Suspiria (2018)
Did anyone ever suspect that the director who created such shimmering films as
Call Me By Your Name and
I Am Love had such this inkling that he insisted on unleashing this beast upon us? The openly gay Italian man that drenched us in summer sweat with
A Bigger Splash? Evidently the guy's been kicking around this very idea in his head for sometime now and here we have arrived. A reimagining of the Giallo classic directed by the beloved Dario Argento. A decent horror remake usually consists of taking mediocre to good quality source material and fattening it up, injecting a modern flair not only to try and appeal to a newer generation, but compliment the original film in the process as well.
S
hitty remakes a dime a dozen thus far but every here and now something slips through the cracks.
Suspiria is
not one of them. Before I explain any further, I wouldn't consider
Suspiria anymore a remake of the original than I would consider
Funny Games a complete reimagining of the first one. It's simply and emphatically not true. The way I see it is that they might share the same title and may or may not contain a plotline involving a coven of witches at a dance academy. That's about it. Aside from that nothing about this version is creatively in line with anything the first film succeeded in conveying. So because of I consider this a reimagining. I do believe these terms are mutually exclusive and you'll see why once you watch it. The main component that sets these films apart is absolutely the look and atmosphere. The feel of these two pictures couldn't be more black and white. The original film famously is known for being an incredible tapestry of light and color. Without a doubt one of the few authentic arthouse horror films of the past 50 years. Nevertheless it does feel dated because sure, it is dated. Like all great art, it holds up still as one of the best to this day. This reimagining was determined to utilize nearly all natural lighting throughout its very decidedly dim 152 minute runtime. I never once checked my watch though. What it lacks in vivaciousness it easily makes up for in exquisite cinematography. This is a wondrous fairy tale to behold. Logic is yes, sometimes thrown out the 4th story balcony and just when it seems like it can't delve any deeper into hell, we get to the final act of the film (the one before the epilogue). It stars Dakota Johnson as an American from Ohio coming to Berlin to study and dance for this prestigious academy run by a woman named Helena Markos. A woman you don't see until the end of the film. That's all I'm willing to mention. Each performance was perfectly fine, aside from Johnson who felt pretty stiff for reasons beyond her control (I'll discuss why later on). The absolute standout was Tilda Swinton. She continuously proves time and time again she is one of the best actresses of our generation. She apparently plays three roles in this film but her lead character is a madame named Blanc who is also the lead dance instructor of the academy. The way she moves her head and gauzes indirectly and smokes her cigarettes, Swinton brings an incredibly complex multi-faceted performance to a character that could've otherwise been completely hacked apart. She really brings this film together more often than not.
My biggest complaint with this film (unfortunately too big) is the stiffness between some characters due to a very weak script marred by some absolutely dreadful dialogue. Particularly a scene involving Johnson's character and Madame Blanc where they're in a room together talking about something or other and the exchange of words not only hardly make any sense, but it's just not written well at all. A complete devoid of any coherence which could've been mysterious and creepy only ends up being cringey and produced a yawn as well. Had the screenplay decided to take itself as seriously as it does until those certain moments, I could've easily looked past one or two scenes, but it's very sporadic throughout the film. To go back to the lighting again for a second, yeah I'm not sure who decided that was a good idea. The lighting is way to dark in certain scenes and I might as well have been closing my eyes for Christ's sake. The cinematography as I mentioned is all there, but I was completely taken out of this film when moments of pure darkness consumed the screen and even more frustrating when it seemed to only take place when I was really delving into it.
All In All,
Suspiria is a flawed film, possibly even deeply flawed. Certainly not the masterpiece more than a few critics have been calling it. The best way to view Suspiria 2018 is through the lens of style over substance. The screenplay decides to give us only questions and not many an answer which I'm fine with in many cases, it's just that
Suspiria hardly makes up for that ambiguity with anything other than looking pretty and giving the horror cinephiles a gonzo third act they waited over 2 hours to see. What's got me more excited is awaiting what Guadagnino has in store for another horror outing in the future. As for
Suspiria, I'll just stick to watching the classic.
B-