Knife + Heart

KNIFE+HEART isn't the first work of art to combine the specter of the AIDS epidemic, the sex positivity of the gay liberation movement (which came to a crashing halt with the emergence of AIDS), and the conventions of horror/thriller/slasher films. In poetry form, Kevin Killian's 1997 ARGENTO SERIES fused the brightly colored blood splatter of SUSPIRIA with the inexplicable death toll of HIV. Probably my favorite of all such works, however, is Alain Guiraudie's 2014 film STRANGER BY THE LAKE, which yearns for the titillation of casual sex even as it constantly exudes the threatening possibilities inherent in such encounters in a way that's truly unsettling.

KNIFE+HEART isn't about AIDS, per se, but it does pile on a nicely textured layer of meanings about the interlocking nature of the sex and the death drive. The violent impulses that underlie S&M fantasies; the death of the ego that makes dance floors, drug trips, and uninhibited sexual encounters equally ecstatic; the orgasmic peak that led English Renaissance poets to use "die" as a metaphoric synonym for "climax"; the "death" of the presumed-straight child that occurs whenever a queer adolescent or adult comes out of the closet and must then sometimes abandon past expectations, past claims to identity, and links to old family and friends; the loss a parent might feel when a child leaves for a safer queer space like the city; the loss of one's individuality when entering into a committed partnership with another person; the godlike control over life and death that lies in both the hands of the artist and the medium of photography, which captures and preserves moments in time; and the literal violence and murder perpetrated against not only queer and trans people but also sex workers in general--KNIFE+HEART is about all of this, I think, and probably a lot more, including things perhaps too personal for a viewer to decipher.

KNIFE+HEART carries a heavy load of theoretical possibilities, but it never comes across as pretentious or overladen. Rather, it's consistently engaging, with campy excesses of giallo bloodshed, a proliferation of cute boys, a pulsing soundtrack by M83, and bits of both levity and realism that make it moving even though it is essentially, like the best of Argento, utterly ridiculous and implausible. It may not have quite the same high style that peak Argento had, but it definitely has a lot more substance.

Sitges Film Festival Review

Story, Setting, Characters, Mood etc. are all pretty cool on paper. I think the pure script of the movie is pretty awesome. Sadly the version shown at the Sitges Film Festival did not manage to put these elements together as one flowing film. It felt unfinished in many aspects. The heart is at the very right place. But the execution did not do it justice.

This reminded me a lot of the heydays of Giallos. The colors, the story and even the gay and lesbian scene's. They are just on the edge of explicit, so typical French.

It wasn't really my thing because the whole movie is about the gay scene, so I can understand if you are into that you will love this. You can easily find out who the killer is, it's all explained in the second part of this flick.

Why I watched it, I grew up with Vanessa Paradis. So it was nice to see she's still standing an din fact still looks the same.

Calling it a Giallo isn't maybe all correct but back then you had some explicit sexual tinted Giallos and myabe it fits into that genre. But a bit of weak story tears it down.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

After a series of strange murders, a film director trying to finish her most recent gay porn realizes that the incidents are centered on the cast of one of her films by a masked maniac intent on seeking retribution for a past film mocking a debilitating incident he suffered and tries to stop him.

There was a lot to like with this one overall. Among the most likable factors here is the generally impressive setup that manages to work a highly effective old-school atmosphere into the universe of sleaze and depravity featured here. As there's a generally fun vibe during the film shoots that take place, whether it's the early threesome choreographed by her friend, the police station interview mock-up, or the arthouse-style recreation of the murder scene, that all combine to set up the confines of the studio system she's working within at the same time as the killer begins striking the performers of her crew. The recruitment of new performers to fill out the roles of those who are being killed off goes along rather nicely with the discovery of the origin story at play tying everything together. As well, there's also a lot of fun here with the enjoyably decadent and erotically-tinged kill scenes at play throughout here. Being fueled by the atmosphere at play here with the killer preying on victims by employing sexuality to his advantage just as freely as the performers do in their scenes with a highly-engrossing arthouse sensibility to its technical prowess, this one comes across as a rather slick and stylish effort. With some effective suspense in the opening ambush in the nightclub with the actual attack taking place in the bedroom, appearing to a drugged-out victim in the car, or the dizzying sequence in the forest during the rainstorm, the attacks in this one are quite brutal and enjoyable that are a part of this one's likability. The other good part here that has a lot to like is the overall giallo-styled format that's in play. The whole concept of the creative crew being targeted by the strange masked killer that fuels an investigation into their identity after getting nowhere with the authorities is a classic genre trope employed to good effect here. After the series of murders targeting people in her company, that she's forced to play amateur detective and investigate who's responsible for the deaths leads her to the small-town kid who died and set everything in motion with the events that angered him being replicated in her films is a setup in the style. This gives off a rather fun setup that goes alongside the rather impressive technicalities and extravagant lighting featured throughout to give this an enjoyable enough series of positives. There are a few minor drawbacks that emerge here. The main issue here is the decidedly non-giallo setup that gives away the killer's identity rather than focusing on investigating who it actually is. Instead of looking into the potential suspects since this never provides any and then discovering who they are at the very, this just flat-out says who it is and then features a confrontation with the identified figure so there's little suspense about who it is that goes against the genre's setup. There's also a lot to dislike with that final confrontation which is pretty underwhelming rather than cathartic and ends the film on a slightly sour note. It's the features that end up holding this one back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, strong sexual references, Nudity, and drug use.

Imagine "Stranger By the Lake" directed by Dario Argento or better still, Claire Denis and you're about a quarter of the way there. "Knife+Heart" is a deliciously giddy piece of gay giallo, partly "Cruising", partly "Dressed to Kill" and yet feeling totally original. Anne, (an excellent Vanessa Paradis), is a producer of gay male porn whose actors suddenly keep getting murdered in particularly nasty ways. Rather than initially shedding tears, Anne turns the killings into a movie she calls 'Homocidal'.



Naturally it's gruesome but it's also as stylish and as gorgeous as anything DePalma might have done and director Yann Gonzalez is bold enough to take the clichés of the genre, (thunderstorms, a black crow to herald the murders), and turn them on their head; you are never quite sure which way he's heading. Even the sexual make-up of his characters is never clearly defined. This is a really smart take on a genre we thought we knew inside out; once upon a time we would have called it 'post-modern' but don't let that put you off. It's set in 1979 and fans of giallo from that period will find much to enjoy here just as anyone interested in New Queer Cinema will also find much to relish...oh, and don't leave until the very last image leaves the screen