Fifty years ago, Italian filmmaker Dario Argento (“Suspiria,” “Inferno”) blended avant-garde cinema with contemporary art, saturating the screen with vibrant colors that were more appealing than the underlying ideas. . A genre made popular by Argento and then clumsily satirized in the ill-received 2009 film of the same name, giallo is often dismissed as having more style than substance. “black glassesArgento’s first film in a decade, also responds by stripping away the style.
The visuals are overrated, but this intermittently tickling thriller seems to make a case. Argento and his cinematographer Matteo Cocco limit the film’s palette to shades of moldy grey-green splattered with crimson blood (shot in terrifying close-ups, of course). Our heroine, a surly Cole Her Girl named Diana (Ylenia Pastorelli), is too infuriating to fuss about this dishwashing depiction of Rome. In the opening scene, she irritates her eyes staring at her eclipse. Shortly after, she goes blind when a serial killer in her van rams her car into oncoming traffic, murdering other drivers and orphaning a 7-year-old child named Chin (Shin Yoo Chan). did.
How can Diana fend off her deadly stalker when he can’t, and won’t, see his face? masterminded the Oddly enough, he goes through with it despite declaring his intentions in an extended cameo from his daughter Asia Argento as a care worker teaching Diana how to hear auditory cues to her surroundings. No. The incompetent police officers involved in the incident (Mario Pirello, Maria Rosalia Russo, Gennaro Iaccarino) were close to eyeballs — they could see blurry CCTV footage, fine paint shards. , haunted by vehicles that change color from black to white—but the film’s run doesn’t prove their point. broke the Not only did the scene continue to be filmed in relatively light conditions, but her brainstorming didn’t affect the chase in the slightest.
Fear is as mundane as the visuals. Argento rose to fame with the tangled threads that witch women usually wielded knives. At 82, he could finally rely on the simple story of men killing sick people and killing sex workers. You might believe he and co-author Franco Fellini have something to say about misogyny. It seems like they spent very little time developing a ., noose and handle, like from a random grab bag. (at least Arnaud RebotiniThe spider-like synths in ‘s set the right mood. )
Still, while it’s easy to dismiss “Dark Glass” as the work of a seasoned master, Pastorelli’s barbed, sharp-tongued Diana is perhaps the most charismatic leading lady in Argento’s career. He rules his surroundings — a rarity in his films — and gives a performance that creeps up near the camp (especially while being strangled by a snake). The film’s crowning moment is Diana’s sentimental alliance with her orphan Chin. Their quirky and endearing relationship allows the horror legend to dabble in an entirely new genre for him: the queer couple comedy.
black glasses
Unrated. Running time: 1 hour 26 minutes. watch shudder.