Reflection in A Dead Diamond

After 30 minutes of this incoherent, headache inducing exercise of confusion, I couldn't wait for this time waster to end. Had to look away often during the many quick cut dizzying periods of needless forms, images and computer generated extravagance. Storyline (?) and focus kept changing, to the point one realises the narrative erases aspects of what was previously viewed, and could not care one bit about any of the characters or where the film was going. Subsequent impact no longer existed and what remains is a collage of homagey self indulgence. A un-cinematic hybrid of Ken Russell meets Alejandro Jodorowsky. Film could possibly work as background eye candy at a Rave party / event. Saw it last night as part of The Tribecca Film festival where three quarters of the audience left before the post interview with the film makers. Every aspect of this experience was needless....

I've rarely seen such an empty and pretentious film.

The form is... impeccable: beautiful images by Manuel Dacosse, pleasant soundtrack, intelligently cast actors, among whom stands out the handsome Yannick Renier, the archetype of the 1960s hunk.

On the other hand, apart from the (heavy) references to Louis Feuillade (the character of "Irma Vep" by Musidora), the "James Bond" series from the Sean Connery era, the giallo films, the fumetti such as "Diabolik", or the profusion of hemoglobin dear to Quentin Tarantino, there is NOTHING in this film: no plot, no emotion, no feelings.

The one who was dead in there must have been the screenwriter!

An absolute fan while growing up in Italy of low budget, scary and extremely stylized GIALLO thrillers (Dario Argento's "Profondo Rosso" & "Suspiria"; Sergio Martino; Lucio Fulci & co), I didn't know this crafty and passionate french film couple, Bruno Forzani & Hélène Cattet, entirely devoted to directing homages of the Genre. Their last opus in competition in Berlin and winner at Tribeca 2025, is a mezmerizing and unexpected achievement worth discovering. It made me look up their other gem "The Strange Color of your Body's Tears" (2013, released in the US), with 2 more pics to watch (from 2009 & 2017).

The film is an original cocktail of spy, suspense, slasher, romance and kinetic visuals, at times akin to experimental cinema and visual art.

The dosage is high on shiny colours, néo-pop atmospheres, shards, skin masks, split screens and carefully researched vintage italian musical hits. The special FX (by Brussel's Studio l'Equipe) are surprisingly good, especially when it comes to wounds and latex: they don't reek of CGI and deserve a European Film Award next year. Like the overall unknown cast including belgian Yannick Renier (the older brother of french star Jérémie Renier), and 1960's comeback hero FABIO TESTI (the first "Django") who once reined over B-Movies together with Franco Nero and Giuliano Gemma. The speedy grand finale (no spoilers!) still allows the older and elegant Testi (born in 1941) an apt melancholy ending, and a frameshot possibly inspired by...Visconti's "Death in Venice", just to give another idea of how many ideas and ecclectic references our 2 happy helmers can handle in 1hour and 27 minutes.

Reason why I don't understand the bored or dismissive other User's reviews (Wes Anderson's latest miss, "The Phoenician Scheme", has a far more convoluted and tedious plot); surely all the film and key comix references (well known by Q. Tarantino) are exquisitely euro~trash: mainly DIABOLIK, the still going strong comic book based on the ruthless masked killer-robber etched in 1962 by the "in" Giussani sisters of Milan, and made into 3 Blah italo film-sequels by the unininspired Manetti Brothers (2019-22). And even avoiding intellectualizing while reviewing, "REFLECTIONS IN A DEAD DIAMOND" is just that: as much flash and action as a reflection on time and memory failing us, fading from our life, the real one and the one we share on screen.

(PS: to sum the landmarks of the genre & its current heirs: "Neo-Giallo: A Beginner's Guide", article by Isaac Feldberg in PASTE Magazine & online/14-9-2021)