Giallo when it comes to books, as astute rara avians have
pointed out, is a generic term for crime novels. But the
films that bear this name are a little different from
'ordinary' crime films. They started out as conventional
mysteries inspired by Edgar Wallace and Agatha Christie and
that whole school of whodunit (hence the name 'giallo') but,
thanks to directors like Mario Bava (compare his early
mystery 'The Girl Who Knew Too Much' with 'Hatchet for the
Honeymoon' and you can see what I mean), they turned into
something different. The plots became bizarre, the murders
brutal-often elaborately staged setpieces-the lighting
stylized and artificial, the sets opulent and stylish, the
characters cynical or psychologically damaged (dream
sequences and hallucinations are common) and suspense was
emphasized over mystery-the solutions to the mysteries often
being so bizarre as to stretch credulity. (Including
sometimes going with the supernatural explanation. Imagine an
episode of Scooby Doo where the ghost could be real and it
could kill Velma. That's the thrill you get from watching a
giallo.) They have been compared to slasher movie but I would
say they are slashers with PHDs. The characters are adult and
sophisticated. Not screechy teens.
If you say that noir and hardboiled are mysteries that
are credible-hence the grittiness, the flat reportorial
style, and the neo-realism
(even if it's sometimes 'lite') then you would have to say
that giallo are incredible mysteries-hence the gothic and
baroque touches. I know I could read gothic and baroque
novels, but giallo films are still closer to their
source-crime and mystery-than straightforward gothic. They
are closer to Poe than to Mary Shelley or Bram Stoker, let's
say.
(And as for Italian crime. At the moment it is going through
quite a healthy phase. I have recommended Gianrico Carofiglio
before and I'll do so again. Fans of harboiled and noir will
eat him up with a spoon.)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:
rara-avis-l-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:
rara-avis-l-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 31 May 2008 EDT