Giallo (2009)

In Italy, a woman fears her sister may have been kidnapped. Inspector Enzo Avolfi fears it's worse. They team up to rescue her from a sadistic killer known only as Yellow.

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Jim Agnew, Dario Argento,

Stars:

Adrien Brody, Emmanuelle Seigner, Elsa Pataky

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adrien Brody	...	Inspector Enzo Avolfi / Giallo (as Byron Deidra)
Emmanuelle Seigner	...	Linda
Elsa Pataky	...	Celine
Robert Miano	...	Inspector Mori
Valentina Izumi	...	Keiko (as Valentina Izumì)
Sato Oi	...	Midori
Luis Molteni	...	Sal
Taiyo Yamanouchi	...	Toshi
Daniela Fazzolari	...	Sophia
Nicolò Morselli	...	Young Enzo
Giuseppe Lo Console	...	Butcher
Anna Varello	...	Butcher's Wife
Franco Vercelli	...	Cabbie
Lorenzo Pedrotti	...	Delivery Boy
Farhad Re	...	Designer

Storyline

In Torino, Celine, an American model, is abducted by a taxi driver while en route home to meet her sister Linda, visiting at her apartment. The next morning, Linda reports that Celine is missing - the sergeant in charge directs her to F.B.I. agent Inspector Enzo Avolfi. He's from the Special New York City Department investigating a serial-killer that kidnaps foreigners to destroy their beauty. When a Japanese woman is found at nearby a fountain, Enzo and Linda find that the girl is calling the abductor's skin is "Yellow" in color and Linda concludes that the guy might have jaundice. They go to the Policlinic di Torino to find the killer.

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Plot Keywords:

inspector | yellow | fear | torino | japanese woman | 

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Taglines:

To Catch a Killer, You Must Think Like a Killer!.

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language, some sexual content, nudity and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace Official site

Country:

USA UK Spain Italy

Language:

English Italian Japanese

Release Date:

1 July 2011 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Agria katadioxi

Filming Locations:

Lungo Po Armando Diaz, Turin, Piedmont, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hannibal Pictures, Giallo Production, Footprint Investment Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vincent Gallo was initially set to play the role of Yellow but dropped out after his ex-fiancée Asia Argento was cast in the lead role. Ironically enough, she later quit the project because she was pregnant and was replaced by Emmanuelle Seigner.

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Connections

References Juno (2007)

User Reviews

Routine slasher affair not worthy of the master's name and I say this with the affection of a longtime fan

The high point in the film comes midway in the form of Adrian Brody's childhood flashback: the camera heaves this side and that inside an amber-lit room as though floating in the air while a music box lullaby that brings back memories of Goblin's School at Night theme from Profondo Rosso chimes in the background. Other than that, the movie might as well have been called "Routine Slasher" because there's nothing that recalls the glorious days of the Italian giallo here, no wink or homage or black-gloved killer stalking distraught heroines in kitsch/chic Rome apartments, countryside villas, and medieval architecture and certainly none of the Technicolor phantasmagoria Argento and his peers conjured on celluloid 30 years ago because anyone who has followed Argento's career knows he has been working in dark muted DV canvases for the past 10 years, this absence of style flooded with wooden acting, bad English from non-English speaking actors, and a script the sum of plot contrivance happenstance and logic jumps. Some will argue these have been staples of Argento's career and I will disagree because their place has always been peripheral to a certain grand guignol aesthetic by whose outrageousness, stylistic or otherwise, not only have they been relegated to the margins but they have made perfect "sense" there in the margins as part of Argento's style (or Italian horror film-making in general). If Mother of Tears was a bold step in the direction of Phenomena's schizophrenic conclusion, this is a step backwards to the undistinguished workmanlike nature of Il Cartaio and Ti Piace Hitchcock. Everything here is generic. The score sounds like Batman Returns throwaways (Claudio Simonetti's absence is sorely felt), the villain is a curious mixture of pathetic and creepy, Argento's stylized violence is conspicuously absent. This is a serial killer movie trying to balance between crime procedural and slasher such as one may find in Lionsgate's STD catalogue. If you're looking for the giallo homage the title promises, you'll find it in Sleepless. This is a routine affair not worthy of the master's name or his fans' time and money.