In the 1970s, a British sound technician (Toby Jones) is brought to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film. His nightmarish task slowly takes over his psyche, driving him to confront his own past. Berberian Sound Studio is many things: an anti-horror film, a stylistic tour de force, and a dream of cinema. As such, it offers a kind of pleasure that is rare in films, while recreating in a highly original way the pleasures of Italian horror cinema. —edfilmfest.org.uk
He was born in Reading, England in 1973. He made several Super 8 and 16mm short films. His most well-known short film, Bubblegum, brought Andy Warhol superstar, Holly Woodlawn out of a long hiatus and screened at Berlin in 1997. He also founded the musique-culinary group, The Sonic Catering Band in 1996 with friends from Reading, releasing several records and performing live throughout Europe. Katalin Varga is his first feature film. He now lives in Hungary where he teaches English. —TIFF
Brilliant Shining-like idea, and strong central performance by Toby Jones, let down by underwhelming digital cinematography, gimmicky editing, and some woeful acting by the entirety of the supporting cast. What could have been deliciously nightmarish is instead a cold pretentious plod, with one or two flashes of brilliance towards the end (one completely silent sequence being a super-chilling standout).
In our annual poll, we pair our favorite new films of 2012 with older films seen in the same year to create fantastic double features.
Striking images of the late Paulo Rocha, 2012 musings from David Hudson & Brandon Harris, interviews with Miike, P.T.A., Ferrara & more.
An ingenious, claustrophobic dream film at the NYFF centers on a sound mixer helping produce a horrifically violent giallo.
An elderly ornithologist finds a discarded audio recording of a psychotherapy session that may have ended in murder…
This week: Responses to the tragedy in Aurora, Jerry Lewis & the stage, the invincible Manoel de Oliveira, Sachs on Garrel + more.
Since its conception, the giallo genre of cinema has enjoyed an intimate relationship with psychoanalysis. Themes of repression, compulsion, dysfunction, and psychological discontent underlie… read review
Gialli films, by their very nature, invite psychoanalytic interpretation. Playfully teetering between camp and madness, the genre offers a home for stories that dabble in the dark recesses… read review