asia argento

Director Simone Scafidi has his work cut out for him; Argento has spent his adult life in the spotlight; he was his own brand manager before the term existed and has always done a top-notch job of appearing guilessly unguarded while carefully cultivating his persona. It’s hard not to suspect that his provocative remarks have their roots in an instinctive awareness that a bit of controversy makes good copy… I doubt that he made many female friends by observing, “I like women, especially beautiful ones. If they have a good face and figure I would much prefer to watch them being murdered than an ugly girl or man,” but if a team of crack publicists had spent a month working on a provocative, guaranteed-to-be-controversial, eye-catcher of a statement they couldn’t have come up with anything better. All that having been said, Panico is a must-see for Argento completists; the maestro is in his 80s.