Berberian Sound Studio

So I am incredibly on the fence about this film. Part of me is glad I took the time to watch it, the other part wishes Id just watched more South Park reruns.

Berberian Sound Studio is about a sound technician hired to work on the set of a bizarre giallo film. Its absolutely riddled with wtf moments and some excellent scenes of Foley work. The directing is absolutely phenomenal and most of the shots are just downright gorgeous. though there are some heavily overused elements seen throughout the movie. The plot is almost barely there, and the movie almost just exists to evoke a sick feeling in the viewer, which it pulls off quite flawlessly.

The filmmaking is also solid, with certain aspects of the film being incredibly unique and commendable.

It is definitley a super artsy film, and is more of a surrealistic head trip than a story. It should have been shorter, with certain scenes (while fantastic on their own) feeling out of place or unnecessary to the film. A number of times I found myself checking my watch, but in between I was absolutely riveted to the beautiful cinematography and incredible sound work.

Is it an outright horror film? Not really, you hardly feel any real anxiety or paranoia, but I promise you will feel incredibly uneasy from start to finish.

Will I ever watch it again? Definite no. Was it great movie? Not quite. Am I glad I took the time to watch it? For sure.

Review Synopsis: Berberian Sound Studio should have been cut down to an hour and instead of presenting itself as a movie, gone for being a showcase of some FANTASTIC talent in terms of cinematography, filmmaking, and sound production.

'Berberian Sound Studio (2012)' is essentially an arty ode to cinematic sound design, focusing on a mousy sound technician who begins working on an incredibly violent 'Giallo' film and finds himself increasingly disturbed by it. You don't actually see any of the film-within-a-film except for its opening credits, with the sounds created by the characters being the only indication (as well as some brief verbal descriptions) of what's going on in each scene. It works surprisingly well, conveying the brutality of the piece without portraying even a single drop of blood. The picture itself has phenomenal sound design, the kind that can make even the simplest of things seem entirely otherworldly. It's often used to create a creepy atmosphere where something just doesn't quite sit right and it works wonders. Where the film sort of falls down a bit is in its ending, which is a little underwhelming and kind of makes the movie feel as though it lacks an actual point. Still, the third act is suitably strange and the way in which the very fabric of the film itself starts to unravel is actually rather riveting. Ultimately, this is an exercise in style over substance. Thankfully, that style is superb. 7/10.

The story on the other hand is confusing to say the least. But that is meant to be experienced like that. The question is if you are willing to enjoy the ride. You could also say it's a bit of style over content, though I'm sure the director must have a plan in mind and could explain it all to you.

The cast is great, the pace of the story on the other hand is really slow. Another factor that might make this unbearable to watch for some people. It's definitely a great look behind the scenes of sound making, whatever you think of the movie. Another great thing is that the movie can be watched a couple of times, so you could discover new little things in it.

I'm a big fan of films where impressionable protagonists enter a world of images and fictions. The challenge is how to model madness, by what degrees to confuse and clarify. DePalma could do this type of film, fooling with layered placement and identity of the eye—it'd be as cool as this and obvious in its main thrust about madness, but probably not as ambient. Lynch could in a more powerful way.

The story is that a shy sound-man goes to work on an Italian exploitation movie, this is to establish him as a creative person who will have to imagine things, and to establish the things he's going to imagine as of some darkness. He is an introvert, so we can have this conflation of inner and outer sensitivity to phenomena. Funny: shy is here equated with unattractive appearance in the main actor.

The film is entirely contained on a soundstage and around the studio where the soundtrack is being prepared. The actual horror movie is never seen (except for the opening credits which serve as the credits to our film), always inferred from what we see of the sound-carpet being fitted, the screams and slashing sounds, and this is a crucial point: the horror movie never quite materializes, so there's widespread negativity in reviews.

Oh, we get obvious hallucination in the latter stages that I could do without, linked to movie screens as borders of reality — it clarifies too much. But there's something else I liked, simple and inventive.

All sorts of sound effects are constructed over the course of the film before our eyes, from ordinary means: melons are slashed, pumpkins are splattered, broth is boiling. The first time we see the effect being recorded, and then an off-screen voice announces what it is supposed to be the sound of, and it's done a second time. It's fun to see on a fundamental level as exposing the kind of unceremonious but inventive technical work that takes place behind cinematic curtains of illusion.

But more marvelous is exemplifying the mechanism of that illusion that creates the imagined horror story in our mind — the second time the sound becomes the mental image just described to us. By making it so immediate, it's a powerful exhibit, observable in your own self, of the mind acquiring illusory images — the images become what the off- screen voice announces. Wickedly clever! Because it puts us in the protagonist's shoes, by introducing a disruptive level of imagination.

So I think you must see this at one point. Based on his previous film and now this, I have this filmmaker on my short list of talent that I expect he has it in him to be a leading voice a decade from now.

There is a pressure associated with watching a film considered one of the best of its year; there is of course pressure on the film to live up to the hype but when it comes to smaller films such as this one then there is a certain amount of pressure on the viewer to be part of the people who "get it" and not one of the dullards who should just stick to blockbusters. Of course this is message board talk but it exists in the mind too and for sure I came to this film wanting to come out praising it. Indeed I felt this to the point that even as it ended I felt like I should have enjoyed it more and thus started to rationalize myself towards that position, but it isn't the case because while I appreciated aspects of this film, generally I found it pretty dull and lacking a sharp edge.

The plot is that a British sound engineer comes to Italy for a project and finds himself doing ADR and Foley for a film containing a lot of graphic violence; as he works he finds his grip on his sense slipping, with his days spent not understanding what is being said around him and acting out violent acts on vegetables while watching women be brutalized on film over and over again. The concept I am fine with and I liked the ideas in the plot of exposure to this material having an impact and I even enjoyed the slow burn of the horror, but it slow burnt its whole way to the end and really didn't deliver too much. It has some nice touches as the plot develops but the "inside a movie" thing feels trite and isn't developed enough here to stand up on its own. I was drawn into the built but then surprised by how little delivery there was at the other end.

Of course the one thing the film does great is the sound engineering. As my partner was studying upstairs, I watched this through a very good set of headphones and it added a lot to the film to be so immersed in the audio aspect. The violence of the sounds and the persistence of them is very engaging and involving, just as it is for the main character, although the screaming gets very old very quickly. The decision to have the majority of the dialogue in Italian without subtitles was an interesting one which cuts both ways; on one hand it disorientates the viewer as it does the main character, but then it does put more pressure on the feel of the film – which then doesn't deliver. The cast are solid, with Jones in good form throughout.

I did want to like it more than I did but while the sound and the slow burn pacing is engaging, it goes on too long and doesn't have enough in the way of development of delivery to really payoff at the end. Trust me, I wanted to go with the majority on this and be seen as one of the cool kids, but it really only worked for me up to a point.