Review of Suspiria (2018) by Andrewburge — 05 Feb 2019

Luca Guadagnino wanted to make this film since he saw Dario Argento's original version back in 1977 and his excitement is visible. Unfortunately, he is overwhelmed by this opportunity and this resulted in a film which goes in many directions, but ultimately lacks focus and has quite a few loose ends.

The most noticeable and confusing problem I noticed was the way in which the film failed to connect its political subplot to the main one. I constantly tried to find a connection and I thought that I simply was not able to see it. Luckily, one quick swoop to Wikipedia confirmed that I was not the only one in this situation. Worse, though, is that the film juggles with being a drama, a thriller and a horror and does not really manage to be any of these fully.

Sure, I loved the final scene which was one of absolute grotesque beauty, dread but by the time I got to it, it was already a bit too late. This brings us to the film's worst crime. The fact that for its already long two and a half hours, it constantly tests my patience. Every single build-up ends up being unsatisfactory. Guadagnino, though, is a director who refines aesthetics; the film is quite rich in visual and audio personality, with Radiohead's Thom Yorke providing the score. But Guadagnino also likes to savour the moment. His films usually have a slow pace, like the great "Call Me By Your Name". The problem is that this film desperately begs for events to happen, and he is just not accustomed to that.

I found it interesting the way Guadagnino presented these witches not as evil, occult monsters, but gave them some personality. Behind their macabre rituals, there are many conflicts and reasons. Overall, this should have gone well, but over-excitement can be a mother sometimes.