Director Report Card: Dario Argento (2022)

21. Dark Glasses

Occhiali neri

Dario Argento making his first movie in ten years should be an event. One of the major genre directors of the seventies and eighties returning to cinema for the first time in a decade would, ideally, be cause for celebration. Of course, Dario Argento's reputation in the modern age is more complicated than that. While few people can agree on when he last made a good movie, most understand that Argento isn't the filmmaker he used to be. Whether you consider 2012's “Dracula 3D” entertaining camp or an utter fiasco, it was hardly a dignified note for the director of “Suspiria” to end his career on. When “Occhiali neri” was first announced, I was skeptical it would even make it to theater screens. Once it was apparent the movie was actually coming out, I still remained cautious. I figured it was best not to get my hopes up. Now that “Dark Glasses,” as it's now known in English, is out and streaming on Shudder, it's time to determine if my apprehension was well placed or not. 

Diana is a high-class call girl going about her life in Rome. While fleeing a violent client, she is pursued by a serial killer who has been targeting sex workers all throughout the city. The chase concludes when she crashes her car into another vehicle. The wreck leaves Diana blind and kills the two adults in the other car, leaving only a boy alive. Diana attempts to rebuild her life as a newly blind woman. She feels guilty about the deaths and finds the boy, a Chinese immigrant named Chin, at an orphanage. The boy sneaks away to live with Diana, intrigued by the woman. They form an odd friendship... But the danger is not over. The killer is still at large and eager to reclaim the victim that got away from him. 

“Dark Glasses” is probably the best film Dario Argento has directed since the early nineties, which is admittedly the faint praise. It is a modest little giallo, not especially beholden to the director's past hits but vaguely reminiscent of many of them. There's a black-gloved killer, several scenes being told from his murderous perspective. A normal person who has, through bad luck, fallen into the position of detective must unravel the mystery before its too late. Though she doesn't do much investigating, instead the killer revealing himself to her. There's a pulsating synth soundtrack and stylized, close-up murder scenes. “Black Glasses” is an example of a director returning to the genre that he defined, playing again with the tropes and themes he started out with fifty years ago.

What does stand out about “Dark Glasses” is how charming the central relationship proves to be. When I first read the plot synopsis for the film, I thought it sounded like a giallo version of “The Life Before Us.” A bond between a sex worker and an orphaned immigrant child is so specific that I can't imagine this wasn't an intentional reference. Sentimentality is not something I really associate with Argento. Yet the bond between Diana and Chin proves somewhat touching. They come to rely on each other. I admire the script – co-written by Argento – for not mining cheap plot twists out of Diana withholding information from the boy. Instead, the guilt she feels for her role in his parents' deaths is what motivates her. You understand why these two come to rely on each other and it's fairly well done.

Considering the accusations of misogyny that have frequently been directed at his films, you don't expect a Dario Argento movie to feature the most sensitive portrayal of a sex worker. “Dark Glasses” surprised me in this regard. The film doesn't judge Diana for her job and treats it very matter-of-factly. Her clients are neither good-hearted suitors nor brutish sleaze balls. When her johns are abusive, that's when Argento utilizes the first-person perspective camerawork he's famous for... Only to have the attacker – and thus the audience – maced in the eyes. If that alone doesn't align the viewer's sympathies with Diana, the time the film devotes to her recovery and adapting to her blindness is surprisingly well thought-out. 

I don't think Diana's profession was chosen just for titillation factor or simply because it's a job that puts women in danger. In the second half of the film, she talks with Chin a lot about his mother. This can't help but make me wonder about the duality of the Mother and the Whore. (A dichotomy that is deeply ingrained in Italian culture, least we forget.) Diana winds up becoming something of a surrogate mother to the boy. Yet this doesn't overtake her profession either, as she continues sex work after becoming blind. Chin seems fine with her line of work. I don't know if “Dark Glasses” ever comes to a concise point about this topic. It's not really that kind of movie. But it is clearly an idea floating around in its head. It's another interesting angle to the story.

I think that's what I liked the most about “Dark Glasses.” There's a number of quirky ideas and themes bouncing around inside the narrative. You get the impression that Dario was interested in exploring something here, outside the standard genre framework of its story. Before the story gets moving, there's a brief scene where a bunch of people – Diane included – look up at an eclipse, wearing dark glasses for fear of going blind. There's a brief line bout how primitive cultures thought eclipses where signs of the apocalypse. Is this just foreshadowing? Or does it build into the idea of Diana being plunged into a world of darkness? The eclipsed sun even looks like the lens of a pair of glasses. What about the killer repainting his van from black to white, so that a brightly colored shape is one that foretells doom to Diana in her new shadow-filled world. Again, it's hard to say if there's a definitive point to these ideas but I'm intrigued by their presence nevertheless. 

An interesting reoccurring theme in Argento's early movies were the use of animals. This returns in a big way in “Dark Glasses.” Shortly after loosing her sight, Diana acquires a seeing eye dog named Nerea. She bonds with the furry creature quickly and it even protects her on multiple occasions. This is not the only time dogs appear prominently in the film. In the second half, it's revealed the killer has a connection with canines. Considering his sexist motivations, is this some commentary on how men are “dogs?” If so, why does Nerea end up saving the day too? The idea is definitely muddled yet it's interesting to see Argento, in a round about way, pay homage to the dog-centric scenes from “Suspiria” and “Tenebre.” And the German Shepherd playing Nerea is definitely a very good boy.

While Argento's best films have always been elevated by artistic, high-minded ideas, ultimately it is the stalk-and-slash scenes that he'll always be most remembered for. From time to time, to my pleasant surprise, you can see some of the old Dario in “Dark Glasses.” Probably the most stylish, suspenseful moment involves two detectives running into the killer outside Diana's apartment. Set in the tight corridor and lit largely by the van's headlights, there's some nicely unexpected camera angles in this scene. As well as a close-up of a knife blade penetrating a back. Later on, there's a mildly suspenseful chase, the camera gliding over and around the walls as our heroes run for their lives. It's not bad.

Granted, you still see signs of the tacky elements that sadly characterized most of Argento's work in the last thirty years. The first murder scene is a decently executed garroting, that sadly concludes with an ugly close-up of blood spurting from a very fake looking wound. The rushed climax is centered on some ridiculous looking gore effects too, with latex looking skin. The entire last act of “Dark Glasses” is an extended chase scene and it feels a bit aimless. Especially a totally gratuitous sequence set in a river, featuring some unfortunately CGI snakes. Still, compared to the gaudy excess and hideous effects in “Dracula 3D' and “Phantom of the Opera,” “Dark Glasses” still ranks as fairly restrained and well-balanced by modern Argento standards.

Also breaking from the traditions that have characterized Argento's work since the eighties, “Dark Glasses” does not star Asia Argento. She appears in a supporting role as the social worker who helps Diana get back on her feet, looking naturalistic and almost unrecognizable. Instead, Ilenia Pastorelli stars. It's an occasionally theatrical performance, Pastorelli sometimes going a bit into histrionics. Yet she has an easy-going charm as well, a lived-in quality that gives character and depth to Diana, making her seem more alive. She has good chemistry with Xinyu Zhang as Chin. Zhang is, honestly, fairly awkward as the young boy. His line delivery is hammy or stiff from time to time. It didn't distract from my enjoyment of the film or its characters but this is definitely an example of a miscalculated child actor.

When “Dark Glasses” was first announced, Daft Punk was announced as composing the score. That would have been quite a collaboration to imagine. Sadly, the wildly popular French electronica duo broke up before the movie could go into active production. Instead, another French pop musician in the form of Arnaud Rebotini was recruited to provide the tunes. Rebotini was definitely inspired by the classic Goblin scores of Argento's seventies masterpieces. The main theme is characterized by resounding bell-like tones and building synths. Rebotini incorporates a little more dance music flavor, via some thumping bass, than Claudio Simonetti probably would've used. But it's a solid score, that definitely helps raises the tension throughout the film. It's pretty catchy too, as far as these things go.

Some may accuse Argento's best movies of having abrupt endings. The likes of “Deep Red,” “Tenebre,” and “Suspiria” basically end right after the killer is defeated. This might be identified as a weakness but anytime his films have an epilogue, as in “Opera” and here, it always feels unsatisfying. “Dark Glasses” concludes on a weirdly downbeat and hopeless note. This is just the most glaring example of how it's a flawed film. Yet “Dark Glasses” still managed to exceed my measured expectations. I don't want to say Argento is back. Considering his age, who knows if he'll even make another movie. (Though he notably did act in a Gasper Noe movie this year as well, so maybe Dario caught the movie-making bug again.) Yet his comeback vehicle suggest the old master still has some of that old artistry in him. [Grade: B]