O Labirinto

Certainly not bad. I was captivated throughout the movie. But I just didn't get it, yet I got a proper education. Maybe there is some high brow meta explanation that the story itself is a labyrinth? Maybe it is about the psyche of people that experience a trauma and make up an imaginary reality? I don't know where they were going with this as I did not get why half the movie was in Italian and the other part in English.

This movie is a bit underrated at 5.6 stars at this moment. The acting is very good from top to bottom. As others have noted it's also an entertaining callback to 70s Italian giallo cinema, both in terms of the lurid, convoluted plot and the self-consciously stylized, artistic visual design.

Similar to some of those classic '70s flicks, at the end of the day the plot within a plot, story within a story of this movie doesn't make complete sense. If you examine it with cold-hearted logic logic you'd have to apply some significant contortions to fill the plot holes and get it to all work out. But also at the end of the day I'm not sure this lack of complete internal logic can really be seen as a flaw since it is a pretty traditional, even defining, feature of this kind of movie.

Bottom line, this is an entertaining movie filled with good acting, a beautiful to look at visual style, consistent suspense, and a pervasive sense of mystery.

A kidnapped girl is found 15 years after her abduction. A celebrated psychiatrist is trying to deal with her trauma and a retired detective who only has hours to live is ready to put it all on the line to find a vicious killer. Will he be able to succeed? And who is the real villain?

Donato Carrisi adapts his rather complex and at times convoluted plot to a film that makes surprising sense. That alone is an achievement. This is chronologically the third book in the series which makes it a particularly difficult adaptation. The good news - it works out well.

Writers rarely makes good directors. Carrisi is an exception. Choosing carefully his colour pallet he nods to the "giallo" sub-genre of the 80s and draws inspiration from the likes of Dario Argento (Suspiria). The whole movie feels like a dream-like sequence, although it is more procedural crime fiction than anything else.

What makes the movie feel focused is its great performances. Dustin Hoffman as Dr Green who is trying to get into the mind of a beautiful victim and Toni Servillo (THE GREAT BEAUTY) as a dying detective who has made it his life goal to catch the killer, carry the film on their shoulders. The story has an episodic structure and echoes heavily the SAW franchise, although, I am sure, Carrisi would be devastated to hear of the comparison. What he has been trying to create with his books (and films) is a serial killer cinematic universe. INTO THE LABYRINTH may not be the best start, but it definitely has the potential to becoming a mystery to remember.

The good: great actors, beautifully photographed, nice music score, intrigueing start of the story.

The bad: this movie is somehow lacking in spark and punch. The stories plot isnt very original either, bit of a bummer actually. It is part Italian spoken, part english spoken.

I think this movie is best suited for an arhouse audience, which has got the patience for longstretched scenes with only dialogue. It is definitely not a bad movie, but somehow I am missing the excitement that I usually get when watching a movie about kidnapping.

I'm wondering if the low ratings on here are from people who don't like subtitles.

You do really have to watch this as it switches back and forth a bit, and if you don't understand Italian you need to read the subtitles, but it is interesting and engaging.

I got Alice in Wonderland vibes from this, it was quite surreal and you're not sure what is real or not but it just about ties up in the end.

I liked this so much I've bought the Donato Carrisi book this is based on. Never heard of him before and never read his stuff so I am looking forward to reading this book.

All in all, a great and mindbending film with good actors and an engaging plot. Don't blink, you will miss something.