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6
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3 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Italian
shock master Dario Argento (Deep Red,
Tenebre) returns to his bloody giallo
roots with his latest film, Sleepless
("Nonhosonno").
It opens with a brief
prologue. Turin, Italy, 1983: A woman has been horribly butchered.
Her 10-year old son Giacomo witnessed the crime but did not
see the murderer's face. Police inspector Ulisse Moretti (Max
von Sydow) makes a solemn promise to the boy: he will track
down the killer and bring him to justice, even if it takes the
rest of his life. Little does the veteran cop know that his
oath will become prophecy.
The story then jumps
forward 17 years. When two prostitutes are savagely murdered,
tenuous clues point back to a case thought solved long ago.
"The Killer Dwarf" was a psychopath who terrorized the city
in 1983 —
Giacomo's mother was victim # 2 —
until the diligent Moretti caught him. The murderer, a hunchbacked
midget who wrote crime thrillers under a nom de plume,
later escaped but was believed to have committed suicide. Case
closed. But now the police face a chilling realization... Either
the infamous Killer Dwarf isn't really dead, or a copycat serial
killer is on the loose.
Aided by all the
accoutrements of modern criminology —
computers, DNA testing —
the cops come up cold. In desperation they turn to retired Chief
Inspector Moretti, now a widower content to live out his remaining
days tending to his garden and pet parrot. Citing a fading memory
he insists there's nothing he can offer in the way of help.
But more brutal murders follow; now the perp is leaving the
same animal figure cutouts at the scene of his crimes as the
Killer Dwarf did almost two decades before. The thought that
perhaps he arrested the wrong man back in '83 compells Moretti
into launching his own private investigation. He's joined in
this effort by a young man —
Giacomo Gallo (Stefano Dionisi), who as a traumatized boy was
promised justice. Haunted ever since by his mother's murder,
Giacomo has come back to Turin after hearing about the latest
slayings. The pair team up and begin to find clues that the
high-tech police have missed (or simply dismiss). The killer,
however, seems to always be one step ahead...
Fans of Argento's
classic gialli should revel in this film. All the familiar trappings
are here —
the black-gloved killer, gory murder set-pieces, protagonists
unraveling the mystery outside of the official investigation.
Happily, Sleepless manages to keep
the old formula fresh. The scares and
gross-outs are plentiful; Argento's fluid, roaming camera lends
both urgency and artistry to the mayhem. (A single, continuous
tracking shot —
aimed at the floor —
that follows along a carpet to a rather grisly conclusion is
primo Dario.) Goblin, the Italian rock group that provided the
most memorable music in the Argento filmography, return with
another excellent, pulse-pounding score. And Max von Sydow is
terrific as Moretti. He gives a thoroughly believable performance
that serves as the film's tent pole. As the acting is often
cited as a weakness in Argento's movies —
he has a rep for disdaining actors —
it's great to have a thespian of this caliber in a critical
role. (And good to see von Sydow get a starring credit rather
than a supporting one.)
This ain't Deep Red, however. Sleepless
is flawed in a major way, dragged down by the stiff, vacant
performances of its younger cast members —
the problem's entirely generational,
as all the actors over 40 acquit themselves admirably. Roberto
Zibetti (as Lorenzo, a friend of Giacomo's) and Chiara Caselli
(Gloria, his love interest), are the chief culprits in this
regard, though Dionisi, in the film's second most important
role, isn't much better. (I couldn't help but notice how much
Caselli resembles Asia Argento, the director's daughter and
occasional muse.) There's another nit to pick as well: a supposedly
comedic scene, in which midgets are called in by the police
for questioning, is ham-handed and completely unfunny. The scene
should've been cut.
But I'm a major Argento
fan, so much can be forgiven. Call it bias if you will. Even
with its glaring flaws, Sleepless
delivered the thrills and chills I've come to expect —
and admire —
from Italy's Maestro of Horror. It's great to see him back in
the groove.
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Dario
Argento is a director famed primarily for his visual style. So
what do the suits who run Artisan do? Contrary to the company's
press release, they've released Argento's first film in over three
years as a fullscreen, Pan &
Scan version only. European editions of Sleepless
are all in widescreen format, letterboxed at the correct 1.85:1
ratio. So why do North American consumers get the short end of
the stick? Because Artisan is run by idiots. They obviously
think that no one in Region 1 Land knows or gives a shit who Argento
is —
despite the success here of Anchor Bay's marvelous Dario Argento
Collection DVDs. As with Artisan's bungled release of Ginger
Snaps, Sleepless is given short
shrift, packaged and marketed as your typical run of the mill
direct-to-video cheapie that gathers dust on the shelf at Blockbuster.
I'm not begrudging
the fact that this is a bare-bones release. I realize that not
every title —
particularly obscure European films —
can be given the deluxe treatment. Truth be told, the video transfer
looks fine (save for a bit of moire effect in a couple of scenes);
the Dolby 5.1 sound mix does justice to the terrific Goblin score
and definitely heightens the onscreen carnage. The North American
direct-to-video trailer for the film is included as an extra.
This promo is actually quite well done, and also happens to be
letterboxed —
providing tantalizing glimpses of what the film itself really
looks like.
And that brings me
back to my original beef with the disc. To issue an Argento film
in Pan &
Scan is nothing short of criminal. The movie never received a
theatrical release here, so home video is the only way Americans
and Canadians can see it. Most of us don't have the inclination
—
not to mention the $$$ —
to buy Region 2 players and converter gizmos just to view a relative
handful of films. Thus the vast majority of North American Eurohorror
fans are stuck with this lump of coal in our stockings.
12/24/01 |
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UPDATE
The Artisan DVD reviewed here went OOP
in 2005.
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