In the absence of availability of What’s Up Doc? or Gregory’s Girl, your usual meeter and greeter, Mr Tony Butcher, has turned to the dark side with some classic film club fodder.
This week ye may feast upon the frankly weird Berberian Sound Studio, streaming on All4. A simple story about a mild-mannered mousy man from the Mole Valley slowly disintegrating whilst making the noises for an Italian horror movie. It sure ain’t a screwball romantic comedy involving a plaid suitcase or two and we guarantee you’ll never look at a watermelon in the same way again.
As usual, you can share your thoughts about the film in our new Facebook group, via Twitter or in the comments section of the website.
Berberian Sound Studio
UK 2012
Dir: Peter Strickland
Starring: Toby Jones
Cert 15
90 mins
BBFC ratings details
NB: Contains sustained inferred psychological threat and infrequent verbal references to sexual violence
Straight Synopsis:
An Englishman is hired to create sound effects for a horror film studio in 1970s Rome, but the job ends up taking a heavy toll on his mental health
In his own words
Pale blinds drawn all day, nothing to do, nothing to say, let’s talk about sound and vision.
Peter Strickland’s second feature is an aural and blackly humorous homage to the Giallo films of Dario Argento in particular, starring the perfectly cast Toby Jones. If you’ve seen In Fabric you’ll know what to expect: something unsettlingly odd but rewardingly intriguing.
Ah, Toby, Toby, Toby, born to play a befuddled bloke who yearns for the butterflies of the South Downs as he provides the sound effects for a schlockfest of gore.
What you hear is what you think you see, what you see is what you think you heard.
Warning: a few fruits and the occasional veg were injured in the making of this film about making a film.
An esoteric choice, but let’s try something different: It’s what we’re all about.
Tony Butcher
Trailer:
