Giallo
The Last Thriller From the Master of Horror Dario Argento
Linda (Emmanuelle Seigner) is a smart, attractive flight attendant, who travels in Torino to spend time with Celine (Elsa Pataky), her sister. When Celine doesn't arrive for their planned meeting, she takes her concern to the local police. But they don't want to be bothered with her, sending her instead to the basement to deal with inspector Enzo Avolfi (Adrien Brody), an eccentric detective who doesn't fit in with the department. The details of the case remind him of a strange killer he's been hunting. Yellow.
Member Reviews
Why does this film even rate 2.5 stars - every1sacritic
All I can say is I just wasted 60 minutes I can never get back. Yes, I did watch the whole thing (mostly on fast forward) like the preverbial car wreck that you can't look away from. Everything about this film was a disaster. The direction, the astonishingly bad makeup, the casting, and the screenplay. I thought I liked Adrien Brody as an actor but he has been in some real stinkers since The Pianist and I now find I'm getting gun shy in picking movies he is in.
A big thumbs down on this one.Script Is A Mess - nw_kiff
The good news about "Giallo" is Argento is able to execute some of the shots and camerawork that he is known for, and has been missing from most of his 2000's output. The problem is he's let down by a script that is oddly paced, lacks suspense, and doesn't even play by the rules of the genre it is supposed to be paying homage to.
The "Giallo" film is a murder mystery, but here we find out who the killer is half an hour in. The protagonists never appear to be in any danger, and the victims just appear to be quickly scooped up. The film seems to want the horror to be the mutilation inflicted on the victims by the killer, and while Argento handles this less gratuitously than in his other recent films, it simply isn't enough to sustain interest in the film.
The pacing is very odd, where with 15 minutes left, we watch the two lead characters sit and talk and develop backstory, when at this point the audience would be more interested in moving towards the conclusion.
The acting is serviceable overall, pretty strong for an Argento film. Adrien Brody does well and elevates dialogue that would sound much worse in a lesser actor's hands. There is a bizarre choice of having Brody play a second character, I won't spoil who, but it just seems like an odd and unnecessary decision.
Overall, the film is shot nicely, and has some interesting ideas, but is let down by pacing, lack of suspense, and the bizarre choice to reveal the killer early, leaving us with a mediocre procedural.Bad Bad Bad Brody - 0930tracey
Didn't Adrien Brody win an Oscar for "The Pianist"? W-h-a-t happened? Giallo goes from bad to really bad in a few short scenes. The actors all seem to be at a test read. I feel like I've seen this movie already somewhere before. Do yourself a favour and save yourself a Zip and 92 minutes of your life!
Member Reviews
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Why does this film even rate 2.5 stars - every1sacritic
All I can say is I just wasted 60 minutes I can never get back. Yes, I did watch the whole thing (mostly on fast forward) like the preverbial car wreck that you can't look away from. Everything about this film was a disaster. The direction, the astonishingly ...Script Is A Mess - nw_kiff
The good news about "Giallo" is Argento is able to execute some of the shots and camerawork that he is known for, and has been missing from most of his 2000's output. The problem is he's let down by a script that is oddly paced, lacks suspense, and doesn't ...Bad Bad Bad Brody - 0930tracey
Didn't Adrien Brody win an Oscar for "The Pianist"? W-h-a-t happened? Giallo goes from bad to really bad in a few short scenes. The actors all seem to be at a test read. I feel like I've seen this movie already somewhere before. Do yourself a favour and save ...