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.
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Title: Giallo (2009)
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| 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) | |
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Sato Oi | ... | Midori |
| Luis Molteni | ... | Sal | |
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Taiyo Yamanouchi | ... | Toshi |
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Daniela Fazzolari | ... | Sophia |
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Nicolò Morselli | ... | Young Enzo |
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Giuseppe Lo Console | ... | Butcher |
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Anna Varello | ... | Butcher's Wife |
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Franco Vercelli | ... | Cabbie |
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Lorenzo Pedrotti | ... | Delivery Boy |
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Farhad Re | ... | Designer |
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. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Probably one of the reasons why Dario Argento is still making films today while many of his counterparts are not (aside from the fact that Argento is still alive, obviously) is because the director moves with the times. In the seventies, he made stylish seventies films; in the eighties, he made trashy eighties films, in the nineties he made over-complex nineties thrillers; and in the decade just gone, he made soulless genre films (the fantastic Sleepless being the exception). It would appear that Argento was trying to hark back to the good old days with this film - which takes the genre name as its own title - but unfortunately he's missed the mark rather badly. The plot is pure Giallo, however. Several women in the city of Milan have disappeared; only to turn up dead some days later. When Linda's sister is abducted, she goes to the cops and is put in touch with FBI agent Enzo Avolfi, who immediately jumps to the conclusion that Linda's sister has been abducted by the killer and proceeds to let Linda help him in every area of the investigation.
The trailer got my hopes up with its line "the city of Milan is known for its beautiful women, but someone is preying on them" - of course, the fashion house is the iconic setting of genre favourites such as Blood and Black Lace; but Argento is keen to skip over this and get straight to the killer, which is a massive shame. Atmosphere is one of the major things that separates the Giallo from the run of the mill thriller - and this one has none. The title "Giallo" - the Italian word for yellow, is used farcically as a description of the killer; who has yellow skin as a result of a medical condition. Of course, Dario Argento is no stranger to grotesquely disfigured killers - having featured one in his earlier masterpiece Phenomena, but while it fit the film in Phenomena, here it just comes off as comical and difficult to buy into. The film is not overly violent, although Argento does delight in showing us some gore. The gore scenes are not particularly well directed, however and overall the film lacks tension; which means the graphic scenes don't pack much of a punch. The cast was chopped and changed several times and the lead role eventually went to Adrien Brody; who is basically wasted. The script is really weak to the point where it does actually affect the film (Giallo isn't known for great writing, but in the best examples, it isn't a problem). The basis of the investigation is silly also; I have to admit that I don't know much about how crimes are investigated in Italy, but I'm just going to assume that the general public isn't usually given almost as much authority in investigations as police officers are! As a film in its own right, this one is pretty poor and as an Argento film; it's downright disappointing. However, since I'm such a shameless fan of the director; I can't bring myself to truly hate it.