I am a HUGE Dario Argento fan. This dates back to working in a New York video store (The Video Stop on 28th and 3rd) and hanging out with my manager and her boyfriend, who was an aspiring filmmaker. He turned me on to "Deep Red" and "Suspiria" and it was trickey then, because not many of Argento's films were released on video - those that were often came horribly edited - with (A) either the most gruesome bits chopped out or (B) the least gruesome but most charming story sequences edited so you could get to the aforementioned gruesome parts more quickly. Anyway, it became my partner and my mission to scour Manhattan video stores for the best copies of his work and readily devoured anything we could find. At his peak, he was an astonishingly adept and technical fil;mmaker, with a very striking visual style.
Unfortunately, most of Dario's work in the 1990s onwards was somewhat less than his brilliant work from about 1970 to 1985. Nothing has really impressed me lately, but, while in the local Blockbuster, killing time and an Americano over a Fangoria magazine, I discovered he is hard at work at the third movie of his never finished trilogy - the Three Mothers. "Suspiria" and "Inferno", the first two pictures (both made in the 1970s) are two of his best - surreal and dreamlike fairy tales, all of light and color with brilliant locations, camera work, and set pieces. They are wonderful examples of how he can create unbelievably aesthetic portraits of violence - it is every Argento fan's hope he can pull the third off without pulling a George Lucas. Help he has from his ex-wife, Dario Nicolodi, who had starred in most of his best work and their daughter, Asia, who is now enjoying some success as a filmmaker. Udo Kier rounds out the cast of the picture, which has a Halloween 2007 release.
By the way, if you haven't caught Asia Argento's last film "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things", you should definitely do so as she has an eye like her father's, even if the subject matter is more contemporary Harmony Korine type fare. It's often hard to watch, much like Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream", but also with consistently pretty cinematography. The movie works despite its tremendous narcissism.
Unfortunately, most of Dario's work in the 1990s onwards was somewhat less than his brilliant work from about 1970 to 1985. Nothing has really impressed me lately, but, while in the local Blockbuster, killing time and an Americano over a Fangoria magazine, I discovered he is hard at work at the third movie of his never finished trilogy - the Three Mothers. "Suspiria" and "Inferno", the first two pictures (both made in the 1970s) are two of his best - surreal and dreamlike fairy tales, all of light and color with brilliant locations, camera work, and set pieces. They are wonderful examples of how he can create unbelievably aesthetic portraits of violence - it is every Argento fan's hope he can pull the third off without pulling a George Lucas. Help he has from his ex-wife, Dario Nicolodi, who had starred in most of his best work and their daughter, Asia, who is now enjoying some success as a filmmaker. Udo Kier rounds out the cast of the picture, which has a Halloween 2007 release.
By the way, if you haven't caught Asia Argento's last film "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things", you should definitely do so as she has an eye like her father's, even if the subject matter is more contemporary Harmony Korine type fare. It's often hard to watch, much like Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream", but also with consistently pretty cinematography. The movie works despite its tremendous narcissism.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
waxangel:
Wasn't The Heart is Deceitful... a JT LeRoy book? Why yes, it was. Related?
waxangel:
In fact, I did. I thought it was terrific. Then I was fairly outraged and insulted that some twat would forge such a horrific "reality." Read it, you'll see what I mean. As fiction, it would still be moving and impressive, if presented as fiction. When presented as autobiography, though actually fiction, well, the whole debacle really pissed me off.