Simply A Masterpiece

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

For my 10th anniversary on IMDb,I decided that I would celebrate the event by watching a "new" title from an auteur film maker who has been a major part of my film viewing over the last 10 years:Dario Aregento.Planning to watch The Card Player,my DVD player that it was far from happy with the hand that it had been dealt,by constantly jamming the DVD up! Frantically searching round,I spotted a TV movie by Argento,which I had been slightly uneasy over viewing,due to sadly not having seen that much of Alfred Hitchcock's work.With there being no other Argento titles in my sight,I decided to find out if you could still like the film,even without knowing Hitchcock.The plot:Taking a break from his film studying,student Julio opens the window of his flat and looks across the street.Appearing across the street like a dream,Julio spots a neighbour called Sasha undressing.Enjoying the rush of voyeurism,Julio starts to keep a close eye on Sasha,which leads to him seeing Sasha having an argument with her mum.Getting set to rent out a title from his friend Andrea's video store,Julio is caught by surprise,when he runs into Sasha at the store.Getting hold of the film Strangers on a Train just before a fellow sexy video customer, (what are the chances!) called Federica.As he leaves the shop,Julio notices Sasha & Federica deep in conversation.In the mood for a voyeurism hit later that night,Julio instead witnesses Sasha's mum getting brutally murdered by a black coat wearing stranger.As he calls the cops,Julio begins to fear that he is about to enter his own Hitchcock tale.View on the film:Originally designed to be the first episode of a 7 part Italian Thriller TV series, (which after the series budget was cut in half,led to this being the only filmed episode)co-writer/(along with Franco Ferrini) directing auteur Dario Argento & cinematographer Frederic Fasano open this stylish Giallo with a scene straight from a long forgotten Brothers Grimm story,which along with showing the beginning of Julio's voyeurism streak,also subtly recalls the witches from Argento's "three mothers" trilogy.Whilst he does include a handful of Hitchcock references,Argento gives this TV movie an eye-catching,feature film canvas.Argento scans the screen with ultra-stylised whip-pans showing Sasha's skin (played by an elegant Elisabetta Rocchetti,who also appears naked in the TV movie!)setting Julio's voyeurism weakness off.Along with the flesh & impressively blunt levels of blood,Argento also sinks the Giallo into a Film Noir atmosphere,with the use of water allowing Argento to rift on his past Deep Red,and to also scatter unrelenting rain across the screen,which builds up an excellent tense mood,as Julio tries to figure out which Hitchcock he is trapped in.Whilst the screenplay by Argento & Franco Ferrini is a little too focused on seeing how many homages it can include,the writers still make the Giallo mystery its own thing,thanks to flashbacks to Julio's childhood allowing the writers to make Julio's almost- stalker like obsessions block any attempt by Julio to get help in solving the murder.Entering the title looking like Harry Potter's geekier brother (is that even possible!) Elio Germano gives a wonderful performance as Julio,with Germano avoiding the easy sleaze-ball route that the character could have take,by giving Julio a real sincerity,and a real determination which heats up as Julio tries to find out how much the mysterious killer likes Hitchcock.

"Do You Like Hitchcock?" is a decent thriller, but not even close to being a slasher.**SPOILERS**Working on his thesis, film student Giulio, (Elio Germano) manages to run into neighbor Sascha, (Elisabetta Rocchetti) and her friend Federica Valli, (Chiara Conti) both Albert Hitchcock fans, at a film store where he rents films for his paper. When a strange murder occurs in her apartment nearby one day, he notices similarities between what happened and several of the events starts to mirror scenarios of Hitchcock's movies. Even though girlfriend Arianna, (Cristina Brondo) tries to convince him how ridiculous the theory is, he is still convinced when he uncovers a string of evidence that supports his theory, and when he finally has the evidence to prove it, races to stop them before the guilty party strikes again.The Good News: There was a couple of good points here to this one. The first point is that the film has a rather obvious amount of fun dealing with the Hitchcock theme. This part is quite fun, managing to incorporate a whole list of influential moments, from plot-points to camera edits and even direct scenes lifted directly from his films, none of which will be spoiled here but there's an obvious sense of fun when it deals with them. There's also a lot to like about the finale, which here is just all sorts of fun. From the revelation about the killer to the encounter in the apartment where he's being dunked under the water repeatedly all the way through to the utterly outstanding chase through the house across the street followed by the roof-top encounter all delivering quite well and certainly being quite exciting. These are all really great scenes, and that they all flow together in a natural way so as to be even more exciting. It also works well with it's one absolute stand-out scene, where the victim spies on another couple, is caught, and must escape before he is captured. Everything about this scene, from the rain-drenched setting, to it's place in the mystery, how it plays out with the failing scooter trying to work with the one person chasing after them, just works so well and is an outstanding, thrilling scene that is the best part of the film. The only other good thing about this one is the constant nudity, which is really nice as all of them look good providing it. Otherwise, that's all for this one.The Bad News: There wasn't much wrong here, and it's really only one flaw to the film. The fact that the film is more of a thriller than a straight-up horror film might be the only thing that's really wrong here, as it's more of an aesthetic choice concerning all the usual areas that come up. There's only one kill in here, brutal as it can, but nothing else, which doesn't make it fall into a stereotypical slasher, there's hardly any shots of a killer wandering around chasing after people, there's very little active threat to the hero until the end, and even then it's questionable, but these all scream this is a thriller and not a slasher. Due to that, the film can come off as just incredibly boring for some out there, since it doesn't really offer up anything that will make this one appear to be a fast-moving film, despite our introduction to the plot early on with the kill and it's short running time. There's just a lot of time spent on other elements building up the mystery that becomes routine in these kinds of films. It's something that could be a problem for those that don't enjoy that type and find themselves interested in more traditional horror-based fare, which is perhaps what is the most wrong with it. Rather than really hurting it, though, this is just a factor that boils down to being a personal preference rather than something which can truly be said to harm it, as the approach might be something that appeals to you, but there's some which don't really enjoy that and need to be warned of in here.The Final Verdict: Not that actively bad, but not really all that great either as this one just isn't a horror film like so many of his others. Give this a shot if you're into Hitchcock's films or are an unabashed Argento fan, though those looking for something approaching his earlier works will be severely disappointed here.Rated UR/R: Graphic Violence, Language and Nudity

Some say that imitation is the best form of flattery. This seems to be the case with Italian director Dario Argento. He is a man that loves to shock with his stories of blood and gore in a genre known as giallo in Italy. Alas, "Ti piace Hitchcock" his 2005 made for television film doesn't quite live up to his previous work, although it is not a horrible movie.Argento sets his film in a Torino neighborhood where Giulio, a young student of cinema, and with a what appears to be an unlimited amount of time in his hands, loves to spy his neighbors from his window. He discovers Sasha, a young woman who is always fighting with her mother about money.Giulio, who loves to watch old films in DVD format, meets Sasha at the neighborhood store where she is about to rent "Strangers on a Train", one of Hitchcock's best films. Federica, a beautiful blonde, has the same idea in mind as she is about to grab the only copy in the store. Giulio realizes there is more than really meets the eye between what appears to be a casual encounter.There are references of Hitchcock's work throughout the story, like when Giulio is taking the shower, which reminds us of "Psycho", which is also prominently displayed at the video store. When Sasha's mother is victim of foul play, Giulio decides to investigate, putting himself in harm's way. Eventually, he is also a target for knowing too much, or perhaps because he gives that impression. Other references to Hitchcock include a "Rear Window" sequence, as well as another one to "Vertigo".The film is entertaining, although the dubbed version we watched on a cable channel was badly dubbed, which was distracting. One can hope Mr. Argento has more blood in mind on his next venture.

"This young Italian guy is starting to worry me".Dario Argento gained the attention of one of the biggest influences, maybe the biggest, in his career: Alfred Hitchcock. In his homage to the master of suspense, he practically returns to the basic murder-mystery story that itself have always the influence of Hitchcock. The main character of the story is Giulio (Elio Germano), a film student who lives alone in an apartment and spends his time with his girlfriend (Cristina Brondo), watching films, especially of the German Expressionist (Caligari, Nosferatu, Golem, etc), and making studies about them. As a film lover I always like a lot when in a film there are references to Cinema itself and in this case we all must find familiar those images in the DVD store looking out fore some new and interesting titles. The fact that the main character is making his thesis about the German Expressionist is perfect to put some images of "Nosferatu" and "The Golem" and also I like a lot how film posters looks on the screen, some of them in the film are the ones of "Vertigo", "Metropolis" and "Nosferatu", and are only details but I really like them. Returning to the story, we have that Giulio has been always an observer so now in his apartment he begins to spy his sexy neighbor Sasha (Elisabetta Rocchetti) and he see the bad relation between Sasha and her mother (Milvia Marigliano). The giallo begins when Sasha's mother is mysteriously murdered inside her own apartment. Giulio's fear and paranoia makes that he begins to build his own theory about the murdered having the Hitchcock film "Strangers on a Train" in mind (Sasha previously rented the DVD of that film and also talked about it with Federica) believing that Federica was the murderer of Sasha's mother so now he believes that Sasha is going to kill somebody related with Federica, of course like in the Hitchcock movie.The film runtime is only 90 minutes and definitely is a really good and fast-paced murder mystery film without a lot tension and gore scenes but is amazingly entertaining and really well acted. Being a Hitchcock homage of course there are many references to him part of having the common environment of a suspense film. The most notorious are the ones to "Rear Window", "Marnie", "Psycho" and of course to "Strangers on a Train".Cast: as I write the film is pretty well acted. Germano is really good for the main role, looking always insecure and sometimes unable to solve the mystery. The support cast is also good, with the sexy Elisabetta Rocchetti, and for me the character of Giulio's girlfriend is a little weak.Conclusion: A basic murder story but I really enjoyed this Argento film that was made for TV. For me is not one of the finest films of Dario but still is recommendable and really good. Just be careful with the things you see.Region 4 DVD: I realize about the existence of this film through this site and after reading what was about, I had lots of desires to watch it. It was just a complete surprise to find the Region 4 DVD of this film since I never imagine a release. The DVD is just good with the English language only and the TV spot as the unique extra.