Of Flies and Maggots (2017)
**** (out of 4)
This documentary from filmmaker Federico Caddeo clocks in at two-hours and takes a look at the making of Dario Argento's PHENOMENA and features interviews with: Argento, actors Fiore Argento, Davide Marotta, Daria Nicolodi and Fiorenza Tessari, co-writer Franco Ferrini, cinematographer Romano Albani, production manager Angelo Jacono, special optical effects artist Luigi Cozzi, special makeup effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, makeup artist Pier Antonio Mecacci, underwater camera operator Gianlorenzo Battaglia, and composers Claudio Simonetti and Simon Boswell.
If you're a fan of PHENOMENA then there's no question that this documentary is going to be a must-see because there are just so many wonderful details that are discussed in the two-hour running time. Everything you'd want to know about the picture is pretty much here and you can tell from the number of people that they really went all out to get the most detailed look at the film. Of course, the biggest name here is Argento himself who gets to discuss what he considers to be one of his best movies.
As I said, the greatest thing about this documentary is how detailed it is. You get a terrific idea about what was happening throughout the entire production and that includes the pre-production where we get to hear from Argento about what he wanted to do at this point in his career and what event from his life influenced this movie. From here we get some terrific details about the casting including how Orson Welles was originally hired for a role!
The special effects are also given a lot of the running time as we see how they were performed and especially all of the stuff with the flies. Luigi Cozzi goes into great detail about how the special effects were done and there are also some great stories told about the pool at the end of the picture including how it was done and why Jennifer Connelly didn't want to go into it. There are also some good stories shared by Daria Nicolodi who was going through a break-up with Argento during this period.
OF FLIES AND MAGGOTS is about as great as one could hope for a documentary taking a look at a film. The cast and crew are all well-represented and you really do get a great and detailed idea of what it took to pull the movie off.
**** (out of 4)
This documentary from filmmaker Federico Caddeo clocks in at two-hours and takes a look at the making of Dario Argento's PHENOMENA and features interviews with: Argento, actors Fiore Argento, Davide Marotta, Daria Nicolodi and Fiorenza Tessari, co-writer Franco Ferrini, cinematographer Romano Albani, production manager Angelo Jacono, special optical effects artist Luigi Cozzi, special makeup effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, makeup artist Pier Antonio Mecacci, underwater camera operator Gianlorenzo Battaglia, and composers Claudio Simonetti and Simon Boswell.
If you're a fan of PHENOMENA then there's no question that this documentary is going to be a must-see because there are just so many wonderful details that are discussed in the two-hour running time. Everything you'd want to know about the picture is pretty much here and you can tell from the number of people that they really went all out to get the most detailed look at the film. Of course, the biggest name here is Argento himself who gets to discuss what he considers to be one of his best movies.
As I said, the greatest thing about this documentary is how detailed it is. You get a terrific idea about what was happening throughout the entire production and that includes the pre-production where we get to hear from Argento about what he wanted to do at this point in his career and what event from his life influenced this movie. From here we get some terrific details about the casting including how Orson Welles was originally hired for a role!
The special effects are also given a lot of the running time as we see how they were performed and especially all of the stuff with the flies. Luigi Cozzi goes into great detail about how the special effects were done and there are also some great stories told about the pool at the end of the picture including how it was done and why Jennifer Connelly didn't want to go into it. There are also some good stories shared by Daria Nicolodi who was going through a break-up with Argento during this period.
OF FLIES AND MAGGOTS is about as great as one could hope for a documentary taking a look at a film. The cast and crew are all well-represented and you really do get a great and detailed idea of what it took to pull the movie off.
