One of the strangest and, for me at least, most beautiful of gialli is Mario Bava's 1970 film 'Five Dolls for an August Moon'. People interested in sophisticated or plausible plotting may find something to complain about. Bava avoids the psychodrama trappings of the genre and, instead, revels in the beauty of his stars and the modernist house and the island location. And, by revelling in these surface elements, he makes a unique classic of the genre that is unequalled.
When Bava has his characters watching Edwige Fenech dancing, he zooms into their faces, catches their expression of indifference, self awareness or fascination. He also shows us how amazing the colours of their eyes are. I was particularly fascinated by the gold of Helena Ronee's eyes. She had been used in many films but here we are invited to revel in the colour of those eyes which matches that of her hair.
We see the events of the film most obviously through the eyes of Isabel, the character played by Ely Galleani. She seems outside this world. A child watching the strange and destructive games played by adults. Not that the film remains with a single perspective for more than a few minutes, but it is Isabel who we find sneaking through the woods and approaching the house to watch, as we are watching, this bizarre gathering.
I know some people, very wise and clever people, who feel that this film was one of Bava's few missteps. But I have watched this more than any of his other gialli simply because it's such a pleasure to watch. We sit outside the events. In this sense, it is less tense than one of Argento's giallo films or even 'The Girl Who Knew Too Much', where it is hard not to feel anxious for Letícia Román's Nora Davis. WIth Five Dolls, we are encouraged to simply look and not feel too much. And, to be frank, I like this feeling.
The photography, music and editing are all dazzling (although I could not use any music from the film in this video for obvious reasons). The actors are all either beautiful or interesting and in most cases both. I kind of want them all to live but I am never anxious for the outcome because we know that this is just a game. A joyful game. A work of art where the arrangement of colours is more important than the theme or the story.
Contents
0:00 - The party watcher and the bodies
0:26 - Five Dolls
0:57 - Distorted tears
1:07 - Beach contemplations
1:31 - Don't smoke in bed
1:48 - Spinning bed and a man with a gun
2:02 - Edwige trying to sleep
2:15 - Helena dancing in diaphanous nightgown
2:24 - A gun and a meeting by the sea
2:40 - Ely with a rifle
2:55 - Baubles into a deadly bath
3:05 - Edwige spinning
3:22 - The witness
4:03 - Killers
4:26 - Dancing credits and escape
Music: Undercover Vampire Policeman by Chris Zabriskie
Undercover Vampire Policeman by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: chriszabriskie.com/uvp/
Artist: chriszabriskie.com/
#mariobava #giallo #edwigefenech #70scinema #fivedollsforanaugustmoon #horror #HelenaRonee #whodunnit
28 июл 2024
