Crossword instead of Thriller About the fact that in the 80s of the last century, the genre of Jallo experienced a deep crisis, did not write, probably, only lazy. However, the crisis in this case is too softly said – the thriller in Italian frankly agonized, increasingly sliding into a frank sex work, in which the detective intrigue is not that completely faded into the background, but already existed somehow in itself. In parallel, let’s say, softcore scenes, as if borrowed from the video applications for “Playboy” or “Hustler”. Movies such as “Photographs of Joya”, “Arabella, Black Angel”, “Taste of Fear” are hardly perceived as thrillers. More like erotic fantasies with a suspense flavor. There were almost no others in this decade. Exceptions can be counted on the fingers of one hand: “Caramel from a stranger” by Franco Ferrini, “You will die at midnight” by Bava Jr.
The film with the surprisingly bland for the Italian genre film title "Crimes" also occupies a place in this short series. Especially since he was filmed by the director with the name Lenzi loud for a horror lover. Only here his name was not Umberto, but Giovanna, and this picture for the not too popular actress was the first directorial experience. Looking ahead, let’s say that the experience is not very successful, even though the overall management of the project was carried out by her husband, the author of one of the classic gallo “golden era”. Seven Shales of Yellow Silk by Sergio Pastor. How there he led his wife on the set – one can only guess, but as a result, the novice director turned out almost like a real one. With intricate intrigue, a card search of suspects with the rejection of the played cards, the classic triad of “black gloves, defenseless throat, sharp blade” and the main victim, for which the killer will hunt in vain for a long final scene.
The role of the latter, however, contrary to all the canons of the genre, requiring a sexy, young, charismatic (Edwige Fenek, Susan Scott, Tina Omon) actress, Signora Lenzi left behind her - quite elderly, defiantly unsexy, and with charisma there it was not so that very much. But there was no need to explain to the performer what was required of him. Moreover, with the explanations of these, it seems, the director Lenzi somehow did not get along, which is why most of the characters are depressingly similar to each other. They are so similar that because of this, at first, even a slight abruptly takes: how to understand all this, if girls cannot be distinguished from each other, and male faces generally look like clones? No, when representatives of the old Jallocracy appear on the screen: Gianni Dei and George Ardisson - they immediately give a master class to the young growth. The only trouble is that the roles of aksakals, albeit very important for the development of the plot, but very, very small in the amount of screen time allotted to veterans.
Fortunately, Giovanna Lenzi did not much gush over the unfortunate viewer, pretty stiff with the number of characters (read - suspects) in the detective story. And with Stakhanov’s enthusiasm, she began to get rid of secondary actors, without bothering to give them at least a semblance of character and individuality. The main thing is that her Julie Garnett distinguished favorably against this faded background - like an aging prima donna among the carefully selected incompetents of the corps de ballet. However, since the vast majority of the characters in the film are not too different from the units in the computer game, their extermination does not make any impression. That is, it produces - exactly the same as a hint in a TV game. Yes, so the previous version was wrong – take another.
It also follows that despite all the outward trappings of the classic jallo, the suspense in Crimes is about the same as in the morning TV show. And even a couple of erotic scenes do not help the case - they are here only because they are supposed to. After all, Jallo without eroticism is already Daria Dontsova somehow turns out. But, like the notorious authoress of “lady” detectives, in the film of Giovanna Lenzi there is an extremely intricate intrigue in which the killer is guessed not from the first, not from the second and not even from the third time. And even then - in the very finale, the plot makes a cunning twist, forcing perplexed eyes to clap. However, analogies with women’s novels are not very relevant here. Because in this (in the construction of an incredibly confusing and at the same time consistent and logical plot), the authors of the picture approached the best examples of the genre. All the rest, sorry...
At the height of the absurdity in the film is the way in which evil sends its victims to the next world: with the help of the venom of an endemic Caribbean snake within a few minutes of mummifying the human body. You do not need to be a specialist serpentologist to understand the enchanting nonsense of such “original”. But the valiant detective Bob Rolling enthusiastically rushes to find the owner of the snake that killed the playboy and gay part-time Harry Francis. Under his feet, he is diligently hindered by crime reporter Bob Rolling, who has his own versions of everything. The drug mafia enters the case, which threatens to expose the disappeared videotape. However, the circle slowly but surely begins to shrink to the closest friends and relatives of the murdered, focusing finally on his closest friend and confidant Julie Garnett. However, is the plot of a frank crossword puzzle so important, in which only a clue makes sense? In this case, it will be unexpected and paradoxical. So the evening wasn't entirely wasted. Jallo. What about Jallo? Crisis, agony and slow dying. The release date of the picture on the screens here looks like a sentence.