Do You Like Hitchcock? (Director in Focus: Argento Restored)
Key Cast: Chiara Conti, Elio Germano, Elisabetta Rocchetti
Director: Dario Argento
Screenwriter: Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini
If you like Hitchcock, you’ll love Dario Argento’s exhilarating 2005 homage to the Master of Suspense.
Giulio is a Rome film student obsessed with the work of Alfred Hitchcock. He spends his time watching movies and spying on his attractive neighbour, Sasha, who he discovers frequents the same video store as him; there, she captures Giulio’s attention when she tries to borrow a Hitchcock film that is also sought by another customer. When a murder is committed in the building across from his, Giulio finds himself drawn deep into the investigation and at the centre of his own old-fashioned thrill ride.
Argento pays his respects to the director he has most often been compared to with this made-for-television title that riffs with style and smarts on Hitchcock’s greatest hits, including Rear Window (MIFF 1984), Vertigo (MIFF 1984), Psycho and, most memorably, Strangers on a Train. The Italian auteur makes playful nods in the direction of German expressionist horror, too, to craft one of his most entertaining films, bursting with delights for cinephiles.
“A light-toned, knowing pastiche of suspense clichés … [with] the bravado that makes Argento Argento.” – The A.V. Club
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