Tenebre

Hmmm.  I might be hitting some kind of law of diminishing returns with Argento.  As I said last time, I don’t object to a director having a distinctive style.  But after Crystal Plumage and Deep Red, this really seems like he’s just repeating himself.  It’s feeling like less like a style and more like a template.  And this time there just wasn’t much payoff.  More subpar acting and awful dialogue, the mystery and its resolution weren’t very compelling, and there were only a couple of moments that I found visually or thematically striking.  It all felt kinda sloppy (there’s a horribly jarring cut in the middle of a walk-and-talk scene where the lighting noticeably changes).  Even the Goblin score wasn’t that great this time around.  I’ve got a couple more Argentos on deck and I guess I’ll give them a shot, but I’m wondering if I’ve already seen the best he had to offer.  Rating: 5

IMDb