Amer [Blu-ray]

EXPERIMENTAL ART FILM...NOT A GIALLO
I'm an avid collector of giallos and was looking forward to this movie with great anticipation. It seemed like those who reviewed it from film festival screenings were hailing it as an 'authentic' giallo that was a flawless return to that particular style of movie making.
Well, AMER is a very difficult movie to critique properly because it is actually a unique 'movie' which doesn't adhere to a coherent narrative. While it is beautiful to look at there is no way to know exactly what is going on. It's much more 'David Lynch' than 'Dario Argento'. While it's certainly steeped in the stylistic flourishes of 70s giallos it's more like 'giallo fantasia' than a giallo proper; a flashy cinematic love letter to the stylistic staples of the genre, without the engaging mystery. There is very little dialog whatsoever. There is also only one really violent murder in the movie and it happens to a man (were the filmmakers afraid to glamorously depict the giallo's trademark misogyny?)
While...

If David Lynch directed a Giallo...
What Blue Velvet is to the detective genre, Amer is to the giallo. Amer takes all of the tropes, both visual and aural, of the giallo and condenses them down into pure abstraction. It is probably best enjoyed as three separate short films, each about a distinct time in the protagonist's (Ana) life:

The first (and in my opinon, best) segment is seen through the eyes of the child (maybe six years old?) Ana observing the adults of her world dealing with the death of their elderly patriarch. The mood is gothic and fairy-tale like, with unnaturally saturated colors and dream-like juxtapositions.

The second segment follows the now teenage protagonist on a trip into town with her mother to perform errands. The style of shooting (and sound design) turn this mundane task into a sensual awakening, and a growing awareness of the power of Ana's sexual allure. The atmosphere is distinctly different from the first segment, set in summer at a sea-side town in France (I'm...

EXPERIMENTAL FILM... NOT A 'GIALLO'
I'm an avid collector of giallos and was looking forward to this movie with great anticipation. It seemed like those who reviewed it from film festival screenings were hailing it as an 'authentic' giallo that was a flawless return to that particular style of movie making.
Well, AMER is a very difficult movie to critique properly because it is actually a unique 'movie' which doesn't adhere to a coherent narrative. While it is beautiful to look at there is no way to know exactly what is going on. It's much more 'David Lynch' than 'Dario Argento'. While it's certainly steeped in the stylistic flourishes of 70s giallos it's more like 'giallo fantasia' than a giallo proper; a flashy cinematic love letter to the stylistic staples of the genre, without the engaging mystery. There is very little dialog whatsoever. There is also only one really violent murder in the movie and it happens to a man (were the filmmakers afraid to glamorously depict the giallo's trademark misogyny?)
While...

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