Você Gosta de Hitchcock?

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".

Me and my girlfriend had the opportunity to watch Ti Piace Hitchcock at the Brussels fantastic film festival last Saturday. He directed this movie for the Italian television (RAI) and in mine opinion with success.The movie was introduced to the crowd by the master of horror himself.

The movie isn't as gory like the seventies eighties Argento movies but it still contains a lot of suspense and the murder scene is in "Argento style". If you are looking for a real gory giallo then you'll better skip it. It's an Argento movie and expectations may be high but it's a television movie and when you are an Argentofan you'll notice.

I'm really looking forward to his next movie.

greets

Giulio is a peeping Tom and lovely Sascha from across the street catches his eye from time to time. At a local video store Giulio sees Sascha and another girl discussing Hitchcock's film Strangers on a Train and Sascha rents it. Later Sascha's mother is killed and Giulio starts thinking about the plot from Strangers on a Train.

From his very first film Argento has been nicknamed "the Italian Hitchcock" and many still refer to him as that. Although he heartily disagrees with that assessment, Argento may have felt obliged to do a direct homage to the old master at some point in his career. With the help of his longtime script collaborator Franco Ferrini, Argento has constructed a very clever "whodunnit" which successfully weaves together elements from Hitchcock's Rear Window, Strangers on a Train, Dial M. for Murder and Vertigo, and possibly a few others. The story is surprisingly airtight considering the many films it's paying homage to. No great loopholes to be found and although you know the old films by heart, Do You Like Hitchcock? still manages to surprise up until the end. It's no doubt great fun for a Hitchcock aficionado to spot all the references, I particularly liked the Vertigo inspired ending.

Some Argento trademarks are present but on the whole it doesn't always look like it's one of his films. It must be taken into consideration that this is an Italian made for TV film and Argento reportedly had to make it in a hurry and it's budget is lower than usual. The actors here are actually pretty decent and the dubbing fares better here than in Argento's The Card Player. No big names here but they do their jobs well enough. The gore is on the light side, only one sequence has some ick factor in it.

With all limitations in mind it's a wonder what Argento managed to accomplish because Do You Like Hitchcock? is overall a suspenseful homage that no doubt Hitchcock himself would have approved of.

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!

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.