DO YOU LIKE HITCHCOCK?

Giulio is a university student preparing a thesis on German expressionist cinema. Often, Giulio has the opportunity to spy from his window at Sasha, an uninhibited girl who lives in the building across from his, engaged in sensual movements and frequent arguments with her mother. One night, Sasha's mother is killed by a mysterious killer. Giulio begins to suspect that the murder was organized by Sasha herself in agreement with another girl, who would have been inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's film "Strangers on a Train," making a swap of murders. According to the boy's theory, therefore, a second murder should soon take place, and Giulio decides to investigate. That the former master of horror, Dario Argento, had fallen into a tunnel paved with tepid reflections of his great past cinema was known to everyone; that he could no longer craft a noteworthy nightmare after more than ten years is a fact; but the fan of his cinema is here, with fingers crossed, with the hope that each of his latest films is, if not on par with his great successes, at least better than the previous one... and in general, every expectation is disappointed. Already with "Trauma" noticeable signs of decline were noted, confirmed by "The Stendhal Syndrome" and "The Phantom of the Opera;" a small parenthesis of recovery with "Nonhosonno," which gave hope for the future, but punctual comes the latest denial with "The Card Player." This "Do You Like Hitchcock?" is a film made for television, let's say a small vacation that Argento took before shooting his real next film. If we consider this film keeping in mind the desolate and discouraging Italian television landscape, we are facing a work of great quality; but if we see "Do You Like Hitchcock?" as a film by Dario Argento, keeping in mind the small masterpieces with which he delighted us in the '70s and '80s, then we are rather shocked and disappointed. Shocked because all the directorial technique and visual delusions to which Argento had accustomed us are completely absent: the bloody murders skillfully choreographed are missing; a noteworthy plot twist is missing; the music is not suitable (this time it is by Pino Donaggio); a fascinating photography is missing. Almost everything is missing! Some small visual refinements remain (the details of the buildings), a couple of successful suspense scenes (the chase in the rain and the attempted murder in the bathtub), and a background story, mainly based on cinematic citationism, rather entertaining. The main theme of "Do You Like Hitchcock?," beyond the obvious desire to pay homage to the director of "Psycho," is voyeurism. The protagonist is a voyeur (as James Stewart was in "Rear Window," but the parallel is intentional), and the viewer is forced to improvise as a voyeur to follow his actions, which soon lead him to a state of general paranoia. The cast, as often happens in recent Argento films, does not excel in validity: the protagonist is played by Elio Germano, the only one capable of providing a satisfying performance; then there are Chiara Conti and Elisabetta Rocchetti (a face now known in Italian genre cinema), both little expressive and memorable only for undeniable physical qualities. Originally, "Do You Like Hitchcock?" was supposed to be the pilot episode for a miniseries produced by Rai, in which each film would have addressed an aspect of genre cinema with a marked metacinematographic propensity. Probably this project will not be completed, and one wonders how this Argento film will be placed in the Rai schedule: as we know, fiction enjoys great success in Italy and is heavily relied upon to fill the prime-time schedules, that is, in the evening. But a film like "Do You Like Hitchcock?" does not have the requirements to go unnoticed in the "protected slot": bloody murders (though not much by Argento's standards), frequent nudity (even full nudity); in short, everything that we will never see on Rai channels at nine in the evening. Disappointment? Fans unanimously lean towards yes.