Had Ti Piace Hitchock? (Do You Like Hitchock?) been the debut of a twenty-something director working with a few bucks and using friends and family members in his cast, I would have been eager to praise it for a few decent scenes and neat visual choices. Since, however, it has been made by a director of the magnitude of Dario Argento, an influential master of horror, the result comes across as aggressively mediocre and even rather sad - almost to the point that, along with Il Cartaio and other recent bombs dished out by Argento, it could be pointed out as a sign of the rapidly encroaching senility of a once great artist.
Built as a Hitchock shrine, the movie references, among others, Rear Window and Strangers on a Train: set in Turin (the same baroque, elegant city of Profondo Rosso), the film follows Giulio, a young man spying on his neighbours; when a woman is killed, movie geek Giulio suspects a Strangers on a Train-like arrangement in which two murderers switched their designated victims.
Surprisingly flat set-pieces apart, what hurts more is the acting, with some of the worst performances in a movie by a major director you are likely to see in a long time. I can honestly claim I've seen better performances in school plays, and by better I mean "there is no comparison". This is becoming a trademark of the last Argento: most of his recent movies have been plagued by this horrifically bad acting - see Silvio Muccino in Il Cartaio, another recent failure unwisely homaged here with a shot of its poster in a video store.
The most entertaining part is catching other Hitchcock references; I've noticed nods to Marnie and Vertigo, and to Psycho as well (the climax takes place in a bathroom), but I might have missed others as I was covering my eyes and ears during the worst instances of bad acting.
4/10
Built as a Hitchock shrine, the movie references, among others, Rear Window and Strangers on a Train: set in Turin (the same baroque, elegant city of Profondo Rosso), the film follows Giulio, a young man spying on his neighbours; when a woman is killed, movie geek Giulio suspects a Strangers on a Train-like arrangement in which two murderers switched their designated victims.
Surprisingly flat set-pieces apart, what hurts more is the acting, with some of the worst performances in a movie by a major director you are likely to see in a long time. I can honestly claim I've seen better performances in school plays, and by better I mean "there is no comparison". This is becoming a trademark of the last Argento: most of his recent movies have been plagued by this horrifically bad acting - see Silvio Muccino in Il Cartaio, another recent failure unwisely homaged here with a shot of its poster in a video store.
The most entertaining part is catching other Hitchcock references; I've noticed nods to Marnie and Vertigo, and to Psycho as well (the climax takes place in a bathroom), but I might have missed others as I was covering my eyes and ears during the worst instances of bad acting.
4/10