Thursday 18 September 2014

Double Bill Mini Musings: Neo-Giallo Curiosity and Wacky Belly Laughs Galore...

The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears:
What's it about?
A curious mystery-cum-horror in which man returns from a business trip to discover that his wife is missing and their apartment is locked from the inside.
Who would I recognise in it?
Erm...
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
From Bruno Forzani and Helene Cattet, who previously gave us the giallo-tinged Amer, this is a dream-like experience, much like Dario Argento's Inferno, where the hallucinatory and fragmented presentation seeks to disorientate viewers as much as entice them. The directors ramp up their sensory approach to eleven, crafting a film which boasts astonishingly exquisite visuals and haunting aural soundscapes. The architecture of the apartment building is put to grand use, particularly in a kaleidoscopic introduction that suggests darkness and danger lie in wait, and sequences akin to the photographic approach of La Jetee stun the viewer. Many of the visual and thematic touchstones of gialli are present - the black leather gloves, the razor, the mix of sexuality and violence, the gorgeous soundtrack (cherry-picked Tarantino-style from a selection of 1970s Italian scores) - so fans of the genre will be in heaven. This all said, the narrative is hard to follow, fractured as it is by diversionary vignettes and sparse plotting. It would be fair to say that, similar to Amer, there isn't quite enough content to fill the running time, but this also feels like a film that will benefit from multiple viewings. Populated by curious characters - such as a detective with a deeply dark voyeuristic past - it's certainly not for everyone. Some have decried it, and it's predecessor Amer, as pretentious art-house guff, but this is too dismissive. It's niche market, absolutely, but it's one of the most richly textured cinematic experiences in a long, long time. There has been somewhat of a resurgence in the long lost giallo genre in recent years, and The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears is a grandiose highlight in the Neo-Giallo movement. Good.

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Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues:
What's it about?
Belated follow-up to the 2004 comedy smash hit. Ron re-assembles his news team to take on a brand new world - 24 hour cable news.
Who would I recognise in it?
Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Dylan Baker, James Marsden, Meagan Good, Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig, Fred Willard, Chris Parnell, Harrison Ford, and many, many more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Mixing greatest hit recalls with indulgent-in-the-best-way wackiness, Anchorman 2 proves to be an irresistible prospect. On occasion it threatens to jump the shark (or adopt it), and some of the cast do get sidelined when Ron experiences yet another downfall (the cast is huge), but it's consistently entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny. Thankfully it doesn't betray the intentions of the first movie, nor sully its name; it's a more-than-worthy sequel. On the cusp between good and great.

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