Coração Aberto

Um filme que não quer que goste dele. Na atmosfera da França dos anos 70, um grupo de gays, liderado por lésbica Vanessa Paradis, filmam pornografia gay e são gradualmente assassinados com uma faca escondida num pénis falso preto. Um pouco de giallo, está bem, nós gostamos disso. Mas o filme está cheio de todo o tipo de sexo gay entre homens, o que o torna visível para um grupo muito limitado de espetadores. E o humor desesperado das personagens e as imagens absurdas dos sonhos que parecem expressar a sua insatisfação e o fato de serem outsiders não contribuem para a sua simpatia, muito menos apoiam a linha do thriller. [Cannes] (20/05/2018)

In the end, I wasn’t as bothered as I had expected from reading the synopsis before the screening. Fortunately, the scenes depicting the shooting of gay porn are not explicit at all. On the contrary, they are nicely lightened with humour, which is, for the viewer, a little bit of a lifeline. Other than that, however, the downright stupid explanation for the killer’s motive and the way his identity is revealed by the heroine, presented in all seriousness, is utterly kitsch and stands as some emotion-based romantic giallo art. The creators’ attempt to cover those shortcomings with interesting visual styling and a good vintage music track is, unfortunately, not enough to compensate for the barren story. This is a very B-like giallo parody at best. [Sitges 2018] (10/10/2018)

Knife + Heart is a weird genre mash-up that combines an erotic thriller with a mystery and a romantic drama in a very strange way. I understand that the director wanted to pay homage to giallo films, but by sticking too literally to the attributes of a genre that has been passé for some time now, he created yet another cheap-looking film, where screenwriting logic goes by the wayside and wannabe shocking scenes and cheesy plot come in. On the other hand, the film is memorable precisely because of its authentic 70s look. Another plus point was the portrayal of the relationship between Anne and Loïs. Otherwise, it's just weird! (06/04/2020)

The French-Mexican-Swiss production Knife+Heart is a great homage to 70s Giallo movies. However, by the time you finish watching the movie, you realize the 60s vibe is about the only interesting thing about the movie. It could have been more hardcore with pornographic scenes yet settles for an edgy love story, making the movie unengaging, lengthy, supposedly dramatic, and overly emotional. (17/02/2020)