Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

This is the last of the “animal series” of giallos from Dario Argento, the others being The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) and The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971). This time a drummer (Michael Brandon) ends up killing a man after an unfortunate encounter. Then someone who witnessed and photographed the killing starts blackmailing him and soon bodies start piling up as he tries to cover his tracks. Well the “accidental” killing at the start was extremely far fetched and the rest of the plot isn't exactly great either. But as so many times it's the mood Argento sets up which is the driving force of his movies and this was no exception. The score by Ennio Morricone wasn't bad, but really it wasn't used as well as it could have been. The visual side however was well in hand, the compositions were quite great and the camerawork by Franco Di Giacomo was pretty much perfect. Some of the scenes are extremely memorable, whether that's a good thing or not is for the viewer to decide, I sure loved them. The biggest problem of this movie is the long and unneeded explanation of the motives at the end and in this Shameless release of the extended cut it's even longer than in the American cut. It's a shame as the ending is otherwise great it just drags on way too long on the explaining part. Apart from that and the misuse of Morricone's talents, this is a great giallo.

80%

When giallo met poliziesco

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974)

Another mix of giallo and poliziesco (Italian crime movie). This time it's more in the poliziesco side, even though it has most of the giallo elements also. The police find a teenage girl who has apparently hung herself, but soon it turns out that there's a lot more to it than just a suicide. The detectives stumble onto a child prostitute business that seems to have it's claws all the way up to the highest officials of the city. This is one of the better crossovers of it's kind, though die hard giallo fans might be a bit disappointed as it's more on the crime movie side of things. But there are a couple of stylish suspense scenes that even come close to being horror at parts. That doesn't mean that the rest of the movie wouldn't be stylish, on the contrary, it's a very stylish thriller all the way. The cinematography is at parts pure brilliance and despite the movie being a bit "stiff" at times, it has a great mood to it. The soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani is one of the best I've heard. The main theme in it self sounds quite silly and light hearted, but once you combine it with the theme of the movie it'll start to haunt you. That's absolutely brilliant. The dubbing of course made the acting seem a bit bad at times, but still I quite liked the casting. It's not a perfect movie by any means, but still it's one of the best crossovers and a very good movie in itself.
81%

My dear, is that a power tool in your pocket or are you just excited to see me?

My Dear Killer (1972)

This is another crossover from a poliziesco (Italian crime movie) to a giallo. It's a murder mystery and we follow the investigation from an inspector's (George Hilton) point of view. What starts out as an accident investigation turns into a murder spree and the only clue is a child's drawing. I quite liked the story, I mean it's very basic, but it reminded me of those detective stories from the 50's of course this time spiced up with the giallo style brutal murders. The viewer is given all the leads as the inspector discovers them so it's quite fun to try and guess what has happened, though you don't need to scratch your head too hard for it. The cast is fairly ok, none of them made an impression but they weren't bad either. The style is not the most artistic, but there are some scenes that looked quite great and Ennio Morricone's music spiced them up nicely. This movie is far from the best from either of the genres but still it has it's moments and was worth checking out.
67%

Sometimes amnesia is better than bad memories

Puzzle (1974)

This lesser known movie is a strange mix of giallo and italian crime movie. It's a story about a man who has lost his memory as a result of a car accident. He finds out he has a wife who is being stalked by someone who breaks into her house, drugs her and turns the whole place upside down. As fragments of memories start to return to the man, we slowly start to see the bigger picture which looks quite grim. I really love the story in this one and how it's told. Surprising for a giallo that this actually has a good script and the thriller is very gripping. It's told in a slow manner where the viewer gets just what the main character can remember. This builds the movie into a very intriguing mix of crime thriller drama and even horror at parts. It's not as stylish as most of the giallos and actually this script in the hands of some of the masters like Argento, Bava or Martino would have been one of the best giallos ever made. Now it's definitely not bad either, but still as it's missing a bit of the style it didn't work as well as it really could have. Still it's a good movie and well worth watching, even if you wouldn't be that much into giallos.
73%

Crime is brutal, in this case maybe a bit too much

Contraband (1980)

Lucio Fulci, the godfather of gore goes for a poliziotteschi, Italian crime movie, that surely sounds interesting if nothing else. The thing is that Fulci is categorized as just a gorehound and his artistic talent doesn't really get any recognition even though he has done some quite a brilliant movies in middle of all the blood and guts. Too bad this wasn't one of them and surely didn't help that categorization. I mean the movie had tons of potential and some brilliant scenes but in the end it focuses too much on the gruesome shock effects and neglects the good ideas the plot had to offer. It's a story about a smuggler called Luca whose brother is killed by a rival drug gang and as he goes for revenge he stumbles on to a mafia war that doesn't shy on bodycount. Despite the slow and quite promising start the movie soon takes a turn to focus brutal violence and forgets the context in middle of the mess. As typical for Fulci, the women get the worst share of the violence in a few scenes where even the most hardened gorehound will have hard time watching. The cast is fairly good with Fabio Testi as the most notable of course. The dubbing is probably the worst I've heard in an Italian movie, so watch the movie in it's original language with subtitles or it'll just seem unintentionally funny. I was quite disappointed in the music, Fabio Frizzi is one of the greatest composers from Italy, right after Ennio Morricone, so I was expecting a lot more from it than this. So the movie had potential, but unfortunately it's not used that well. Gorehounds will get their fair share of blood and guts, the rest get just an average eurocrime movie with too much focus on the violence.
56%

Forbidden love stuck in an elevator

Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

Louis Malle's first feature length fiction movie is a very solid film noir. The plot is quite great with many layers, some being quite ingenious and others a bit too simple looking back at them now. The story is basicly about two couples and the people around them. First couple is a classic noir duo of forbidden love and a plan to murder the woman's husband in between. The second couple is a younger generation with rebel state of mind, similar to what you've seen in Godard's movies. Things of course don't go as planned and there are many twists on the way with the younger couple mixing up the plans of the other couple. The movie is overly passionate as usual for French movies of the time, this did bring out a bit of unintentional campy feel at times. Reminded me of all the parodies people do of the French cinema nowadays. The look is classic film noir and definitely nothing to complain there. The soundtrack is quite suiting and especially jazz fans will love it as it uses Miles Davis' music. The cast is quite good, though of course there are those overly portrayed emotions, but that's fitting to the era. All in all a solid film noir that suffers a bit from a few campy moments but still manages to shine out on others.
67%

French crime movies are back in business

A Prophet (2009)

I knew I would come to regret making the Best of 2010 list before I saw some of the most hyped about movies of the year. So I finally got the chance to watch this and this surely belongs in there as one of the best movies of the year. This is a brilliant movie about organized crime, great prison movie and a good drama to boost. It cleared up the festival prize tables around the world last year and surely deserved it. Don't really know what to write about this, everything works great, the cast is great, the direction is brilliant, the mood is great, the music is suiting and the story is interesting. Would like to give this one a masterpiece score, but there's one little plot hole that bugged me, but can't really explain what it was without spoiling a big part of the movie. Anyways I can live with that and this went to my favourite prison movies.
90%

It's not easy to be a criminal in Milan

Caliber 9 (1972)

Fernando Di Leo is a big name in the Italian crime movies and his masterpiece is this little gem of a crime film. The movie starts with a money exchange gone bad and 300000 dollars missing. Then it jumps ahead 3 years to a thug called Ugo Piazza, played by Gastone Moschin, being released from prison. He gets the crime syndicate and the police after him who all believe he took the money. Even his girlfriend, played by Barbara Bouchet, thinks he stole the money, no matter what he says. So life is certainly not easy for Ugo. As the story kicks in it doesn't let the viewer off easy. It keeps you guessing all along while keeping a tense pressure on with a constant danger looming around. Surprisingly for the genre the story is one of this movie's strongest parts, it's not the usual straight forward ripoff most of it's kind tend to go with. Add to that the brilliant cast with strong performances by Gastone Moschin and Mario Adorf, spiced up with the divine Barbara Bouchet and you have a true genre classic. The cinematography is pure brilliance and the score by Luis Bacalov backs it up nicely. One of the best crime movies ever made.
99%

Almost humane movie

Almost Human (1974)

A nihilistic story about the life of a scumbag criminal and a kidnapping of a wealthy man's daughter. This is one of the better eurocrime movies from Italy and has one of the best lead actor performances I've seen in it's kind. Tomas Milian is superb as the slimy small time crook named Giulio who basicly despises the human life. It all starts with a bank job gone wrong where Giulio's limited ability to solve problems leads to him killing a police officer. The gang he did the job with beats him up for it and things don't look good for Giulio. But then he finds two small time crooks who he himself can boss around and they set on a plan to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy businessman. The detective investigating the case, played by Henry Silva with basicly one expression, ends up facing a long trail of bodies in his search of the missing girl. Umberto Lenzi tells his story in a very straight forward manner keeping the focus on the criminal and not giving many moments of relief. This works brilliantly as Tomas Milian's performance is almost psychotic. Add to that Ennio Morricone's soundtrack and a great crime classic is born. It's not the best of it's kind, but surely in the top of the eurocrime movies.
89%

Enemies of the imperialism

The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)

German radicalists striving for a more humane society using violence and inhumane means to get there. I heard good things about this but I missed it at the theaters, then almost forgot it until I found it in a discount bin of a local record store. Luckily I did as this was a very nice surprise. It has plenty of action to keep it interesting but yet it gets the underlying message through without judging too much either of the sides. That's something that seems to be quite hard to do with these kind of movies. The cast is great and the movie looks nice. I think the only bad thing I can say about this is that there's too much content in it for it's duration. Some characters don't get the space they would have needed and thus are left a bit meaningless. The story would have worked even better as a mini series or as two movies. All in all great movie and worth the watch.
87%

To live and die in Bruges

In Bruges (2008)

Two Irish assassins are sent to Bruges, Belgium to cool off after a job went bad. The assassins, Ken and Ray, are complete opposites of eachother but still in a way the same. Ray is being bored to death of the city and Ken enjoying it's culture to the fullest. They try to enjoy the city in their own way and even Ray starts to find something good from it. But when their boss phones in a new assignment things take a big turn. Not going to give anything else from the story. First of all this movie is quite a masterpiece. One of the best first movies I've ever seen from any director. It's fresh with a brilliant script full of morbid dark humour and truly beautifully dramatic scenes. The cast couldn't be better, Colin Farrell makes one of his best performances. The chemisty between Farrell and Gleeson is just stunning and it supports the story brilliantly. The movie looks beautiful and the mood is right on the spot. It climbs to it's dramatic climax like a jet plane, being hilariously funny at parts and stunningly dramatic at parts. But it's not exhausting, it's a smooth comfortable flight. Definitely one of the best from this year.
96%

Melville's cunning neo-noir

Le Doulos (1962)

Back to the BFI films. Next one was another great noir from Jean-Pierre Melville. I'm not going to tell anything about the story as it's one of those "less you know is better" so you could get the full thrill of the movie. Needless to say it's superbly done, beautiful shot and witty as you'd expect from Melville. There's some scenes of which film makers even today would be green of envy as they are so brilliantly crafted. The interrogation scene for example is one which is so close to brilliance I was simply stunned. The movie has more dialog than you'd expect in a Melville movie, but it certainly doesn't take anything away from it. It's still somehow beautifully muted yet quite striking. Not the best from Melville, but up there on the top of his films. Can't really say anything more, it's still a masterpiece in it's genre and a must see for every noir fan out there.
93%

A French take on the American crime movie

Le Cercle rouge (1970)

Next one from the BFI films was Jean-Pierre Melville's classic heist movie. I had already seen this one many times and was about time I could retire my old crappy VHS version of it. Well not much to say about this, it's a brilliant noirish crime thriller that stands time perfectly. There's a few odd scenes I don't like as they seem to be a bit forced into the plot, like the two hitmen on the country road for example. But those don't matter so much as the movie is really stunning in all other parts. I especially love the coolly muted cinematography which brings it the dark noirish tone. Quite simply a masterpiece with a few dents on it.
90%