Saturday, August 29, 2009

Giallo (2009)

Giallo is, interesting enough, almost the opposite of a giallo. Another deconstruction of the myth and the genre that Argento himself made so popular ages ago. Here we see the killer almost at once, and we slowly stating to realise that the mystery isn't who it is, but who people can be. Yellow is the man who kills young girls in Rome. He's suffering from jaundice and has a yellow skin. He looks ugly, like an old slimly eighties rocker who sucks on a pacifier when he wanks to photos of his dead victims. On the other side of the coin is Adrien Brody as Inspector Enzo Avolfi, and almost emtionless policeman who's only goal is to find the killer - and nothing more than that. Emmanuelle Seigner plays Linda, who's sister is the latest kidnapping victim of Yellow, and she's trying to help Enzo to find the killer...

Among the first things we see in Giallo is three dragqueens. It sets the tone, because what they show is that no everybody is what they seem to be. There's always two faces of everything. It dosen't mean there's a physical mystery in this movie, more a psychological mystery than anything else. Duality is something else that shows up a lot, the killer with his childhood trauma, the cop with his childhood trauma, the sisters, the mothers (so different, but not different at all - it's just the money that's the difference), a killer who want's to help and a cop who don't want to help. 

This is a movie that grows on you. It's a tease, a play, a something that people don't expect. The style reminds me of Card Player, but it's more in the vein of Do you like Hitchcock? The gore and blood is of course plenty, but far from so violent as in Mother of Tears. It's a slick movie with a more composed story than his latest movies, but it's also pretty standard - which I guess can be both good and bad. I like when Argento fucks with us, and he's doing it again. There's a couple of red herrings in the movie that makes you confused, especially because there's not many suspects and the suspect himself is strange. Like we've seen him before. Then something else comes around, and the stupid thought we had about the storyline dosen't work anymore - which is good, because it would have been to silly. 

The actors has always been a story of their own in Argentos movies, and I'm happy to say that this is his most well-acted movie since Deep Red. The characters feels logical, they do stuff that you can believe in and the over-acting is more or less extinct. Adrien Brody and Emmanuelle Seigner makes a fine screen-couple and are surrounded by good supporting roles. 

I like the ending to, and I know a lot of people will hate it. If I where Argento I would have changed one thing, but I'm just an ordinary nerd writing ordinary reviews. So fuck it.

A movie I will rewatch again soon. Maybe I will continue my writings then.

And yes, of course, don't believe all the morons who says this is Argentos version of Hostel. It's just bullshit. Some torture, yes, but that dosen't make a Hostel. People just don't know what to write anymore.

8 comments:

Patrick B said...

Where did you see this?

Guillaume said...

Good review,thanks!
I hope that you'll write more thoughts on this film!

Ninja Dixon said...

Guillaume: Thanks! It's hard to write about it with out spoilers :) But I will try!

Patrick: From my secret sources insde the vatican ;)

mamoulian said...

I'm looking forward to this anyhow... Very well written, however, I daren't read too much in case I'll spoil the upcoming exprience... ;-)

Phantom of Pulp said...

Enjoying your reviews a lot. They're grounded in reality.

Ninja Dixon said...

Phantom: Thanks :)

Guillaume said...

Finally saw it and i agree with your review Fred!
It's not major Argento but it still has interesting stuff and ideas,close from "Opera" and "Tenebre"...I especially liked Brody,the killer,the score and the dark ending scene.

And happy 2010 to you Fred!

Ninja Dixon said...

Guillaume: Sorry for responding so late! I still haven't had the time to watch it again, but someday :)

Happy you agreed with me anyway!

And a happy 2010 to you too!