I apologise for the delay in this event report (essays' fault), but I am glad to tell you everything about Dario Argento in Conversation, interviewed by the author, critic and film programmer Alan Jones.
It's always a beautiful experience when someone from Italy is recognized here, and you see how many people around the world apppreciate his work.
I loved this event, mostly because Dario Argento is a proper Italian: he can't express himself in a perfect English? Nevermind, we Italians are famous for using our hands to emphasize what we are saying, and, in the end, everyone understands. Marvelous Argento did exactly this.
LIFE AND CAREER
First of all, as I did for the Roger Corman's event, a few background lines for those of you who are not familiar with the director's work:
"Dario Argento was born in Rome on 7 September 1940 to a family already entrenched in the visual arts. Although starting his career as a film critic, he was lured into directing afer his collaboration with Bernardo Bertolucci on the script for Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). His directorial effort The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) marked an enormous sea change for the Italian film industry. Its massive critical and box-office success led to more graphically bloody thrillers filmed with the stylish Hitchcockian flair for which he became justly famous - The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971), Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) and Deep Red (1975). Showcasing a score by Goblin, the latter chiller would also set an international benchmark for soundtrack use of high decibel rock music. But it was the visually ornate, shocking horror Suspiria (1977) that brought Argento worldwide recognition, cult status and credit for influencing the modern splatter genre. His celebrated imagery and striking technique added lustre to the further disturbing visions Inferno (1980), Tenebrae (1982), Phenomena (1985) and Opera (1987)."
EARLY WORK AND INFLUENCES
The conversation started with Argento's childhood context: his father was very important in the film industry ad he grew up in the Neorealism period. He went to Catholic school and he wanted to write: a newspaper asked him to work at 17, he dropped school and at 20 he was the only critic of the paper. He was watching many films in that period, the nouvelle vague was especially influential because it represented a global change in the way of making films. Among his favourites there are Fellini, Antonioni, Bergman, Hitchcock, and Powell and Pressburger's films.
The Red Shoes had a great influence on Suspiria in terms of colour, and he loved Peeping Tom.
WORKING WITH SERGIO LEONE
Leone has this idea of a spaghetti Western starring leading women, but he had a difficult relationship with women, so he asked Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci for help. Working with him taught him a lot, Leone always listened, he never talked about films. He taught him the importance of the camera: the camera is the master, more than the story and the dialogues. Argento loves silences in film, because those are the moments of pure cinema. When he was young his father used to give him many screenplays to read, so he grew up with that and decided to start writing films almost as a joke.
THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE
Mr. Argento explained that in the clip we were shown he was impersonating the killer. Mario Bava might have been a suggestion for the film, even though he had a different style, he was more comic. The Italian giallo was born. The soundtrack was fundamental for its modernity. Concerning this Argento talked about his relationship with the legendary Ennio Morricone. They lived quite close to each other and he often went to his house filled with vynils. At the time the film was very fresh and new, but it took a while to get a big audience response. However, it was big in America where Argento was nicknamed: the Italian Hithcock. He said that at the time the success didn't touch him a lot, the film came one after the other. The producers, distributors and exhibitors wanted the giallos, because they sold. This is also the reason why the only time he explored something different with Le cinque giornate (1974), a political film, people didn't appreciate it, because they were waiting for its new giallo. He then decided to go back to the giallo with a different perspective.
PROFONDO ROSSO - DEEP RED
The film was shot in Turin, an easier city for a film in comparison to Rome. The film represents a landmark moment in Argento's work because there's a big change in the soundtrack: a progressive rock sound. At first he wanted the Pink Floyd for the soundtrack, but since they were shooting The Wall they weren't available. He then decided to listen to demos from young and unexperienced people from the Conservatory.
THE THREE MOTHERS TRILOGY: SUSPIRIA, INFERNO AND THE MOTHER OF TEARS
Explaining some of the most graphic moments in the clip we watched, Argento said that, for example, the heart we see is a real lamb art, because there was no digital at the time. The very much discussed remake of Suspiria by other directors is resultingimpossible: it keeps being rewritten, it's just impossible to remake the film with his same style. Talking about the trilogy as a whole, it wasn't planned, it just came naturally from Thomas de Quincey's section from Suspiria de Profundis.
BEING A PRODUCER AND THE ITALIAN INDUSTRY TODAY
He famously produced Dawn of the Dead with George A. Romero, sequel of the Night of the Living Dead. He is not into producing anymore both for lack of money and possibilities, in Italy especially. Italian giallo and horror are over. The ones he prefers come from Asia because their horrors rediscover the psychology of the characters, a good few from France, better from Spain. The American horrors today, says Argento, with a very simple but sadly true example, are all the same. The most important thing in this genre is the fear. The fear has now disappeared from the movies for the sake of special effects.
The Italian industry has been invaded by the vulgarity of television, which corrupted people's taste. The films for the television, especially, are always the same stereotyped naive comedies, in which everyone has to be happily ever after. And with this I couldn't agree more, every time I go back to Italy watching television is a pain, and a shame.
TENEBRAE AND OPERA
We were shown a beautiful directing example from Tenebrae: a very difficult crane sequence realised on the rooftop, which had to be handmade at the time, but would be done with digital today. It's a long-take, making the film talking through images: that is cinema. Mr. Jones who saw Argento working on set said that when he works he is everywhere, he becomes the camera.
The clip from Opera shows the image he's most famous for: the protagonist's eyes kept open by a torture instrument, as she has to assist her boyfriend's murder. In Italy there is currently the film's theatre production, very well done and conserving the same special effects of the movie.
HIS DAUGHTER ASIA AND DRACULA 3D
He made and produced six films with his daughter, Asia Argento. He explains she works with digital very easily. Dracula 3D came out last year, we were shown a clip. Argento said that it was great to work in 3D and the different depths, extremely difficult though: they needed four people just to move the camera.
SOME ARGENTO'S ANSWERS FROM THE Q&A
About his use of colours
He uses different techniques depending on the film's style. Examples: Suspiria had to look like a fairytale, he took inspiration from the colours from the John Ford's movies, the Technicolor, and Disney.
About his editing style
He prefers the long-take, very different from modern horror films in which cutting is the main thing. But cutting is artificial. (His conception of cinema is very close to Bazin's: the long-take corresponding to realism.)
A comment on Westerns
"I don't like horses!"
And with this last hilarious quote from the event I want to thank Mr. Argento for being an Italian pride, but also an unforgettable and picturesque character. Thank you!
"I make movies for kindred spirits. I'm attracted to extreme violence because it's a form of protest - a refusal of established values. It's why my work is seen as so controversial and often banned or censored in many countries. I'm always ahead of the times. Sometimes it takes a few years before people catch up with my directional approach. But horror fans, my fans, always want something different. And I'll constantly provide it."
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