Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, 2012)

6/10
Peter Stickland has a way of making moves that sound like they'd be right up my alley, only to lead to inevitable disappointment. First there was his rape-revenge Romanian road movie Katalin Varga, and now his psychological thriller set in the early 80's giallo sound studio of the film's title.
It does some things really well, nailing the colors and atmosphere evocative of the time, and the soundtrack by the band Broadcast is really good too. But nothing much happens in the movie to make you care until it's too late - and by that point it feels like a parlour trick than a plot point or something of relevance. It feels like the movie ends just as it's really beginning, or that Stickland had half of an idea and couldn't figure out where else to go with it so just dropped it. I'm disappointed I wasn't able to like the movie any more than I did, and it's never a good sign when the fictional film being made in the movie (never shown) sounds more interesting than what's transpiring on-screen. It compelled me to put in a Mario Bava flick from the 70's that I was enjoying right up until I fell asleep, but I blame Stickland for getting me to that point, not Bava.

Katalin Varga (Peter Strickland, 2009)

7/10
I've been wanting to see this movie since its release in 2009, but only got to it now. It's British director Peter Strickland's debut, though the film is set in the Hungarian-speaking part of Romania, Transilvania to be exact. Katalin Varga is a woman who has been raped, and thus is thrown out of her village by her husband. With nowhere else to go she takes her 11-year old son with her as she tries to track down her attacker. I wanted to like this movie more than I did - it felt a little clunky at times, especially with certain plot points I won't reveal for fear of spoilers. It also had a really great piece of music (piece of sound, to be more accurate) by Nurse with Wound, but overused it. There were positives though - the woman playing Katalin Varga was excellent and the rural photography and slow pace were both excellent. Strickland has a new movie coming out called Berberian Sound Studio and I'm definitely curious to see that one, even moreso now.