PROFONDO
ARGENTO BOOK REVIEW
Since 1977
(when he interviewed the cast and crew of Star Wars on set) Alan Jones has not
only been an International man of Mystery he also became a flamboyant
international journalist specializing in our beloved genre. The man has seen it
all and done it all! Shit, he even used to hang out with Sid Vicious of the Sex
Pistol (actually he was one of the main sources in terms of info for the Sid and
Nancy movie). Having spoken at length with party animal Alan about our mutual
passion for Italian Director Dario Argento, I am convinced that you will not
find a bigger fan and connoisseur of the Italian Maestro than The Jones-Man
himself. Thankfully for all of us, Alan finally got to fully express his deep
rooted love for all that is Argento through his extensive and admittedly awesome
new book: Profondo Argento. THANK YOU!
This fine
manuscript should appeal to anybody that either loves Dario’s work or/and is
fascinated by the “behind the scenes” shenanigans of cinema in general. This
was a big, block of a book, yes bigger than the Yeti in my cave! It sported 330
full pages of extensive articles, insightful interviews with Argento (some taken
from Alan’s 1996 released book Mondo Argento), rare Poster Artwork and never
before seen colored pictures galore, many of which that happened to be Alan’s
own personal snapshots. The substance at hand slashed and gutted everything
about the man behind the wild shots and the fly gore! From his beginnings, to
intelligent dissections of each of his directed films, a peak at the behind the
scenes as to getting his babies off the ground, a look at his work as a Producer
(loved the Dawn of the Dead bit) and a glimpse at what his romantic
relationships were all about (the dude had a rocky love life that put me to
shame). Furthermore, we got a slew of "tete a tetes" with most of
Argento’s professional/personal entourage. I’m talking engaging and
revealing yapping sessions with Asia Argento (actually we get a whole sweet
section on the Scarlet Diva), Claudio Argento, Daria Nicolodi,
Jessica Harper, Claudio Simonetti, John Fallon (I wish!) and…well… this
review would be too damn long if I mentioned every name in the house…THEY WERE
ALL THERE!
My only minor
peeve with this rich pound-cake was that it woke the “Gossip Orgre Monger”
in me and I felt that Alan was holding back in dishing out the REAL dirt on
occasions. It’s totally understandable though since he’s been a friend of
the Argento family for years and he doesn’t want to hurt anybody but that
didn’t change the fact that I felt teased a bit at times. I wanted to know it
ALL! On the whole though, Profondo Argento was a well written, in depth and
colorful study on one of the finest filmmakers living today (and yesterday for
that matter). I for one fervently devoured into this puppy and read all of it in
half a day. I just couldn’t put the sucker down! You need something to turn to
when your boy/girlfriend is boring the shit out of you about that thing you did
yesterday when you got wasted with “Exotic Dancers”? GET THIS BOOK and
prepare yourself for a lively, elegant and exceptional escape to Argento Planet!
VISIT
ALAN’S OFFICIAL SITE HERE
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