Journal Journal: Suspiria is a crappy movie. 7
Dario Argento sucks. Suspiria is such an insanely bad movie I want to demand my money back from netflix ($1.41). It is highly stylized. And that is all that can be said of it. It is non linear, and by that I mean the scenes don't flow, they make no sense on their own, and are gigantic non-sequitors. Upon reading Dario's very inflated bio on the dvd, I can only assume the thing that propelled its cult status back in the day was its overt violence. Which is really no great shakes.
When thinking of older movies that have aged well, I compare with The Shining and Clockwork Orange; mood and tone feature heavily. Dario's answer to mood and tone is a lot of red and green lights. This is not an oversimpification; he seems to have "broken lots of brain" over complex lighting that does nothing. It simply confuses the viewer and obscures things in a non-positive way.
The performances are un-believeable. While reading the bios apparently few of the actors spoke the same language; many were 'speaking' italian phonetically. Such beginnings don't bode well. And they aren't supported by the words that do exist in the script, nor by the inhuman actors. The "Freaky occurences" aren't really that freaky at all. Had any of us been in the movie, we'd be completely unawares that the coven of witches existed; we'd have overlooked the maggots, we'd have disauded sarah and flat out called her a crazy conspiracy theorist, and we probably would have enjoyed taking dinner laced with tranquilizers in our room. We'd would have enjoyed it more than this movie.
I can only assume that the performance of the blind pianist was supposed to be comic relief; his un-believably bad impersonation was so overwrought and outright incorrect that while being berated by the head mistress he kept not facing her, despite being 8 inches away. But it subtracts from the drama of the moment; Dario has sabotaged himself. (regardless, fans of industrial music will recognize the sample)
Now the demise of the pianist does show some skill and we have a bit of hope for our boy Dario. The chiaroscuro light work has something; we almost start to believe. However the overtness of the dog attack snaps the spell; its an itriguing idea to have his own dog betray him but we're back in our living rooms. The magic is gone. Had all previous lightwork been this effective the movie would get a much higher rating from me.
The Mod/Bauhaus 70's fashion and architecture are really the only reason to watch the film. That, and for the hysterical video of an italian goth-bands take on the theme music. Oh man, that was a howler.
F--.
See me after class!