erich-krems

It hits all of the Scorsese trademarks. Voiceover-check, invasive soundtrack-check, glorified underworld- check, excessive violence- check. The problem is that it doesn't cover new ground. Scorsese is an original and a creative genius. The Bikeriders feels like someone prompted ChatGPT with "make a biker movie in the style of Martin Scorsese".

Tom Hardy's penchant for doing voices comes across pretty strongly. He puts on a pretty convincing Chicago accent and then adds in a Brando-esque nasal tone. It actually adds to the character and story as we see that Johnny was inspired by "The Wild One" to start the club.

If I had never seen Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino or Wolf of Wall Street then I would probably have enjoyed the movie much more. If Jeff Nichols never saw them, this movie wouldn't exist. Overall, I was disappointed.

There's a huge difference between dark cinematography and just a poorly lit set. The poor lighting gets in the way of what seems to be pretty sold performances from Mia Goth and Dakota Johnson. I'm not sure if it's the wrong film stock or if it's actually intended to wash out detail. If I were one of the actresses or their agents I would be upset that their work was so strongly obstructed by lighting. Additionally, a good amount of set design is lost to darkness. At one point, Mia Goth finds a secret room. She looks around, frightened by what she sees. The intent is clearly to have some exposition of what's going on behind the scenes of the dance company. Unfortunately, the viewer can't make out what any of it is, there are plaster death masks and a bunch of shadowy junk that doesn't give any sort of insight. Is it a strange tea party, a devil worshipping coven, a garage sale with the lights off?

Tilda Swinton is so poorly cast as Dr Klemperer that it takes you right out of the movie. There's no point to having her play multiple parts. The makeup and costume certainly make her look like an old man but as soon as she starts speaking, the feminine voice gives an uncanny valley sort of cognitive dissonance that tricks the mind into feeling like it's a voice over. Any elderly man could have played the part without being a distraction.

Finally, editing. There are about 20 minutes of extra footage that could have been trimmed out to give a much tighter story. For example, the first dance of Susie/ death of Olga was about eight cuts too long.

The best thing about Suspiria is the fact that Luca Guadagnino has been able to evolve as a film maker. After Call Me By Your Name, Luca could have stayed safe with the romantic drama, he tried something different and that is admirable.