The power-cuts which interrupt work at the studio are a symptom of failing infrastructure and the violent misanthropy of Santini’s film reflects a society where assassination and bombings regular occurrences. Italy in the 1970s was beset by social unrest as right and left-wing extremists (such as the Red Army Faction and Ordine Nuovo) created a climate of political terror now remembered as “The Years of Lead”. Strickland’s refusal to spoon-feed his audience heightens dramatic tension for the first-time viewer but some contextual information enhances a second viewing. Those unfamiliar with Italian cinema or sound engineering may feel rather lost but Nicholas Knowland’s arresting photography holds the attention as do strong performances, particularly from Toby Jones and Fatma Mohamed. In juxtaposition, the descriptions of screen violence and the mundane methods used to create appropriate sound effects in Foley is jarringly surreal, almost comic and increases our sense of dislocation. Strickland makes no attempt to explain the technical details of sound design, instead he illustrates Gilderoy’s work with close-up shots of sound charts and period recording equipment. Almost all of the action takes place in the sound studio and there are no exterior shots to relieve our sense of claustrophobia. We arrive, like Gilderoy, in a strange, enclosed world. For the casual viewer, viewing ‘Berberian Sound Studio’ can be a disorientating experience. His films ‘Berberian Sound Studio’, ‘Duke of Burgundy’ (2014) and ‘In Fabric’ (2018) all take seventies European ‘exploitation’ cinema as their starting point but rather than simply creating a pastiche he mixes their colour with his own imaginative palette to create something unique. His discomfort escalates when he discovers that he is working on a horror film rather than a film about horse-riding.ĭirector and writer Peter Strickland’s work is refreshingly eccentric and resolutely uncompromising. His inability to speak Italian exacerbates his sense of culture shock and makes working with his colleagues, particularly producer Francesco Coraggio (Cosimo Fusco) difficult. For that disappointing feeling, I don't rate it very high, but this movie is definitely a good piece of artwork and is more interesting than most of what is to be seen nowadays.Directed by Peter Strickland, 2012, 92 minutesīritish Sound engineer Gilderoy (Toby Jones) arrives in 1970s Rome to work on ‘Equestrian Vortex’ a film by celebrated director Giancarlo Santini (Antonio Mancino). I eventually didn't understand where the film wanted take me. The atmosphere moves from light fun to disturbing fantasy with elegance. A truly outstanding atmosphere is obtained thanks to a really terrific sound editing. The imagination of the spectator is highly put to use compared to these days' standards. This counter-fashion idea clearly marks its distance from the recent escalation in the graphic horror genre cinema, which I find honorable. The very exciting central concept of the film is to deal with graphical horror without showing any real violence on the screen. It begins as an amusing comedy with a cast of characters gently mocking the 70's Italian machismo. A bit like Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani's "Amer" did, but in a more conventional, more "easy watching" way. This film is a pleasant homage to Italian giallo and to the under-recognized art of sound editing.
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