I had pretty high expectations from this movie as it is a tribute from the great Dario Argento to the great Alfred Hitchcock.Dario Argento is one of the living directors i have the greatest respect for, and one of my personal favorite directors of all-time, and there is probably no true cineaste around to doubt that Alfred Hitchcock is one of THE most influential and greatest directors in the history of motion pictures.
That being said, I was slightly disappointed with "Ti Piace Hitchcock?" aka "Do You Like Hitchcock?" of 2005. Not because it's not nearly as gory and brutal as Argento's ultra-violent masterpieces from the 70s and 80s - I expected it to be mild for Argento standards, since it's a made-for-TV tribute from a genius director, Dario Argento, to another genius director, Alfred Hitchcock, and this doesn't call for the extreme violence of films like Suspiria or Opera. What I did expect, however, was the suspense, that Argento usually delivers, and I was therefore a bit disappointed, as I found all the parts of the movie that were meant to surprise way too predictable. There is a lot of tension, and the movie highly entertains, no doubt about that but the plot-twists are quite lame and it is simply not nearly as suspenseful as we're used to from Argento, especially after he delivered another great and highly suspenseful Giallo, "Non Ho Sonno" aka "Sleepless" in 2001.
The performances are great, Elio Germano delivers a solid leading performances and all three leading actresses - Elisabetta Roncchetti, Christina Brondo and Chiara Conti are both sexy and excellent in their roles, especially Roncchetti is drop-dead gorgeous and delivers a great performance in a great femme-fatale role. The score by Pino Donaggio is very good, but then again it is not nearly as brilliant as the scores by Progressive Rock band Goblin and their genius keyboard-player/composer Claudio Simonetti.
Over-all, the movie delivers suspense, atmosphere and good entertainment. It is just not very good for what it is (or could have been), a Hitchcock-tribute from Argento. Argento fans like myself run risk of being a little disappointed, but it is definitely worth the time.
That being said, I was slightly disappointed with "Ti Piace Hitchcock?" aka "Do You Like Hitchcock?" of 2005. Not because it's not nearly as gory and brutal as Argento's ultra-violent masterpieces from the 70s and 80s - I expected it to be mild for Argento standards, since it's a made-for-TV tribute from a genius director, Dario Argento, to another genius director, Alfred Hitchcock, and this doesn't call for the extreme violence of films like Suspiria or Opera. What I did expect, however, was the suspense, that Argento usually delivers, and I was therefore a bit disappointed, as I found all the parts of the movie that were meant to surprise way too predictable. There is a lot of tension, and the movie highly entertains, no doubt about that but the plot-twists are quite lame and it is simply not nearly as suspenseful as we're used to from Argento, especially after he delivered another great and highly suspenseful Giallo, "Non Ho Sonno" aka "Sleepless" in 2001.
The performances are great, Elio Germano delivers a solid leading performances and all three leading actresses - Elisabetta Roncchetti, Christina Brondo and Chiara Conti are both sexy and excellent in their roles, especially Roncchetti is drop-dead gorgeous and delivers a great performance in a great femme-fatale role. The score by Pino Donaggio is very good, but then again it is not nearly as brilliant as the scores by Progressive Rock band Goblin and their genius keyboard-player/composer Claudio Simonetti.
Over-all, the movie delivers suspense, atmosphere and good entertainment. It is just not very good for what it is (or could have been), a Hitchcock-tribute from Argento. Argento fans like myself run risk of being a little disappointed, but it is definitely worth the time.