20140214: Horror Review--Berberian Sound

Berberian Sound Studio

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British live action feature length film, 2012, NR, 92 minutes, drama, thriller.
2. IMDB: 6.3/10.0 from 5,176 audience ratings. Spoken word is in English or Italian with English subtitles.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 83% on the meter; 53% liked it from 2,227 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.9/5.0 from 13,289 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Peter Strickland.
6. Starring: Toby Jones as Gilderoy, Tonia Sotiropoulou as Elena, Cosimo Fusco as Francesco Coraggio, Antonio Mancino as Giancarlo Santini.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Shy English sound engineer Gilderoy travels to Italy to make a film.  He is hit by a number of issues.  He does not speak Italian.  Some of the Italians speak some English; several speak none.  No one is willing to take the responsibility to pay back his travel costs.  The film is a horror picture, and is something of a salacious one.  Gilderoy is more than a bit of a momma's boy (though he is 40+ in age) and the subject matter shocks him.


2. Gilderoy has a rocky trip to success in this new workflow.  He has his own bag of tricks for producing sounds for film, some of which delight his new colleagues.  Horror films have different needs than the films Gilderoy is used to working on, so he has techniques to learn.  Examples: chopping up produce to mimic blades destroying human bodies; screams, crying, whimpering, moans, and so on.  Gilderoy has to deal with odd relationships among the hierarchy of people working on the project.


3. In the second half of the film, it seems Gilderoy is descending into madness.  Then again, perhaps this is not true.  When we watch Gilderoy smiling and speaking Italian with his boss while watching footage of himself, one sees that the overall context of the film is probably not what we thought it was in the beginning.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Visually gorgeous art film about sound engineering on a horror picture.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Quite well done in trying circumstances; much of the film is shot in low light.  The sound engineering props in this film are quite impressive, and shot beautifully.


2. Sound: 10/10 Quite good as one might expect.


3. Acting: 7/10 The principal actors were reasonably good.


4. Screenplay: 7/10 The 'plot' is more than a bit murky, but it does clear up toward the end.