Main Cast: Elio Germano, Chiara Conti, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Cristina Brondo, Ivan Morales
Release Year: 2005
Country: IT/ES
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
The Dario Argento-directed Do You Like Hitchcock? pays homage to the man considered by many to be the master of suspense. A voyeuristic film student senses foul play when a murder strikes at the apartment complex across the street, but the plot, which references such Hitchcock classics as Rear Window and Strangers on a Train, is less important than the style. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Review
The filmmaker often referred to as the "Italian Hitchcock" literally embraces that longstanding comparison with a tense little made-for-television thriller that serves as a minor albeit passably entertaining homage to the man responsible for such hits as Psycho and The Birds. While few fans will be tempted to refer to Do You Like Hitchcock? as one of the stronger works of the giallo specialist's late career efforts (it's probably best to put such classics as Deep Red and Tenebre out of your mind entirely), this small-scale Dario Argento mystery does manage to have a bit of fun with the central concepts of such Hitchcock classics as Strangers on a Train and Rear Window as it tells the tale of a film student who suspects foul play in the death of his attractive neighbor's nagging mother. The threadbare plotline, which barely packs enough punch for an hour-long short, much less a 93-minute feature, is the main problem with this overlong whodunit; and though Argento does drop in the occasional stylistic flourish, the viewer mainly gets the impression that the director was on autopilot for the majority of the production. Though some American viewers will no doubt be shocked (and longtime fans pleasantly surprised) by the intense sexuality and occasionally gruesome displays of violence permitted by Italian television, no amount of gratuity can conceal the long stretches in which little seems to happen and all tension is effectively dissipated. Few would expect Argento to pull off a masterpiece at this point in his career -- especially in a tight-budgeted made-for-television film -- and though Do You Like Hitchcock? certainly can't be written off as a "failure," it does come off as something of a step backwards on the heels of Jenifer, his uncharacteristically bizarre entry into Showtime's Masters of Horror series. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Cast
Elio Germano
Chiara Conti
Elisabetta Rocchetti
Cristina Brondo
Ivan Morales
Edoardo Stoppa; Elena Maria Bellini; Horacio Jose Grigaitis; Giuseppe Loconsole; Milvia Marigliano
Credit
Fabio Angelotti - Costume Designer, Dario Argento - Director, Walter Fasano - Editor, Claudio Argento - Executive Producer, Pino Donaggio - Composer (Music Score), Francesca Bocca - Production Designer, Valentina Ferroni - Production Designer, Frederic Fasano - Cinematographer, Carlo Bixio - Producer, Joan Antoni Gonzales I Serret - Producer, Dario Argento - Screenwriter, Franco Ferrini - Screenwriter
