Black Glasses (2022)

In an almost deserted, summery Rome in the midst of a hypnotic solar eclipse, a mysterious serial killer starts targeting high-end prostitutes. Diana is one of them. In a desperate attempt to escape him, she becomes the victim of a serious car accident that leaves her blind. After a long period of rehabilitation, Diana learns that the only other survivor of the crash is a now-orphaned child of Chinese descent named Chin, and she decides to take care of him. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, the two connect via a special bond that allows them to defend themselves from the serial killer’s thirst for revenge. Dario Argento returns to directing after a ten-year hiatus with a film that mixes the mood of Italian “giallo” pulp fiction in his early work with his legendary touch of horror, albeit this time with a dose of sharp irony thrown into the mix. Occhiali neri is a headlong dash between city and countryside that explores the social conflict between rich neighbourhoods and Rome’s so-called Chinatown. The maestro’s gaze transforms this nightmare into pure geometry, and the class war into the kind of metaphysical architecture reminiscent of Antonioni.