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SUSPIRIA (2018)
Director: Luca Guadagnino Cast: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Lutz Ebersdorf, Mia Goth, Angela Winkler, Chloë Grace Moretz, Elena Fokina, Ingrid Caven, Alek Wek, Jessica Batut, Doris Hick, Malgosia Bela, Jessica Harper MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:32 Release Date: 10/26/18 (limited); 10/31/18 (wider); 11/2/18 (wide) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 31, 2018 With his version of Suspiria, director Luca Guadagnino has given us less a horror movie and more a sensory experience—of moving shadows and dancing light, of music and dance, and of trying to determine just how many characters Tilda Swinton is playing under layers of makeup. It's a handsome and sometimes grotesque production, which, admirably, doesn't try to remake Dario Argento's 1977 film. It attempts to expand upon its predecessor with underwhelming results. The setups of the two stories are essentially the same, but the focus of the new version has changed and broadened significantly. It feels like a new story of paranoia, the occult, and the dark forces beneath the creation of art. Ultimately, Guadagnino's telling is also as hollow as its predecessor, despite giving us a more comprehensive view of the characters involved and the political chaos happening against the backdrop of divided Berlin. Argento mostly overcame the simplicity and shallowness of his horror story by way of its phantasmagorical combination of bold color schemes and gruesome violence, but Guadagnino's variation is far more down-to-earth, wallowing in the cold and dull tones of post-wall Berlin. Everything about this new version is oppressive, which feels right when it comes to the supernatural influence of a secret coven of witches, playing with the fates and lives of the students at a famous dance company. That feeling, though, spreads to the rest of the story, keeping us removed from its characters, its assorted subplots and back stories, and, finally, its intentions and purpose. In 1977, Susie (Dakota Johnson), a former Mennonite from a farm in Ohio, arrives at a dance company near the wall in West Berlin to audition. Despite having no formal training, she impresses the company's matrons, especially Madame Blanc (Swinton), the head of the academy. While Susie prepares to dance the lead in one of the company's most famous works, she begins having strange dreams while sleeping in the academy's dormitory and feels an otherworldly presence beneath the dance floor. Meanwhile, some of the other students, namely Sara (Mia Goth) and Olga (Elena Fokina), are concerned about the recent disappearance of their fellow dancer Patricia (Chloë Grace Moretz). The police are convinced she has become part of a local terrorist organization, responsible for the recent hijacking of a commercial airliner, and the matrons don't argue with that thinking. Another "meanwhile" is in order, as Patricia's psychiatrist Dr. Josef Klemperer (The role is officially credited as being played by Lutz Ebersdorf, but look closely, then marvel at the work of the movie's makeup artists) suspects the heads of the dance company may be up to no good. The most significant storytelling shift here is that the true nature of the dance company, as a haven and cover for a coven of witches, is revealed quite early into the story (Screenwriter David Kajganich provides six acts and an epilogue—promised in the opening credits—with the revelation happening in the second act and being reaffirmed throughout). There's a divide among the matrons, with some thinking that Blanc should remain in charge and others believing that another witch is the embodiment of one of the trio of the most ancient of witches. Politics are present everywhere and every time. That's one of the running themes here, as the terrorist hijacking unfolds on news broadcasts (meaning the police have less motivation to investigate whatever's happening at the academy) and Klemperer is still haunted by the disappearance of his wife during the war 34 years ago. There's no loss of tension in knowing the truth about the company. In fact, there might be more, since Guadagnino's unhurried rhythm (as well as the foreknowledge of the blood that's spilt in the original) keeps us anticipating the inevitable horror. Early on, the body of one of the dancers is pummeled and twisted by the movements of an unaware Susie in another room—a particularly gruesome sight, made more violent by the constant cutting between the victim and her innocent assailant. The promise of more horror and violence is enough to keep us on edge, which is good, since the rest of the movie offers little of either—until its viscera-heavy and skull-blowing finale, that is. The plot itself moves back and forth between Susie and her apparent descent into the underworld (fueled by memories of her now dead, previously abusive mother), Blanc and the politics of the witches, and Klemperer and his attempts to discover the truth of the academy. There's a lot of material here, and all of it feels underdeveloped, while never finding a uniting through line. Even the story's finale, which offers a subversive twist on the final revelations of the original, is undone by the narrative being appropriated by one of the side players during the epilogue. As a mood piece, the movie is convincing enough, but it always seems to be reaching for more than its formal and tonal precision. Guadagnino and Kajganich take on so much here—without delving into any of it—that Suspiria comes across as almost purposeless. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for disturbing content involving ritualistic violence, bloody images
and graphic nudity, and for some language including sexual references)
