It has become apparent that Dario Argento has lost much of his inspiration in recent years. His experiments to find new content for his movies have failed. Now, he has returned to the genre he masters best, the "giallo". Argento works always in trilogies as he states himself. "No ho sonno" is his first entry to a trilogy of three "gialli" for Medusa films. The second entry will be "Occhiali Neri".
As Argento explains in an interview, the "giallo" has strict ruled to which he meticulously sticks in "Non ho sonno". This means in particular that "Non ho sonno" isn't very modern or innovative, one could even say that it is a little out of date. In fact, it seems that Argento, like inspector Moretti in the movie, continues to work "the old way". The movie is produced by his brother Claudio Argento, the score comes from the Goblin, just like in the good old days. In addition, if you are familiar with Argento's work, you will find many references to his previous work (e.g., attack by a puppet).
This said, "Non ho sonno" is a fairly good thriller not paling in comparison with his classics. Max von Sydow's performance is excellent, the rest is, say, as ever. The score of the "Goblin" is appropriate though not as marvelous as before.
Argento's style has changed a lot. In movies like "Deep Red", Argento created an ambience of its own, a little unreal, pieced together from various locations (in Rome, in the case of "Deep Red"). In "Non ho sonno", he works with the given realistic ambience of the city of Turin. The whole movie is indeed more in the American style. Argento's use of colour is more discreet than in former times, but this doesn't mean that artificial colours aren't present. They are just a little more hidden. Argento's use of the camera in "Non ho sonno", especially the subjective camera, is as excellent as in his best work. Moreover, in "Non ho sonno", Argento offers us some scenes, just his genius could have contrived, like the hilarious first 20 minutes, especially the scene in the train, or just shots of feet and a vacuum cleaner on a carpet. Another surprising fact is that "Non ho sonno" is quite gory, much more so than "Trauma" or "The Stendhal Syndrome", like he had to fill the gap caused by Fulci's death.
As a summary, don't expect much surprises in "Non ho sonno", but if you like Argento's work and are accustomed to his flaws, this movie won't let you down.
As Argento explains in an interview, the "giallo" has strict ruled to which he meticulously sticks in "Non ho sonno". This means in particular that "Non ho sonno" isn't very modern or innovative, one could even say that it is a little out of date. In fact, it seems that Argento, like inspector Moretti in the movie, continues to work "the old way". The movie is produced by his brother Claudio Argento, the score comes from the Goblin, just like in the good old days. In addition, if you are familiar with Argento's work, you will find many references to his previous work (e.g., attack by a puppet).
This said, "Non ho sonno" is a fairly good thriller not paling in comparison with his classics. Max von Sydow's performance is excellent, the rest is, say, as ever. The score of the "Goblin" is appropriate though not as marvelous as before.
Argento's style has changed a lot. In movies like "Deep Red", Argento created an ambience of its own, a little unreal, pieced together from various locations (in Rome, in the case of "Deep Red"). In "Non ho sonno", he works with the given realistic ambience of the city of Turin. The whole movie is indeed more in the American style. Argento's use of colour is more discreet than in former times, but this doesn't mean that artificial colours aren't present. They are just a little more hidden. Argento's use of the camera in "Non ho sonno", especially the subjective camera, is as excellent as in his best work. Moreover, in "Non ho sonno", Argento offers us some scenes, just his genius could have contrived, like the hilarious first 20 minutes, especially the scene in the train, or just shots of feet and a vacuum cleaner on a carpet. Another surprising fact is that "Non ho sonno" is quite gory, much more so than "Trauma" or "The Stendhal Syndrome", like he had to fill the gap caused by Fulci's death.
As a summary, don't expect much surprises in "Non ho sonno", but if you like Argento's work and are accustomed to his flaws, this movie won't let you down.
