Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005)

Fresh and Exciting

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I *loved* the *idea* of the Dario Argento movie "Do You Like Hitchcock?" Being an admirer and fanatic of the Master of Suspense myself, I was all for a movie that was not only inspired by Hitchcock's masterpieces, but made homage to them and incorporated their influence into its characters. The idea of combining elements from films such as "Vertigo", "Psycho", "Strangers on a Train", "Dial M for Murder" and most notably "Rear Window" sounded like a real winner to me. So the concept of this made-for-television film rang like solid gold, however, the final product itself is not. Rather, I'm afraid to report, it's dreck.The whole premise is like a reworking of "Rear Window." A film student obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock gets to looking out his window, especially when he breaks his leg. And he becomes convinced that his neighbor across the street has committed murder. And he's convinced that his neighbor is also a fan of Alfred Hitchcock and may have been inspired by the master's films.Now the homage and the respect to Alfred Hitchcock is admirable, however the film is not. I will admit there was one moment of suspense that I actually found credible, but everything before and after it was so unbelievably dull, so preposterously dumb, so mind-numbingly slow and inferior that the movie resulted in nothing short of being a catastrophe. I had a feeling the movie was going to be a waste of time after its peculiar and unintentionally funny opening scene. I knew that when I saw yet another unnecessary sex scene afterward that the movie was going to throw a lot of idiotic and time-slowing ideas after another.I am not familiar with the director or actors' works, but I'm sure they have done much better than what I saw here. Elio Germano is rather dull as the protagonist modeled after Jimmy Stewart's character in "Rear Window", often rushing through his lines so fast that he's opaque, his girlfriend played by Cristina Brondo hasn't a sliver of the charm of Grace Kelly, and the murderers – the characters in a Hitchcock movie that were always charismatic or interesting – are as dull as they come…and badly acted. There is no menace from them.In addition, the movie also fails because it's trying too much to be like a Hitchcock movie, modeling a lot of scenes, cinematography, sequences, and so forth after scenes from the master's filmography. The movie doesn't seem to have an original thought of its own…and what it does have of its own is rather ridiculous. As hopeful and enthusiastic I was for this film, I'm sorry to report that your time is better spent elsewhere.

Some say that imitation is the best form of flattery. This seems to be the case with Italian director Dario Argento. He is a man that loves to shock with his stories of blood and gore in a genre known as giallo in Italy. Alas, "Ti piace Hitchcock" his 2005 made for television film doesn't quite live up to his previous work, although it is not a horrible movie.Argento sets his film in a Torino neighborhood where Giulio, a young student of cinema, and with a what appears to be an unlimited amount of time in his hands, loves to spy his neighbors from his window. He discovers Sasha, a young woman who is always fighting with her mother about money.Giulio, who loves to watch old films in DVD format, meets Sasha at the neighborhood store where she is about to rent "Strangers on a Train", one of Hitchcock's best films. Federica, a beautiful blonde, has the same idea in mind as she is about to grab the only copy in the store. Giulio realizes there is more than really meets the eye between what appears to be a casual encounter.There are references of Hitchcock's work throughout the story, like when Giulio is taking the shower, which reminds us of "Psycho", which is also prominently displayed at the video store. When Sasha's mother is victim of foul play, Giulio decides to investigate, putting himself in harm's way. Eventually, he is also a target for knowing too much, or perhaps because he gives that impression. Other references to Hitchcock include a "Rear Window" sequence, as well as another one to "Vertigo".The film is entertaining, although the dubbed version we watched on a cable channel was badly dubbed, which was distracting. One can hope Mr. Argento has more blood in mind on his next venture.

At this point in his career, one wonders what Dario Argento is trying to prove to his fans, save for the fact that his former artistic greatness seems completely drained. While the cheeky-yet-conventional "Do You Like Hitchcock?" emphasizes self-referential genre playfulness over gore, it still can't save the fact that the film is a mostly dull view. I realize this was made for Italian television, but that shouldn't excuse the all-around lack of enthusiasm and interest--the film suffers from the indifferent staging, framing, and characters that has afflicted most of Argento's work from the '90s onward. Here we have film student/nerd Giulio (Elio Germano), an avid Hitchcock fan, who becomes obsessed with a sexy brunette who lives in the apartment complex opposite his; there is a murder, and Giulio becomes entangled in the rather bland string of Hitch homages that follow (particularly "Rear Window"). Had Argento made this during his '80s heyday, it would have seemed pretentious and smug (considering his 1969 directorial debut, "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage"), but it also probably would have been more competent and stylish at the same time. While this runs circles around some of the director's more dire efforts ("Phantom of the Opera" and "Sleepless" come to mind), its drab images and lazy framing keep us from connecting with the story, leaving only a bevy of beautiful (and sometimes nude) ladies and a few bloody setpieces to hold the viewer's dwindling attention. Too bad.

"This young Italian guy is starting to worry me".Dario Argento gained the attention of one of the biggest influences, maybe the biggest, in his career: Alfred Hitchcock. In his homage to the master of suspense, he practically returns to the basic murder-mystery story that itself have always the influence of Hitchcock. The main character of the story is Giulio (Elio Germano), a film student who lives alone in an apartment and spends his time with his girlfriend (Cristina Brondo), watching films, especially of the German Expressionist (Caligari, Nosferatu, Golem, etc), and making studies about them. As a film lover I always like a lot when in a film there are references to Cinema itself and in this case we all must find familiar those images in the DVD store looking out fore some new and interesting titles. The fact that the main character is making his thesis about the German Expressionist is perfect to put some images of "Nosferatu" and "The Golem" and also I like a lot how film posters looks on the screen, some of them in the film are the ones of "Vertigo", "Metropolis" and "Nosferatu", and are only details but I really like them. Returning to the story, we have that Giulio has been always an observer so now in his apartment he begins to spy his sexy neighbor Sasha (Elisabetta Rocchetti) and he see the bad relation between Sasha and her mother (Milvia Marigliano). The giallo begins when Sasha's mother is mysteriously murdered inside her own apartment. Giulio's fear and paranoia makes that he begins to build his own theory about the murdered having the Hitchcock film "Strangers on a Train" in mind (Sasha previously rented the DVD of that film and also talked about it with Federica) believing that Federica was the murderer of Sasha's mother so now he believes that Sasha is going to kill somebody related with Federica, of course like in the Hitchcock movie.The film runtime is only 90 minutes and definitely is a really good and fast-paced murder mystery film without a lot tension and gore scenes but is amazingly entertaining and really well acted. Being a Hitchcock homage of course there are many references to him part of having the common environment of a suspense film. The most notorious are the ones to "Rear Window", "Marnie", "Psycho" and of course to "Strangers on a Train".Cast: as I write the film is pretty well acted. Germano is really good for the main role, looking always insecure and sometimes unable to solve the mystery. The support cast is also good, with the sexy Elisabetta Rocchetti, and for me the character of Giulio's girlfriend is a little weak.Conclusion: A basic murder story but I really enjoyed this Argento film that was made for TV. For me is not one of the finest films of Dario but still is recommendable and really good. Just be careful with the things you see.Region 4 DVD: I realize about the existence of this film through this site and after reading what was about, I had lots of desires to watch it. It was just a complete surprise to find the Region 4 DVD of this film since I never imagine a release. The DVD is just good with the English language only and the TV spot as the unique extra.