EYES OF CRYSTAL

Inspector Amaldi, a type of policeman who seems to have stepped right out of the American school of hard-boiled detectives like Mike Hammer, is on the trail of a methodical and cruel serial killer nicknamed the Stuffed One. The killer murders young women and enjoys dissecting them as if they were dolls. To track down the man, Amaldi will have to enter his sick psychology, delving into a hell of monstrosity and hallucinatory crimes from which there seems to be no escape. But a young girl and her personal story seem to give the policeman the exact intuition to finally give an identity to the murderer. The enigma is indeed more than ever buried, along with other mysterious crimes, in the past. In his debut thriller, Eros Puglielli, former enfant prodige of Italian auteur cinema, already seems to have to deal with the ungrateful task of having to "get past" the ephemeral figure of the actor Luigi Lo Cascio, also coming from committed films, like that of the ruthless policeman, perpetually dressed in black, of Fincherian derivation. The references to "Seven" (1995) and to a certain strong-toned cinema of the 70s are too many. Puglielli's convulsive and dynamic directing style gives the film a beginning that leaves room for good premises, with Lo Cascio/Amaldi who does not hesitate to pull the trigger after chasing the author of a rape. But after this deceptive opening, we find ourselves immersed in a sea of banality with the suspense dosed drop by drop. Even the presence of Lucia Jimenez and her role as a beautiful woman in danger threaten to plunge a product that is otherwise well-made, at least courageous, into boredom. Based on the novel "The Stuffed One" by Luca Di Fulvio, scripted by Franco Ferrini, who is the right-hand man of every recent cinematic work by Dario Argento, Occhi di Cristallo is a missed opportunity. Honor to the distribution 01 and to RAI cinema that allowed its tenacious realization with a Spanish co-production. The film was presented at Venice 2004, in a preview, in which it already received not-so-sweet criticism from the press. Hoping that it will succeed in the home video market, it is a work that has one great merit: a richly curated aesthetic that goes from the dark photography to the scenes, even passing through the poster, according to many, one of the most beautiful of 2004. But also one great flaw: being a sort of continuous citation of a cinema that no longer exists. Homage without innovation.