EIFF 2009: Giallo

Dario Argento's latest film, Giallo, sees the director return to his roots. It is reminiscent of his works during the seventies, such as Suspiria, but lacks the abstract originality he is so well respected for. Giallo is a surprisingly straight-forward genre film, in which inspector Enzo Avolfi (Adrien Brody) attempts to capture a serial killer before he kills his latest, beautiful victim. The story may be familiar, but Argento adds his touch of drama and horror expertise with visceral red hues and clever camera work, while the powerful, purposeful score supports almost every scene. The characters are rather cliched – the female roles require little more than looking good, screaming and assisting the men; Enzo is a typically reclusive, repressed-memory type, shunning his colleagues to hide in the basement surrounded by crime scene photographs – but moments of tongue-in-cheek humour suggests this is Argento's intention.  Giallo is instantly recognisable as an Argento film, and is entertainingly bloody, funny and visually retro.