Berberian Sound Studio has to be one of the most downright confusing and frustrating movies ever made. Set in the 70s, it stars the wonderfully talented Toby Jones as a nebbish sound technician, who travels to Italy to do work on a giallo horror film. Slowly, however, things began to unravel, and the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur. Interesting as that sounds, Berberian Sound Studio only ever succeeds in being incomprehensible - trying to work our what's actually happening in the movie is something of an exercise in futility. Of course, the emphasise here is on film deconstruction, but the movie seems to want to say something else - what, exactly, who knows? Is it an anti-horror film? A satire? A homage? All three? And because trying to get your head around the weird plot isn't interesting like it is with say, Primer, attempting to understand this flick is exasperating. It does looks and sound great, however; it's just a shame that the events depicted are so haphazardly constructed that the only sane reaction to a viewing of Berberian Sound Studio has to be: "What the f*ck was the point?"
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
