I watch a lot of foreign films. The problem I have with this film is the same problem that I have with a lot of Italian films of this era. It is the same problem that I have with Italian automobiles of this era.<br /><br />The film is "high concept" and there is a lot of trendy sixties-style artistry in the colors and the camera angles. The plot is well-crafted but there is no shocking turn of events (a la "Sixth Sense" or "Psycho"). But the primary problem I have is with the execution.<br /><br />Like Italian automobiles, the film is stylish but the mechanics are crappy and very distracting. One major problem is the dialog. Actors frequently switch between fluent accent-free English and fluent accent-free Italian. The only problem is that their voices are completely different in tone and intonation, which makes it jarringly obvious that the dialog is being dubbed. This actually makes the characters seem completely different when they are speaking English vs. Italian. The female lead is a ditzy hipster in English and a sultry temptress in Italian.<br /><br />Of course, if Dario is your demi-god, you could argue that he was trying to emphasize some sort of emotional divide between the English-speaking and Italian-speaking cultures by creating such a jarring contrast. But Occam's razor suggests that it was just the standard sloppy execution that tends to characterize Italian films of this era.<br /><br />This is supposed to be Dario's masterpiece, but my opinion is: If you want to see effective use of a dab of red, go to the Tate and look at the Caravaggio paintings. If you want a twisted plot, there are probably a dozen films a year now coming out with better ones, and that includes European and independent films.