[BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO screens Monday November 11th at 7:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
So yeah... what was that all about,
then? Seriously, I'm not even going to pretend that I understand what
BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO was
trying to convey, and yet I found every frame from first to last
compelling as Hell. The closest thing I can think of to compare it to
is the Coen Brothers' BARTON FINK,
in that both films deal with the way that the less savory aspects of
the film business can corrupt an artist.
In
BARTON, the
artist/protagonist was a screenwriter; here, it's a sound effects
technician. Gilderoy (Toby Jones) is best known for his work on
children's TV shows, but for some inexplicable reason Italian
director Santini (Antonio Mancino) thinks he's the right guy to
provide the sound of a hot poker being inserted into the nether
regions of a witch in his latest shocker THE EQUESTRIAN
VORTEX. Certainly Santini's
producer Francesco (Cosimo Fusco) doesn't see why Gilderoy is so
special, seldom treating the sound wizard with more than contempt.
