Saturday, May 30, 2009
DIZZY
Today's movie was a NYTimes Best 1176 Film, Alfred Hitchcock's
with James Stewart and Kim Novak.
Ebert's review is a lot more analytical than I could let myself be. He sounds like he is writing a film school thesis.
This is why I think that Hitchcock is so popular with serious film critics. He builds his movies in pieces that look like bricks, one on top one another, and this lends to a kind of analysis that sucks the life out of the film totally, if indeed the film has a life to begin with.
In my judgement this is not one of "the master's" three best films. I thought it was a tedious exercise that barely gets us over the thin ice of suspended disbelief.
The first half is way too long and way too adoring of Kim Novak. She was OK but icy and very distant. I don't think this was acting but it suits Hitchcock's purposes. The romantic stuff between Novak and Stewart is very awkward. Jimmy Stewart has to be one of the worst kissers on the screen.
There is a lot of pseudo-psychology in this film. Bluster and blarney.
I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5. I watched it without skipping but I didn't much like any of it. It was good to see one of the stars killed half way through. What a novel and satisfying idea! Go see for yourself.
Labels: best films
