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Warning: video embed contains strong violence.
Today's short article is on a giallo film, Dario Argento's Tenebre (also Tenebrae). Italian for "shadows" or "darkness", its an appropriate title for a giallo film from the master of the genre itself. For those new to the genre, giallo (plural gialli) refers to the genre of slasher-thriller films notably from Italy. They're often high on contrast, high in color and gorgeous cinematography, high in blood and violence, and high in everything you ever would want from a classic slasher flick. Check out the wikipedia entry for more and for suggested directors; you won't be disappointed.
Tenebrae follows a murder mystery of a writer and a serial killer who might be basing his killings on the writer's work. Argento's other work involves the supernatural giallo sub-genre like Suspiria, and Phenomena, and my favorite work is straight slasher--Profundo Rosso or Deep Red. Without going too far into the plot or Argento (perhaps on a later article!), but I bring up Tenebrae not for the giallo and not for the awesome kills or the great mystery, but for the cinematography.
The clip I'm going to embed here is a portion of the movie that to me is groundbreaking, and is known by fans of not just the genre but of movie buffs, especially those who love exotic camera work. This film has one of the most ambitious crane tracking sequences I have ever seen.
Its also backed by the Italian prog-rock band Goblin. That alone should be the price of admission.
The clip here is about 4 minutes and includes the kill scene of the murder of a lesbian couple, but the shot in question is the first few minutes, and the tracking shot begins after the girl looks out her window. The camera, floating like a sinister spirit peeks into windows, meanders along the wall like a lazy spider, up and over the apartment building, along the walls to the other side. The shot ends right around the time the girl starts to protest (methinks she doth protest at the use of Goblin, as youtube commentors point out).
Its a gorgeous couple of minutes, and while it does nothing in reality plot wise, its one of the best establishing tracking shots (though not quite the literal use of the term "establishing) you will ever see. According to the wikipedia entry, this shot took literally 3 days and several takes before Argento was satisfied, and required the construction of a complicated scaffolding to achieve it.
But don't take my word for it. Enjoy it for yourself:
While such camera gymnastics are commonplace now (and often through CGI effects and set pieces), you have to give the camera man and Argento credit for the effort and payoff. You'll never think of tracking shots the same way.
--Dio (10/5/15)
(video from youtube, movie poster and information from wikipedia)
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