Analog audio nerds and Fangoria contributing editors will love it, but for everybody else the surrealistic-horror-to-comedy balance is out of whack. Instead of being darkly amusing it's more often awkwardly dark -- with all their scrupulous attention to period detail and vintage equipment they should've sought some input on pacing and editing. The concept depends on a bunch of stereotypical Italians, specifically Italian exploitation movie folks, who straddle the line between fearsome and ridiculous, in a culture clash with the nebbishy unnerved Brit they've brought on to their diabolical mission. The trouble is that the protagonist just isn't comically fluent, so that even the rare bits of humor make him seem disturbing instead of disturbed. He's hilariously awkward when stabbing into fresh produce to make sound effects but dissonant for the purpose of obvious jokes such as the mundane letters he's shown reading from his mother. Nevertheless I was enjoying the first 60 minutes or so, before they went film school and gave up the ironic detachment for a psychedelic collage project (for that I could've just watched the real thing from Mario Bava or Dario Argento instead). Rather than restraining itself to the flavor of the genre this one wanders too deep into homage.
Review of Berberian Sound Studio
