Ti piace Hitchcock?

I had pretty high expectations from this movie as it is a tribute from the great Dario Argento to the great Alfred Hitchcock.Dario Argento is one of the living directors i have the greatest respect for, and one of my personal favorite directors of all-time, and there is probably no true cineaste around to doubt that Alfred Hitchcock is one of THE most influential and greatest directors in the history of motion pictures.

That being said, I was slightly disappointed with "Ti Piace Hitchcock?" aka "Do You Like Hitchcock?" of 2005. Not because it's not nearly as gory and brutal as Argento's ultra-violent masterpieces from the 70s and 80s - I expected it to be mild for Argento standards, since it's a made-for-TV tribute from a genius director, Dario Argento, to another genius director, Alfred Hitchcock, and this doesn't call for the extreme violence of films like Suspiria or Opera. What I did expect, however, was the suspense, that Argento usually delivers, and I was therefore a bit disappointed, as I found all the parts of the movie that were meant to surprise way too predictable. There is a lot of tension, and the movie highly entertains, no doubt about that but the plot-twists are quite lame and it is simply not nearly as suspenseful as we're used to from Argento, especially after he delivered another great and highly suspenseful Giallo, "Non Ho Sonno" aka "Sleepless" in 2001.

The performances are great, Elio Germano delivers a solid leading performances and all three leading actresses - Elisabetta Roncchetti, Christina Brondo and Chiara Conti are both sexy and excellent in their roles, especially Roncchetti is drop-dead gorgeous and delivers a great performance in a great femme-fatale role. The score by Pino Donaggio is very good, but then again it is not nearly as brilliant as the scores by Progressive Rock band Goblin and their genius keyboard-player/composer Claudio Simonetti.

Over-all, the movie delivers suspense, atmosphere and good entertainment. It is just not very good for what it is (or could have been), a Hitchcock-tribute from Argento. Argento fans like myself run risk of being a little disappointed, but it is definitely worth the time.

I think this is a pretty good movie. There is not much gore in it, and sometimes the humor gets a bit too silly, but I still enjoyed it. There's more to Argento than just gory murder scenes. It's actually slightly more suspenseful as a whole than most Argento flicks, in a lighthearted and cheerful kind of way, and it's still has some pretty nice visuals. For being a made for TV movie, it's got a lot of style, with some nice camera work, and like the old Hitchcock movies, it has a lot of humor in it, and a lot of references to a lot of Hitchcock's films. After all, the movie is a homage to the old master of suspense, Sir Alfred Hitchcock. The movie is more like an old fashioned thriller with some of Argentos own unusual style. It was shot on 35 mm film. Sometimes it has the look of a TV movie, but with a lot of cinematic flair still there, and I was surprised of how much of the old Argnto trademarks that was still left in. Surprisingly, the picture's got a lot of mild nudity. The plot resembles a lot of Hitchcock's Rear Window and is about a film student who is a Peeping Tom who cant restrain himself from spying on his sexy neighbor and he gets in a lot of trouble for it.

I thought it was a nice change to this time see Argento experiment with a different kind of a movie, and the script moves forward in a much more straightforward manner than any film he's done before.

If you can live without the excessive gore, and are up for an unusually lighthearted Argento movie, mixed with some of his old visual style, then it's definitely worth a watch.

With this film, made for television and shot with DV camera, Argento delivers a very enjoyable and stylish little thriller. There are lots of references to several Hitchcock-films, but Ti Piace Hitchcock also reminds us a lot of the thrillers of Brian De Palma (such as Sisters, Dressed to Kill, Obssesion...).

Its not the greatest film of the Italian master of suspense but with this film Argento re-found his former style. A style that goes back to his films he made during the 70 or 80 period (Suspiria, Deep Red, Inferno...).

Of course being made for television the production values are not as high as in the films I quoted above. Sometimes the colors are (too) saturated and there is more emphasis on the story then there is on the visual style of the film. On the other hand the photography and the overall style of the film really look fine: certainly a lot more then the average TV-film. That also counts for the scenes involving nudity and violence. There is at least one scene of violence (a typical Argento-style murder) and several scenes of nudity which won't be pleasing several TV-censors. Hopfully this film will soon be available, uncut, on DVD. Catch it if you can.

A boy cycling in the woods discovered a couple of women acting strange, and starts spying on them, until he is discovered. That's the start of this film by cult film director Dario Argento. A clear and present homage to the great director Alfred Hitchcock in absolutely all that is done on screen, and more so, even to the art of film.

After the start we get to know a real film buff, working in a room full of movie posters. Is it the young boy at an older age? Yes, it is. He's Giulio, and a real Peeping Tom. Now he gets a chance to spy on a neighboring women undressing, just like the photographer in Hitchcocks "Rear window". I'm already sold... But the references go on. "Strangers on a train", "Psycho", "Dial M for murder", "Blackmail", "Family plot", "Vertigo"...

The film refers to so many classics that it's a gem in itself, and the plot is well made up in this story as well. Filmed in the typical Argento style, with the occasional mystical lingering on nature, city scapes and artful Gothic sculptures, this manages to make the right tension. Add music highly inspired by Hichcock and 80'ies thrillers like "Dressed to kill" (DePalma) and all the other ingredients, even down to finger movements, and you're in for a treat. It's not splattery, except from in one scene. OK, but has so much going for it, that it's impossible to dislike, if you got the references on.

This Italian/Spanish production is English spoken, dubbed probably due to to bad English, though filmed with Italian actors in Turin, Italy. Maybe some might feel it a bit forced and artificial due to this, and the perfect English voice-over which make our hero more recipient than actually possible. Never mind, it does only add to the fascination.

The only disappointment here is that Argento doesn't have a cameo in this film, like sold Hitch did in his!

Argento's made-for-television "Ti piace Hitchcock?" is an entertaining giallo which pays tribute to the works of the old master.

A "Rear Window" for the noughties, Argento's offering delivers some great moments and there are fleeting glimpses of the genius behind such classics as "Deep Red" and "Tenebrae".

Elio Germano is excellent as the geeky voyeur who's nosiness leads him into no end of trouble. His performance is believable and his character is both likable and sympathetic.

While the violence has been toned down for this production, it's still a very watchable tale.