Berberian sound studio netflix9/1/2023 ![]() ![]() “The Equestrian Vortex”, for all of Santini’s philosophical and historical justifications, mostly seems to consist of horrible acts of violence against women. But the majority of film is spent in observance of the foley work. The voice dubbing is primarily the female actors screaming, as well as a man playing Goblin obscenely raving. Other than a cool retro title sequence, film-within-a-film is never shown, but the audience gets an idea from its content from watching the process of recording its sound. His skills got him the attention of Italian auteur Giancarlo Santini, whose film “The Equestrian Vortex” is much different from anything Gilderoy had previously worked on. ![]() He lives in the English countryside with his mum, doing sound work primarily for children’s programs and nature documentaries. With his baby face and nervous mannerisms, Jone’s Gilderoy is a cautious man of simple pleasures. It’s light on plot and relies primarily on visuals and sound to drive the movie forward, which gives the film a very atmospheric, moody vibe.Īlthough the visuals and music carry most of the film, the human side of the movie is driven by the nuanced performance of Toby Jones. Directed by Peter Strickland, it tells the story of a shy sound engineer named Gilderoy and his slow descent into madness while he mixes the sound for a Gothic Italian Horror film. One that stood out was “Berberian Sound Studio”, an independent British film from 2012. Trust me, I wanted to go with the majority on this and be seen as one of the cool kids, but it really only worked for me up to a point.I’ve been watching a lot of horror movies lately in anticipation of Halloween. I did want to like it more than I did but while the sound and the slow burn pacing is engaging, it goes on too long and doesn't have enough in the way of development of delivery to really payoff at the end. The cast are solid, with Jones in good form throughout. The decision to have the majority of the dialogue in Italian without subtitles was an interesting one which cuts both ways on one hand it disorientates the viewer as it does the main character, but then it does put more pressure on the feel of the film – which then doesn't deliver. The violence of the sounds and the persistence of them is very engaging and involving, just as it is for the main character, although the screaming gets very old very quickly. As my partner was studying upstairs, I watched this through a very good set of headphones and it added a lot to the film to be so immersed in the audio aspect. ![]() Of course the one thing the film does great is the sound engineering. I was drawn into the built but then surprised by how little delivery there was at the other end. It has some nice touches as the plot develops but the "inside a movie" thing feels trite and isn't developed enough here to stand up on its own. The concept I am fine with and I liked the ideas in the plot of exposure to this material having an impact and I even enjoyed the slow burn of the horror, but it slow burnt its whole way to the end and really didn't deliver too much. The plot is that a British sound engineer comes to Italy for a project and finds himself doing ADR and Foley for a film containing a lot of graphic violence as he works he finds his grip on his sense slipping, with his days spent not understanding what is being said around him and acting out violent acts on vegetables while watching women be brutalized on film over and over again. Indeed I felt this to the point that even as it ended I felt like I should have enjoyed it more and thus started to rationalize myself towards that position, but it isn't the case because while I appreciated aspects of this film, generally I found it pretty dull and lacking a sharp edge. Of course this is message board talk but it exists in the mind too and for sure I came to this film wanting to come out praising it. There is a pressure associated with watching a film considered one of the best of its year there is of course pressure on the film to live up to the hype but when it comes to smaller films such as this one then there is a certain amount of pressure on the viewer to be part of the people who "get it" and not one of the dullards who should just stick to blockbusters. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |