Vous aimez Hitchcock?

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.

Make no mistake, this is a made-for-TV movie so don't expect the usual Argento-gore and a lot of stylized violence. If that's what you're looking for, look somewhere else!

It also shows sometimes that he is working in another medium (television), style-wise. But apart from that, this is a playful and lightweight homage to Alfred Hitchcock, that works fairly well within the constrains of the medium.

It has a sympathetic lead in Elio Germano (but the female are more formulaic) and most actors are a lot better that what is common in an Argento-movie. The beginning of the movie is very well set-up when you get a peak into several apartments a la "Rear window". The script is full of references to different Hitchcock-movies, but there are also nods towards Brian dePalma and...Dario Argento himself! There are scenes that seems to have been lifted more or less intact from his other creations like "Deep red", "Opera" and "Inferno". But this is not necessarily a negative thing since all this is mostly woven into the plot with a lot of skill. There is only one murder (but two death scenes), but it is quite violent and the scene leading up to it is very suspenseful. The final 10 minutes are also edge-of-your-seat material.

Also worth mentioning is the nice cinematography by Fasano (especially the shots at night are very nice to look at). And the score by Pino Dinaggio is absolutely top-notch! It's certainly a lot better than the anonymous music he put together for Dario in "Trauma" and might remind you of his work for Brian de Palma.

But some things don't work, for instance the scene where our "hero" breaks his leg. It is too drawn out even though it's suspenseful in the beginning. The pace flags occasionally and is generally erratic. And even if the climax is exciting, I cannot shake of a feeling that it could have been even better with a tighter script. It seems that Argento/Ferrini lost interest somehow in their intriguing little tale of terror. And finally, the usual quibble when it comes to an Argento film...the dubbing is sometimes truly bad, at best it's acceptable. And note that I saw the Italian version! God only knows why italians often prefer to dub instead of using the original sound?!

But all in all, a very decent outing by Mr Argento. It certainly doesn't top "Suspiria", "Inferno", "Deep red" or his other masterpieces (it doesn't even top the underrated "Trauma" which is resembles sometimes), but it is absolutely one of the best things he's done since "Opera".

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.

One thing concerning this film should be made clear immediately, otherwise several Dario Argento fans will risk being disappointed: "Do you like Hitchcock" is a TV-movie and therefore not as outrageous and/or shocking as we expect Argento films to be! Don't prepare yourself to see another "Opera" or "Tenebre" in which repulsive gore will burst from the screen or demented giallo plot-twists stun you constantly! This is a decent, but overall ethically correct thriller, in which the master's touch is only detected in details and style aspects. This is by no means a bad film and please don't see this warning as sign not to watch it, but I only want to prevent that people will start making comments like "Dario Argento continues to lose his touch" etc... As stated above, "Do you like Hitchcock" is the first in a series of eight films produced by the Italian TV-station Rai Uno that are meant to bring the ultimate tribute to Alfred "Master of Suspense" Hitchcock. His classic titles will serve as pivot elements in newly written thrillers, of which only the pilot film is directed by Dario Argento. This general idea is terrific for a homage, I think, and admirers of classic cinema will certainly enjoy the blend of all these Hichcock highlights in modern settings.

Argento's film largely focuses on two Hitckcock milestones, namely "Strangers on a Train" and "Read Window". Giulio is a young film-student who occasionally watches his gorgeous neighbor girl across the street with binoculars. He witnesses how she and her mother regularly argue and when the mother is found murdered one morning, Giulio becomes obsessed by figuring out who did it. He discovers that the daughter recently made acquaintance with someone at the local videostore. Giulio begins to suspect that the two persons agreed to commit a murder for each other, just as it was the case in Hitchcocks's "Strangers on a Train". It's really nice to see how Argento blends all Hichcock references into one giant tribute. Aside from the two obvious titles, there are multiple other, smaller references towards Hitchock's oeuvre and, at times, you really do need to be a specialist to discover them all. The story is compelling enough to keep you interested and some really tense moments point out that Argento is still – and will always be – a powerful director. For example, there's a sequence in which the hero desperately tries to flee from the scene of a crime on a scooter, but secondary influences, like the rainy weather or technical difficulties, prevent him from getting away. Do not, repeat DO NOT, watch this film in case you're searching for nasty gore! The few murder scenes are, however, rather unsettling (and typically Argento!) but they surely can't live up to most of the director's previous work. "Do you like Hitchcock" is a worthwhile thriller and I personally rated it higher than Dario's last film, "the Card Player".

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.