city of Milan have disappeared;only to turn up dead some days later. When Linda's sister is abducted,she goes to the cops and is put in touch with FBI agent Enzo Avolfi,who immediately jumps to the conclusion that Linda's sister has beenabducted by the killer and proceeds to let Linda help him in every areaof the investigation.The trailer got my hopes up with its line "the city of Milan is knownfor its beautiful women, but someone is preying on them" - of course,the fashion house is the iconic setting of genre favourites such asBlood and Black Lace; but Argento is keen to skip over this and getstraight to the killer, which is a massive shame. Atmosphere is one ofthe major things that separates the Giallo from the run of the millthriller - and this one has none. The title "Giallo" - the Italian wordfor yellow, is used farcically as a description of the killer; who hasyellow skin as a result of a medical condition. Of course, DarioArgento is no stranger to grotesquely disfigured killers - havingfeatured one in his earlier masterpiece Phenomena, but while it fit thefilm in Phenomena, here it just comes off as comical and difficult tobuy into. The film is not overly violent, although Argento does delightin showing us some gore. The gore scenes are not particularly welldirected, however and overall the film lacks tension; which means thegraphic scenes don't pack much of a punch. The cast was chopped andchanged several times and the lead role eventually went to AdrienBrody; who is basically wasted. The script is really weak to the pointwhere it does actually affect the film (Giallo isn't known for greatwriting, but in the best examples, it isn't a problem). The basis ofthe investigation is silly also; I have to admit that I don't know muchabout how crimes are investigated in Italy, but I'm just going toassume that the general public isn't usually given almost as muchauthority in investigations as police officers are! As a film in itsown right, this one is pretty poor and as an Argento film; it'sdownright disappointing. However, since I'm such a shameless fan of thedirector; I can't bring myself to truly hate it.

rolf_denny 2012-04-29 12:32:23

Argento, how deep can you fall?

Argento, in my opinion, it's one of the greatest directors of all moviehistory. Unknown for many, he directed/written great gems that deservea special place in the of everyone who loves movies. His stylish way ofdirecting hallucinates who watches his movies. Resuming: undoubtedly,he's a genius. But, unfortunately, seems that Argento has forgotten howto make great movies. It's pretty sad to know a movie like "Giallo" wasdirected by Argento. First of all: it's NOT a giallo! If Argeto wantedto pay a kind of homage to the style that he helped to create, sorry,but he couldn't. The story is awful, Brody's and Seigner's acting ishorrible, and seems that Argento wanted to make a movie like the crapcalled Hostel, because there's only gratuitous violence, not the'beautiful' violence that Argento used to show in his early movies. Ifyou really want to see an authentic Argento's homage to the giallogenre, watch his 2001 "Sleepless" or in his original title, "No HoSonno". This is what you can call a great giallo! Please, Argento, stopdoing craps like "The Card Player", "La Terza Madre" and "Giallo" andbring us gems like "Deep Red", "Tenebre" and "The Bird with CrystalPlummage"!

2012-04-28 23:00:23

someone splash water on me!

I had a hard time staying awake for the duration of this movie. Actually, I had a hard time staying awake after the first few minutes. Complete and utter tedium with moments of women having their lips removed is not my idea of an enjoyable evening. Not to mention Adrian Brody is a terrible leading man and a truely annoying actor. Dario, it may be time to wrap it up and try your hand at some other creative pursuits. The film genre has passed you by...Please take Adrian Brody with you..

2012-04-27 19:58:23

The Sad State Of Argento

I was SO looking forward to this film by Dario Argento, I love all of his film and have been a fan since I was a kid. Unfortunately, "GIALLO" totally misses the mark in my opinion. For those who do not know, Giallo means yellow in Italian and stands for the lurid crime thriller paperback novels that were colored yellow. A giallo in film terms means a sort of re-herring, black gloved, whodunit, crime thriller. BE WARNED, THE TERM GIALLO USED IN THE TITLE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER DEFINITIONS! This is not a giallo! The acting is terrible (which can be expected in these types of film...), Adrian Brody does NOTHING for the film, the story is horrible, and the fx are crappy. The "blood" used is of the kool-aid variety and is as thin as water. If this film were a first year film student's, it may have merit. BUT, this is from the same director who made such CLASSICS as: "BIRD WITH THE CYSTAL PLUMMAGE", "DEEP RED", "SUSPIRIA", "INFERNO", "OPERA" and "NONHOSONNO" to name just a few. If this is the type of film Mr. Argento wants to make, he should hang it up. If for some reason his hands were tied or he has some excuse for making such a piss-poor film, prove it and make a REAL FILM! I purchased the Japanese version of this film for anyone wondering how I have seen it already. I wish Dario had taken his name off of this film and not besmirched his otherwise GREAT NAME. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

morrison-dylan-fan 2012-04-27 15:40:37

A Mellow Yellow Giallo.

Searching round on Youtube,for any documentary's about the Film genreGiallo.I quickly found an episode from a very good "Youtube show"called This Week In..,which each week looks at a different Horror sub-genre.When the episode reached the half way mark,two guest wereintroduced,who turned out to be the screenwriters of Dario Argento'smost recent film:Giallo.As they began talking to the presenters,Istarted to get a bit of a feeling that they seemed to look down on thegenre,with one of the co-presenters sounding much more knowledgeableabout the genre than either of them! For one of the questions,thewriters were asked what they hoped to achieve with the film,which gotthe reply that they hoped the they had made the film assessable to newcomers,by getting rid of things (such as very strange,twisty plotlines,) which they feel audience members would not be able to suspendthere disbelief for,in the "modern era" (although I feel,most audiencemembers seem to be able to suspend there disbelief long enough to watchfilms featuring a man dressed as a bat!,and some ageing,serialkiller,whose been given the nickname "Jigsaw") When the episodeended,my alarm bells started ringing like crazy.Fearing that I had theworst of Argento's films to see at the very end,I decided that it wasbest to leap like a frog,and jump to his latest offering.The plot:Suspecting that her cat-walk modelling sister may have done more thanjust "disappear",Linda goes searching for Inspector Enzo Avolfi,who shehas heard is the best at finding missing people (which she is fearingher sister might become.)Finding Avolfi,Linda learns that Enzo has beeninvestigating an ongoing case of a serial killer,who has beenkidnapping "beautiful" woman,deforming them,and then murderingthem.Eventally finding out that her sister has been abducted by thekiller,Linda and Enzo begin to feel the they have completely run out ofleads (although Avolfi is extremely stubborn in giving up,especiallysince he had to go on a long search to find his motherskiller.)Luckally for them,a victim is discovered who is just aboutsurviving.Talking to the victim shortly before her final breath,thevictim tells them that the killer has bright yellow skin.Realiseingthat they now have a strong lead,and that time is running out forLinda's sister,they both go hunting for the "Giallo" serial killer...View on the film:When I initially heard that the lead villain in Argento's latest filmhad yellow skin,my first hope was that he would create awild,comic-book influence stylish thriller,with hopefully taking someinspiration from the yellow character that Nick Stahl played in RobertRodriguez wild and stylised Noir Sin City.Along with Sin City,I wasalso hoping the there would be a possibility that this film would be amodern twist on Mario Bava's future-landmark The Girl Who Knew TooMuch,or even Lucio Fulci's The Cats Bain,with Argento showing someonesmurderous obsession with the still-stunning Giallo genre Sadly,Argentoand the writers decided to go in the other direction.For the first hourof the films 90 minute running time,the movie looks as if it is justtrying to be a very poorly made CSI type of (failed) pilot episode,withthe characters,and the directing all firmly sticking to the middle ofthe road.And whilst this style of a routine thriller would be an okaydebut for a first time director,the swipes that Argento takes at theGiallo genre and the Torture-Horror sub-genre destroys most of the goodwill towards the film,by the Giallo shots feeling about 30 years toolate,and the torture scenes looking very poorly filmed (and a shortscene of the killer sitting in-front of a computer,having more than awhiff of jealousy.)Thankfully,some light does appear for the film,withthe last half an hour actually having Argento give it some moodylighting ,and making the serial killers hide out be somewhere a bitdifferent.For his performance as Enzo,Adrien Brody gives the charactera voice,which seems to suggest that he is trying to give the inspectora Film Noir style tone.Disapointingly like the directing and thescreenplay,Brody's voice fails to give the film an extra bit of mood,byinstead just sounding like he has a dry throat for almost the wholefilm.Final view on the film:An extremely uncreative, tied-looking none-Giallo- thriller,with ahighly disappointing screenplay and mostly middle-of the-road directingfrom someone who could have done so much more with the film...

2012-04-25 23:24:50

Giallo Review

GIALLO STARRING: Adrien Brody, Emmanuelle Seigner, Elsa Pataky and Robert Miano WRITTEN BY: Dario Argento, Jim Agnew and Sean KellerDIRECTED BY: Dario Argento Rated: Unrated Genre: Horror / Thriller Release Date: 06 November 2009`Giallo' has a duel meaning: it's Italian for yellow, and it also refers to a particular type of filmmaking in which the focus is on the crime fiction and mystery genre. Whichever definition you choose to go with, both suit the new Adrien Brody thriller, Giallo. A guy with a rare skin virus that causes his skin to turn yellow is kidnapping and brutalizing women in Italy. The sensational Adrien Brody stars as Inspector Enzo Avolfi. He's an American who has moved to Italy to dedicate his time to hunting down killers who prey on the innocence of women. His back story fuels this passion, and rightfully so. Our crazed killer is a hideous man both physically and spiritually, who lures attractive young models into a taxi. He then drugs them, takes them back to his crypt of mayhem, and performs heinous acts of violence on them before dumping their bloodied bodies off in various locations throughout the city. When her sister goes missing, Linda (Emmanuelle Seigner) is directed to the attention of Inspector Enzo. He lives in his underground office, surviving off of take in pizza boxes, and far off chances of hope. He has reason to believe that Linda's sister may be the yellow killer's latest victim. The two team up to track down the psychopath before it's too late. I enjoyed this film, but a great deal of it was due mainly to the performance of Adrien Brody. I've become a huge fan of his, and make an effort to see everything he does. This is a small film for the Oscar winner, but you wouldn't know it based on his acting. He dives into his character, same as he would any huge Hollywood smash. I loved the look and attitude he gave Enzo, and the way he carried himself in this role. It was already interesting having a New Yorker working as a Detective in Europe; and Brody only granted Enzo more praise. The film isn't perfect, but it is good. It's low budget but was handled with care and we've definitely seen a lot worse. There are some really intense moments and some great shots. I loved the wide shot of Enzo and Linda walking across a piazza and scaring off a cluster of pigeons.My internet research has taught me that writer and director Dario Argento, has somewhat of a cult following and this may be how he was able to pocket Brody in the first place. Die-hard Argento fans seem to have mixed reviews on this particular piece. Having no room for comparison of his other work, I can only speak for Giallo, and say that it's worth a look.

chaos-rampant 2012-04-25 11:01:17

Routine slasher affair not worthy of the master's name and I say this with the affection of a longtime fan

The high point in the film comes midway in the form of Adrian Brody'schildhood flashback: the camera heaves this side and that inside anamber-lit room as though floating in the air while a music box lullabythat brings back memories of Goblin's School at Night theme fromProfondo Rosso chimes in the background. Other than that, the moviemight as well have been called "Routine Slasher" because there'snothing that recalls the glorious days of the Italian giallo here, nowink or homage or black-gloved killer stalking distraught heroines inkitsch/chic Rome apartments, countryside villas, and medievalarchitecture and certainly none of the Technicolor phantasmagoriaArgento and his peers conjured on celluloid 30 years ago because anyonewho has followed Argento's career knows he has been working in darkmuted DV canvases for the past 10 years, this absence of style floodedwith wooden acting, bad English from non-English speaking actors, and ascript the sum of plot contrivance happenstance and logic jumps. Somewill argue these have been staples of Argento's career and I willdisagree because their place has always been peripheral to a certaingrand guignol aesthetic by whose outrageousness, stylistic orotherwise, not only have they been relegated to the margins but theyhave made perfect "sense" there in the margins as part of Argento'sstyle (or Italian horror film-making in general). If Mother of Tearswas a bold step in the direction of Phenomena's schizophrenicconclusion, this is a step backwards to the undistinguished workmanlikenature of Il Cartaio and Ti Piace Hitchcock. Everything here isgeneric. The score sounds like Batman Returns throwaways (ClaudioSimonetti's absence is sorely felt), the villain is a curious mixtureof pathetic and creepy, Argento's stylized violence is conspicuouslyabsent. This is a serial killer movie trying to balance between crimeprocedural and slasher such as one may find in Lionsgate's STDcatalogue. If you're looking for the giallo homage the title promises,you'll find it in Sleepless. This is a routine affair not worthy of themaster's name or his fans' time and money.

2012-04-23 01:35:58

(2.5 STARS) Not Exactly a Masterpiece, Kept Me Entertained Though

In "Giallo" a beautiful fashion model Celine (Elsa Pataky "Snakes on a Plane") goes missing after taking a taxi at night in the city of Turin. Her sister, a French flight attendant Linda (Emmanuelle Seigner, "Frantic"), believing that she has been kidnapped, asks an Italian-American Inspector Enzo Avolfi (Adrien Brody) investigating a serial murder case, to give her a help. Initially reluctant inspector agrees, and they attempt to find the killer and Celine before it is too late. Despite the inclusion of one Oscar-winning actor, Dario Argento's latest work, with its all-too-familiar material, needs better, more careful storytelling. "Giallo" suffers from slack and heavy-handed narrative, and its story is all in all dull, even as homage or adaptation of the "giallo" genre.While the word "giallo" (meaning "yellow") serves, not surprisingly, as a clue to the mystery, it also refers to a subgenre of Italian films. Dario Argento himslef was a kind of founder of the tradition, together with such directors as Mario Bava during the 1960s and 70s. The genre has a set of pulp fiction-like conventions including excessive gores and violence, and obviously the director and the writers (Sean Keller, Jim Agnew and Argento) are trying to update them for modern audiences. The concept has potential, though the end result is not satisfactory. The pace is sometimes very slow, trying to explain the obvious, or things that should only be suggested. The make-up of "Byron Deidra" needs improvement. For younger generation of fans accustomed to the more gruesome "SAW" series and "Hostel," this film might be something of a disappointment, though the film is good enough to keep older fans interested. I somehow enjoyed watching "Giallo" for what it is, including the (intentionally, I think) cheesy dialogues and acting, while knowing that this is not going to be a "Suspiria." Also, I liked the way the film wraps up.

2012-04-22 18:30:24

I wonder if Mr. Brody finally got paid for double time?

Dario Argento movies have always been a mixed bag, but he is genuinely tiresome with GIALLO. The blatantly obvious connection between cop and killer is the essential element of this particular exercise in Italian pulp; sadly, it is handled so sloppily that everyone involved has good reason to be embarrassed. The bad press only hints at the ineptness.