le orme (1975). luigi bazzoni.

i had tried to watch this 3 times before and every time i switched off or fell asleep after the first 10 minutes. and after having watched it i must say i realized what a fool i had been.
the plot: is impossible to be described without giving away too much. the opening scenes of the Blackman, and then the lonely puzzled existence of Alicia/Nicole having lost 3 days and traveling to a half abandoned, surreal Garma in an attempt to regain her memories and figure out what is going on in her life and what has happened these 3 days she finds herself incapable to recall.
now the reason i had given up the previous times was the dream, the footprints on the moon that always made me believe this was going to be a slow slow insanely boring science fiction film. however, i was rewarded for my persistence this time. this doesnt happen a lot, but i couldnt have been more mistaken about this one here. this film is a rare one, one of the kind that isnt being made anymore. in a strange miraculous way bazzoni manages to make everything that would seem a weakness into a magic aspect till everything is right and falls just to place. the score is haunting and the photography is surreal, dreamlike, intense, very much like the mental state of the strangely frigid yet strangely vulnerable heroine. the amazing way in which nothing is conveyed in any other way, other than through the Alicia's eyes, even to the last moment is making it a real giallo masterpiece. dont watch it if u r in hunt of the typical giallo element of extensive nudity, multitude of girls, slasher, inspectors and reporters, photographers, serial killers. but definitely watch it for the excellence in portraying of characters, in building one of the most sedating n captivating plots, for the beauty dripping from every well thought frame, and the climax of a final discovery.