Rating: 15/20
Plot: A sound technician works on an Italian horror movie that, according to the director, isn't a horror movie. Shenanigans ensue!
I loved the pace of this movie, a pace I'd probably describe as tedious. This is the sort of movie that could really test one's mental health, and for that reason, among other reasons, it's definitely not for everybody. Credit daring editing and the expected use of sound for some of those other reasons, but those are also the parts that gripped me, creating this foreboding tone. It's the same feeling that you get when you're a young child who's been dared to walk inside a supposedly-haunted house and you've made it all the way to the front porch and are just kind of standing around. This movie immerses you in sounds, pulling back the curtain to show, albeit in what I suspect is a slightly-exaggerated way, how movie sound magic is created. It's Italian horror magicians revealing the secrets of their tricks. Accompanying those sounds are quick shots of vegetable abuse.
This movie irritated my wife which may have earned it a bonus point. For large chunks of the movie, it's just creepy noises and women screaming. Apparently, somebody who is trying to sleep doesn't want to hear that.
Here's Toby Jones, actor:
He's like the anti-Clooney. I'm not sure anybody with a head shaped like that should even be allowed to act. He looks more like he should be an IT guy or something. I immediately recognized him (because I'm a guy who runs a highly successful movie blog) from a memorable Doctor Who episode (oh, it's because I'm a geek), but I've apparently seen him in more than that. He's worked with Muppets, Captain America, and Katniss. I've seen him as Karl Rove and Smee and heard him as Dobby the house elf. I think my favorite bit of Toby Jones trivia is that he played Truman Capote and Alfred Hitchcock the same years that more famous actors played the same figures in more notable movies. I like Jones a lot here, and I like the character in the same why I like Barton Fink in that meta experience. Both are characters barely able to even react, seemingly lost in a purgatorial haze or something. Jones doesn't have a lot to do, but he looks natural as he demonstrates his character's genius with sound.
This isn't a movie I'd recommend to a lot of people despite my high rating. I'm sure it would frustrate most people, especially if they're watching it while trying to sleep.
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