dyl’s review published on Letterboxd:
‘a delusion is a lie that tells a truth’
imagine following up a dreamy summer romance with the witches (1990) but on lsd. luca thought of it and now we have suspiria.
luca is an absolute god here and his experimentation (like it’s insane) pays off wonderfully. suspiria is an odyssey of dance, horror, violence, love, torment, friendship, basically all the good stuff. the final act is something that needs to be seen to believed. not because it’s this ‘stereotypically grand’ movie moment, but because believing that it was ever allowed to be filmed at all is half of the saturated horror and joy. you think you’ve seen *weird* scenes before, you just wait. the whole film feels like that though; suspiria radiates confidence in everything that it does and further proves that luca is a master in his craft.
if you thought the aesthetics used in call me by your name were brilliant they’re cranked up to the maximum here.
the plot is also fantastic and i was wholly immersed in the world of this dance company. the performances are great too. dakota and tilda give it their all, especially tilda who’s work needs to be recognised this awards season. and mia goth, because i love mia goth. how could i not mention the score! best of the year? probably. it’s beautiful, disturbing, ethereal; and when actual lyrics are sung, it becomes transcendent.
suspiria will be one of the most polarising films of the year and definitely a future cult classic. everything just feels right about it, even when it looks so wrong. watch it and become reborn.