2013 · 1h 42m · Bruno Forzani | Hélène Cattet · Ranked #686 on Wuzzah.com
6 out of 10 · 1 rating
Following the disappearance of his wife, a man finds himself on a dark and twisted trail of discovery through the labyrinthine halls of his apartment building. Led on a wild goose chase by ...
Strange, confusing, impressive and a little bit unsettling.
Two movie experts that I know invited me over to see this movie (along with others) using the phrase “we are going to watch strange movies in his basement. Want to come?” I accepted and the part about this movie being strange was right on the money.
The two guys gave me an interesting lesson in the movie genre “Giallo”. Giallo is Italian and means the color yellow and the genre is named so after the Italian book concept based on mystery stories printed on cheap yellow paper. What the movie genre has inherited is the mystery murder often involving black leather gloves, stylized violence and a thrilling plot.
This movie might have been on the edge of the giallo genre, as I understood it. If you are new to the genre and curious to see what it is about, you might want to start somewhere a bit more soft. Do not let this one pass though, it is still quite fascinating.
Typical to this genre is the mystery, but here the mystery were so strange that it crossed the border and became downright confusing several times. Despite being a team of one movie nerd (me) and the two movie experts, we had a very hard time keeping up.
What was so fantastic about this movie was he imagery. The colors, the composition of the shots, the sets, and even the stylized violence were incredibly well done. Despite being dazed and confused from trying to follow the storyline, I was quite amazed of all the delicate pictures.
As this was my first giallo movie, I have a bit difficulty judging the actors’ performance. For me several of the scenes were a bit too theatrical for my taste. I have no doubt that they demanded talent to deliver, but for me they might have fitted better in an actual theater.
