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Post by GL on Aug 24, 2006 11:15:57 GMT -5
“The Opera” is one of the better Argento efforts.
**SPOILERS**
Young Betty, (Cristina Marsillach) takes over for the lead in a new opera following an accident to the star, and debuts in it opening night. After a successful first performance, she begins to be tormented by a crazed stalker, and she finally takes comfort in director Marco’s, (Ian Charleson) company. A series of murders strikes the people involved in the play, forcing her friend Mira, (Daria Nicolodi) to help her as well. The murders continue, forcing the remaining participants of the opera into police protection. When she’s tired of running, she and Marco devise a way to finally catch the killer.
The Good News: As one of the more impressive Argento films, this features a lot to like. As is usual with Argento films, the camera-work is incredible, and might pass for some of the best of his career. A shot following a character walking along a hotel room hallway is done by moving over the furniture in the way and following them out. It’s a real testament to creativity to imagine such a scene. The other, more important highlight for the camera-work, is the incredibly well-thought-out shot of a crow flying over a crowded opera house attendees, and is shown through the crow’s eye view swooping and sweeping in a continuous, uninterrupted shot. Not only was it genius creatively, but it’s also incorporated and pulled off quite marvelously. It’s a great example of why he’s such an impressive director. Some of the other trademarks are in full swing here, including the gory, over-the-top murder scenes, flashy set-pieces and nice plot-lines with convoluted resolutions. All are apparent here. The murders here are pretty good, not among the best of his career but certainly worthy of mention. One is stabbed in the throat with the tip of the blade puncturing through to the mouth, a series of stabs with a giant pair of scissors, being burned alive, and, of course, the centerpiece gunshot kill. After frantically trying to enter an apartment with several key characters by posing as a policeman, one of them looks into the peephole to see what he’s shouting about, and the killer raises a gun to the peephole, and in slow motion, the bullet slides through the lock, into the eye and destroys a phone across the room. It is certainly worth every single amount of praise ever heaped on that scene. Brilliantly executed, unnerving in it’s setting off a chain reaction of great events afterwards, and a perfect example of Argento’s predilection for flashy set-pieces. The killer does have one other innovative and memorable idea, where they tie a piece of tape under the eyes attached with needles, forcing them open. As inventive an idea as there’s ever been and brilliant in it’s conception. The way for exposing the killer is one of the best ideas around and executed quite brilliantly.
The Bad News: Trying to make any sense of the plot will result in one of the most throbbing headaches you’ve every had. There’s a general sense of a plot, but to string the events together that are played out in the film sometimes requires great leaps of logic that shouldn’t normally be true. As much as I love the scene, the set-up for the apartment scene is a great example. No one who has just seen their friend horrible butchered would be as careless as she was. It’s hard to go into detail more, as it’s still very hard to understand, but as this is usual for Argento films, this shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Plus, it’s my only complaint.
The Final Verdict: One of Argento’s best, hurt only by a couple of nagging factors. There are a couple of others to better get into Argento, but it’s still one of the best ones he’s done. Argento-philes wiill find much to love here, and is a recommendded pick for Euro-Horror fans or anyone else interested.
Rated UR/R: Graphic Violence, Language and Brief Nudity
