Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Boring, long, and too preachy.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

There is no ending and no beginning. Missing narrative destroys a film with mesmerizing sequences and images. Not sufficient unless we are simply looking for that, plus a sound track that at several junctures grabs a viewer by the throat.What is so disappointing is the obvious filmic talent on display that goes nowhere. It is difficult to judge the acting because the style obviously demanded by the director is flat and almost entirely one dimensional. There are a few hiccups, such as an unwanted reflection or two, but generally the visual images are powerful, as are some of the sequences. I recommend serious viewers consult a copy of Kraft-Ebbing for a deeper understanding of some of the images.

I generally like the films of an ambiguous meaning which are subject to the interpretation and challenge the conventional logic. That's why I enjoyed the film The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears, as well as its dream-like atmosphere and obtuse narrative built with elements of the classic Italian "giallo", but emphasizing the intense emotions and perverse psychology from the characters, something which ends up being more interesting than the search of a murderer. Then, we have the impressive visual work from co-directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, who make every frame look very attractive, with an interesting composition and rich in color (or monochromatic contrast, in the case of the black-and-white scenes). And I also have to mention the extraordinary soundtrack. But, what does what we are watching exactly mean? I'm not sure. Might the building represent the traumatized mind of a serial killer? Or are the unpredictable situations metaphors of the main character's marriage to a femme fatale? Or are we witnessing a parade of ghosts obsessively repeating the events and emotions which preceded their violent deaths? I frankly don't know what the answer is. It might be something completely different to my theories. Or it might be a mistake to look for the solution of the puzzle instead of appreciating its elegant manufacture. Anyway, on the beginning, it was a bit difficult for me to integrate to The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears, but afterwards, I could get plunged into it due to its attractive shapes and sounds, and I left myself get carried away by its twisted corridors, enjoying the experience with the emotional side of my brain, ignoring the desperate questions from the rational side. I think the actors from The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears made a perfect work with whatever they proposed themselves to play; and the screenplay fulfilled with its purpose of telling an interesting story, even if it ends up being incomprehensible the first time we watch the film. In conclusion, I wouldn't consider The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears a great film, but I liked it pretty much, and I recommend it to those who want to watch a good "weird" movie, whose meaning is defined by the reaction from every spectator. So... the building is a travel through the purgatory, where the killer revives his crimes and suffers the destiny from his victims. No, no... it's the final hallucination occurred during the last seconds of life from a man who was stabbed in the head. Or maybe, it is...

Yet another exercise in all-style-no-substance film-studies-friendly/paying-audience-hostile giallo "homage" from Forzani and Cattet. Oh for Pete's sake - come on guys! Amer was one thing, quite interesting at the time, but the value of that film has somehow been retroactively diminished by the release of its identikit successor. Replicating the surface details of the giallo style is easy peasy - anyone can do it - it's the Spaghetti Bolognese of filmmaking. But the point of the original gialli classics was that they were proper functioning movies that would have worked as exciting thrillers even without the stylistic flash. Neither Amer, nor TSCOYBT, have proper plots, and for me, failure to provide an adequate narrative element is an abdication of the filmmaker's primary responsibility. I hope, for Forzani and Cattet's sake, that they are not currently working on another EU-cash-lake-for-art-house-piffle funded giallo homage, because they will be risking losing their credibility forever after, which would be a shame, because I get the impression that they are extremely talented and visionary filmmakers.

"Your dark side is your best side" a man is told as he searches secret passageways of his art-nouveau residence in Brussels. He may be searching inside himself or within his dreams. His wife is missing and presumed murdered along with others in the complex. Things seem to get murkier the more he looks into them. Elegant, bold, sinister, shadowy and stimulating, this film will have to be watched again and again, even by Kafka, in order to make better sense of it. It was intentionally designed this way. Eerie and piercing sounds heighten the effect of the stylish images. At times the repetitive images were too much for me, yet the film is absorbing and beautiful in all its darkness. Seen at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.