Being very lucky to get the Blue Underground two disc DVD edition of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970-also reviewed) as a free bonus gift from an eBay seller, and encouraged by family friend Guy Morgan (who sadly passed away in 2019) to view the credits of the film maker, I have since 2011 been exploring the works of auteur Dario Argento, who has become one of my favourite film makers.
Finding that due to the site does not have him listed as director for the shorts AIMA: Vicolo cieco (1999), Eridania Zefiro (2002), the TV shows Gli incubi di Dario Argento (1987), the 1987-1988 series Giallo, and the live stage production of Macbeth (2015), that Dario Argento was one credit away from being the first film maker who I've seen everything credited to him as director on Letterboxd, leading to me putting on the dark glasses.
View on the film:
After the failed attempt with Iggy Pop to get The Sandman off the ground, co-writer (with regular collaborator Franco Ferrini) / directing auteur Dario Argento works for the first time with cinematographer Matteo Cocco, who helps to bring out a new focus to Argento,along with composer Arnaud Rebotini, who unleashes a wonderfully textured, lively Electronic score, which shimmers as Diana and Chin run for their lives in the woods.
Whilst sadly shot in the same flat digital style as Giallo (2009-also reviewed) Argento thankfully makes a real attempt to stylishly revive his distinctive visual motifs, from slick first-person Giallo sequences of the killer eyeing Diana, brightly coloured lights glazing whip-pan shots of Chin and Diana on the run, the strange naked sequence involving Dario's daughter Asia,and close-ups dripping with red on terrific gory Giallo set-pieces (with regular collaborator Sergio Stivaletti doing the visual effects.)
Encouraged by his daughter Asia whilst she was writing her autobiography to revive a script he had left in 2012 after the original studio went bust, Dario reunites with Ferrini for a screenplay which joyfully expands his major themes, from a love of animals which has run across his credits, to returning to the 2009 Giallo set-up of making it clear to the audience straight away who the killer is, a mistrust of the police, and the blind lead character and quick-witted child character outline of The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971-also reviewed.)
Dario and Ferrini give these recurring themes a welcomed twist,by deciding to cross them with an expansion of The Stendhal Syndrome (1996-also reviewed),in focusing on the victim of an (attempted) murder, as the darkness which blinds Diana (played with on-edge fear by Ilenia Pastorelli) leaves her haunted by the fear of the attacker (and also by the grief of having accidentally killed Chin's family when she was fleeing the attacker) lurking in the darkness, who she faces when he steps out of the shadows, to take off her dark glasses.
Finding that due to the site does not have him listed as director for the shorts AIMA: Vicolo cieco (1999), Eridania Zefiro (2002), the TV shows Gli incubi di Dario Argento (1987), the 1987-1988 series Giallo, and the live stage production of Macbeth (2015), that Dario Argento was one credit away from being the first film maker who I've seen everything credited to him as director on Letterboxd, leading to me putting on the dark glasses.
View on the film:
After the failed attempt with Iggy Pop to get The Sandman off the ground, co-writer (with regular collaborator Franco Ferrini) / directing auteur Dario Argento works for the first time with cinematographer Matteo Cocco, who helps to bring out a new focus to Argento,along with composer Arnaud Rebotini, who unleashes a wonderfully textured, lively Electronic score, which shimmers as Diana and Chin run for their lives in the woods.
Whilst sadly shot in the same flat digital style as Giallo (2009-also reviewed) Argento thankfully makes a real attempt to stylishly revive his distinctive visual motifs, from slick first-person Giallo sequences of the killer eyeing Diana, brightly coloured lights glazing whip-pan shots of Chin and Diana on the run, the strange naked sequence involving Dario's daughter Asia,and close-ups dripping with red on terrific gory Giallo set-pieces (with regular collaborator Sergio Stivaletti doing the visual effects.)
Encouraged by his daughter Asia whilst she was writing her autobiography to revive a script he had left in 2012 after the original studio went bust, Dario reunites with Ferrini for a screenplay which joyfully expands his major themes, from a love of animals which has run across his credits, to returning to the 2009 Giallo set-up of making it clear to the audience straight away who the killer is, a mistrust of the police, and the blind lead character and quick-witted child character outline of The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971-also reviewed.)
Dario and Ferrini give these recurring themes a welcomed twist,by deciding to cross them with an expansion of The Stendhal Syndrome (1996-also reviewed),in focusing on the victim of an (attempted) murder, as the darkness which blinds Diana (played with on-edge fear by Ilenia Pastorelli) leaves her haunted by the fear of the attacker (and also by the grief of having accidentally killed Chin's family when she was fleeing the attacker) lurking in the darkness, who she faces when he steps out of the shadows, to take off her dark glasses.