Presented as a preview at the Rome Film Festival, the documentary by Giancarlo Rolandi and Steve Della Casa, Profondo Argento, arrives on May 23rd at 11pm on Rai 3.
Arrives on TV first, after the acclaimed world premiere at the last Rome Film Festival, Deep Silverthe documentary film by Giancarlo Rolandi And Steve Della Casaproduced by Baires Produzioni and Luce Cinecittà, which tells the lesser-known and more intimate part of the international master of thrills, Dario Argento. In a dense and complicit conversation, the director, accompanied by exceptional witnesses including his daughter Asiathe bestselling author and director Donato Carrisithe great director of photography Luciano Tovoli and others, and precious film and archive materials, reveals a series of personal themes that have built a unique author’s personality, loved all over the world. Profondo Argento arrives for the first time on Rai3, Thursday 16 May at 11pm.
Deep Silver: what it is
Dario Argento, one of the most acclaimed Italian directors in the world, the object of a transversal cult that breaks down generational barriers, almost as if he were a rock star, is in reality a person who has always defended and protected his private sphere. A life full of satisfactions, events, sensational encounters, an unmistakable face for anyone, not only in the cinema world, a constant presence in the world of entertainment since its debut, more than fifty years ago, with an almost mythological title, The bird with crystal plumage. His fans list the titles of his films as if it were a football team: The cat o’ nine tails, 4 gray velvet flies, The five days, Deep red, Suspiria, Hell, Darkness, Phenomena, Opera, Two evil eyes (with George A. Romero), Trauma, Stendhal syndrome, The Phantom of the Opera, I’m not sleepy, The papermaker, The third mother, Yellow, Dracula 3D, Black glasses. and the episodes “Jenifer” and “Pelts” of the American TV series “Masters of horror”. Genuine Argentine titles, although imitated by a host of directors who became crime writers in his triumphal wake.
Yet who really knows Dario Argento? In interviews he has always given himself generously, perhaps remembering when he was the young reporter of “Paese Sera” in the presence of stars like John Wayne, offering interesting ideas on the birth of his films or the construction of a scene and also expounding on personal facts , but always managing to safeguard himself, his deepest thoughts, his most intimate choices. Without claiming to tell the story of his life or even his very long career, the documentary produced by Baires Produzioni e Luce Cinecittà proceeds like a rhapsody, in which, among the many ideas, around ten themes are favoured: the mother belonging to the famous Luxardo family of photographers, his producer father, his beginnings as a critic and screenwriter, his directorial debut, his relationship with music and architecture – fundamental elements of his work – his masters, friends and imitators, his tastes literary and cinematographic, the evolution of genres and his career, his daughters Fiore and Asia. Finally, the true dark side of him: comedy, which often surfaces in his daily life and even among his cinematic nightmares. Argento is the absolute protagonist: in the intimacy of his home, with the people he loves or appreciates, among the locations of his films, chasing the dream of an ideal Argentine city, with mysterious doors open to other universes as happens in the television series Stranger Things. On this journey he is accompanied by clips of his works, which re-emerge from the past to dialogue with the present, together with photos and documents from his personal archive. To compose a silver-colored puzzle.
