Thursday, June 23, 2011
DREAD
Today's film was Johan Grimonprez’s
a meditation on the work of Alfred Hitchcock and the times in which he made his films.
The period under study is the mid Fifties to the mid Sixties.
My time. Young adult.
It all made sense to me.
Hitchcock had successfully harnessed the pre-WWII period of worry, the WWII period of anti-fascism, the post war period of loss of individual identity. The cold war introduced another Hitchcock.
Grimonprez uses old clips from the television show and two movies as well as a short story/essay by Jorge Luis Borges as well as two Hitchcock impersonators, voice and character to mash together with news clips and headlines. The continued arc of Folger's coffee commercials (anxiety over good taste) are used to leaven the loaf.
Does this sound serious? Well, I suppose it is but it is almost always fun.
Hitchcock saw what was going on and used it for his films. He used his own persona continually throughout his entire career. A cameo in each picture and, later, a huge bit as the host of the television series.
In his work with The Birds he relied heavily on publicity stunts. Something that he had not done before. Tippi Hedrin at his side.
During this film I had the same feeling of dread that I used to have watching the Hitchcock films. What is next? What will happen? A feeling of powerlessness.
Well, it was the time of the Kruschev Nixon debates and the Cuban missile crisis.
Is the film any good? Hard to tell. I endured it. I laughed some. It is a bit overwrought. I would not want to see it again but I am glad that I saw it once.
That means it gets a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
