I know there's been a lot of late nights recently, but pull on your black leather gloves, get your eye make-up just right, jump in your black Jaguar and catch the final screening of the giallo-homage, The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears at the Scotiabank!
And if you don't or can't make it, the Vanguard Blog has a pretty sweet look at giallosoundtracks to set the mood for your day.
Amer (2009) caught me totally off guard. I was confused by it, and left the theatre kind of angry. I don't think this is the film's fault. I think it had been mis-positioned for me. I had been expecting and totally psyched up for a traditional giallo/slasher film -- I was no where near the mindset needed to appreciate a sophisticated installation art piece like Amer. Instead of a traditional narrative - the story came in waves of bombastic imagery and psychedelic sound. More stream of consciousness than linguistic. There is a story, for those who are prepared to engineer if from the clues -- I wasn't. Only in thinking about it afterwards, I started to appreciate it more, and realize that I had robbed myself of a unique experience.
Having said that, it did do right by the giallo standard. The difference being, It stripped all of the traditionally executed conventional foundations, and left only the peaks that the genre has become known for. A passionate smattering of vibrant images, raw sexuality and beautiful destruction. A pretty confident thing to witness.
Expect more piercing images.
Cavalier Amer (2009) filmmakers Hélène Cattet andBruno Forzaniarrive at TIFF's Vanguard program this year with their sophomore feature; The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2013). And now that I've had a chance to really mull it over, its becoming one of my most anticipated films. I'm not sure what to expect. I don't think that they'll play it safe, but then none of my favorite filmmakers do. This time around, I plan to watch more lucidly. It will be very interesting to see how these filmmakers have evolved and adapted their hypnotizing and evocative style.
I'm not sure exactly how stylistically close it will be to Amer- will they continue to push down this brazen path, or if it will be a more traditional? The shot-in-the-face trailer certainly suggests the brazen road!
The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears premieres tonight over at The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, home of the Vanguard Program.
It's not part of Midnight Madness, but where would the Madness be without giallo, those stylish Italian thrillers that led to slasher films and classics like Halloween and Friday The Thirteenth? And The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears is Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani's homage to giallo. Here is the amazing poster
Today's Dario Argento's Birthday! Argento is an innovator in horror and a master of the Italian giallo genre.
He's also an alumnus of the Toronto International Film Festival, having shown Mother of Tears (2007), The Stendhal Syndrome (1996), Trauma (1993); Two Evil Eyes(1990), co-directed with George Romero; Opera (1989) all at Midnight Madness. In fact, after Takashi Miike, Argento's the director who's shown the most films at Midnight Madness.
His most famous films includeSuspiria; The Bird With The Crystal Plumage; and Deep Red. More recently he's had two episodes of Masters of Horror, ("Jenifer" and "Pelts"); Giallo starring Adrien Brody, and his newest film isDracula 3D with Rutger Hauer as the Count.
Happy Birthday, Maestro!
And you can celebrate by watching two movies that are definitely influenced by Argento's legacy.
BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO Screening Times: Mon., Sept. 10th, 6:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA Tue., Sept. 11th, 2:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 3 LORDS OF SALEM Mon., Sept. 10, 11:59pm: RYERSON Wed., Sept. 12, 5pm: CINEPLEX YONGE AND DUNDAS 6
Director Joe Dante is not only one of the fiendish master mind behind Trailers from Hell, he's also a Midnight Madness alumnus. He directed a segment in the horror anthology, Trapped Ashes, which screened at Midnight Madness 2006.
As the first among TFH gurus, Dante comments on a lot of films, but one film, he commented on twice: Mario Bava's classic giallo,Blood and Black Lace. and an excellent movie to watch in anticipation of Berberian Sound Studios, a movie that plays with giallo history and conventions.
James McNally has already covered giallo in depth at our Vanguard sister blog, so I'll just say that giallo is an Italian crime film genre that is generally more lurid than straight detective stories--and possibly more honest in its way. It often has weird or psychic phenomenon elements. And giallo influence the development of both slasher horror like John Carpenter's Halloween, sexy thrillers like Brian de Palma's Body Double and even artsy psychodramas like Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.
It's somehow fitting that a giallo film would get two slightly different takes.
Here's Dante's most recent commentary:
And here is the original commentary, if you are curious to hear if he says anything different and to see the transfer quality for yourself.
