@Matt – I suggested Birdemic: Shock and Terror because it is a movie about crazy birds that gives an explanation for their insanity. It is, without being officially tied to Hitchock’s movie, exactly what Jirin is describing, only worse. And, director James Nguyen has stated publicly that The Birds was an influence (you know, as if anyone who has progressed beyond tactile learning couldn’t tell).
V/H/S – 3/5
Some decent elements, but fell way short of fulfilling the potential it had.
I’m Going Home – 4/5
Not my favorite De Oliviera, but that’s not saying much considering it’s De Oliviera and it’s still a pretty great film. Picolli gives a great performance as usual, but would rather go with him in Belle Toujours.
Second viewing of Vertigo
I still don’t get understand the film or the best film of all time designation.
Some thoughts:
>I haven’t figured out the significance of green or what the film is really about.
>A part of me feels like the film is about men and women, specifically the way men control women, trying to make them conform to their image. There’s also allusions to the past and the way past repeats itself, perhaps. I have no idea of how this relates to the significance of the color green.
>I must say I wasn’t really impressed with filmmaking—at least I didn’t really see anything that blew me away.
@ Jazz:
//>I haven’t figured out the significance of green or what the film is really about.
>A part of me feels like the film is about men and women, specifically the way men control women, trying to make them conform to their image. There’s also allusions to the past and the way past repeats itself, perhaps. I have no idea of how this relates to the significance of the color green.
>I must say I wasn’t really impressed with filmmaking—at least I didn’t really see anything that blew me away.//
Vertigo is a psychologoical thriller first and foremost. It’s about obsession….sick and twisted obsesson. Hitchcock stated that it was about necrophilia….a man wants to sleep with a dead woman….
Hithcock would never have dealt with anything as ordinary as how men try to control women.
Not sure about the green but someone here can shed light on it I’m sure.
You weren’t impressed with Vertigo? I have no response to that my friend.
Vertigo is a psychologoical thriller first and foremost. It’s about obsession….sick and twisted obsesson. Hitchcock stated that it was about necrophilia….a man wants to sleep with a dead woman….
Well, this is disappointing to hear. As a psychological thriller, I don’t think it’s all that exceptional, and I don’t think it would make my top ten. As far as obsession, what does the film reveal about obsession that is so insightful? Or how does it express the notion of expression in an exceptional way? (I leave the necrophilia thing aside.)
Hithcock would never have dealt with anything as ordinary as how men try to control women.
Well, maybe my description was too simplistic, but you don’t think male-female relationships/dynamics is theme he was interested in?
You weren’t impressed with Vertigo? I have no response to that my friend.
Booo. How about: OK, let me explain why this film is so impressive…
I, too, would like to hear some thoughts from those who love Veritgo, as I was pretty lukewarm to it.
DP.
@ Jirin, about the Birds, I’ve always hated it and been surprised it is so acclaimed; I think it is one of Hitchcock’s stupidest films.
Fuck Off! Images of Finland – A really, really good documentary. I was pleasantly surprised by this, seeing as I watched it mainly because of the intriguing name. So many interesting people in Finland! It’s very available for download all over the net, so you should check it out! Finnish is such a nice language to listen to as well.
@G
I think it is one of Hitchcock’s stupidest films.
What makes you say that? I’m curious to hear what you think it was about.
Clerks – only watched half, this is absolute garbage.
Boys’ Night Out – 6/10. Sometimes funny, sometimes insightful and Novak looking incredible, shot in the same hazy way she is in Vertigo, which is curiously referenced in this. Still, mostly corny and forgettable 60s rom-com.
eXistenZ – 9/10. Inception is this with far less charm and ingenuity or any sort of thematic complexity, and far more exposition and generic action sequences. Probs my favourite Cronenberg of the 4 I’ve seen so far, after hanging off for ages, finally starting to get through his filmography and finding good stuff.
I’m also not sure Hitchcock is against men controlling women. All his heroes and heroines tend to spring from similar archetypes and the implied goal is for the woman to end up controlled by the correct man. At least in his Cary Grant films, the male is always the noble dominator.
Vertigo was one of the first great old films I saw so my objectivity is probably tainted. What appeals about it to me is the grift. How he cooked this whole story to specifically take advantage of Stewart’s phobia, and the way the audience is first led to believe the story is supernatural only to find out they were taken advantage of the same way Stewart was. Then the second half of the film is driven by Stewart trying to retroactively repair his male pride and rescue the woman he believed died because of his psychological failure.
The crux of the matter in Vertigo, is that Scottie falls for a woman who – quite literally, he finds out – does not exist. Unfulfilled desire does not reach such an abyss anywhere else in cinema.
Right. And it’s pretty good, but I don’t know if it’s the best grift of all-time. (I prefer the grift in Psycho.) If this is what Vertigo is really about, it seems to be on par with a Shyamalan or De Palma film. (I suspect I’m not appreciating the filmmaking.)
Then the second half of the film is driven by Stewart trying to retroactively repair his male pride and rescue the woman he believed died because of his psychological failure.
He doesn’t seem to be “rescuing her” so much as trying to force someone else to be that person.
@NMOB
The crux of the matter in Vertigo, is that Scottie falls for a woman who – quite literally, he finds out – does not exist. Unfulfilled desire does not reach such an abyss anywhere else in cinema.
I did feel the tragedy/irony for both Scottie and Madeline/Judy (remember Judy fell was in love with Scottie as well). Scottie’s conception of what he wanted Judy to be created an uncrossable gulf between them. A part of me feels this is a larger comment on male-female relationships—or at least, it would make the film more deserving of the “greatest film of all time” designation.
eXistenZ – 9/10. Inception is this with far less charm and ingenuity or any sort of thematic complexity, and far more exposition and generic action sequences. Probs my favourite Cronenberg of the 4 I’ve seen so far, after hanging off for ages, finally starting to get through his filmography and finding good stuff.
Same here, catching up on Cronenberg. I’ve gone through, in order, History of Violence, Eastern Promises and Dead Ringers. Loved all of them. I didn’t expect Dead Ringers to contain an auteur command like his later works.
What films of his have you seen?
@ Jirin:
You may be right about Hitchcock. He certainly loved to control his actors…never more evident than with Tippi Hedren whose career he basically sabotaged.
Let’s not forget that out of character performance by James Stewart as well. He’s an abhorrent individual especially when it comes to his treatment of Judy. At this point in the film he doesn’t know what we, the audience, already know so he’s basically psychologically abusing an apparently needy and love starved woman. This was quite a stretch for the all American good guy archetype that Stewart was known for. This is the closest he ever came to portraying a villain on screen.
I believe one of the reasons Hitchcock reveals to us, the audience, the true identity of Judy, early on, is so that Stewart’s actions will seem less reprehensible than they already do and to keep our sympathies with him to some extent.
Also, Kim Novak in Vertigo is the full realization of the icy Hitchcock blonde. The first half of the film she is playing Stewart (and the audience) like a piano.
Sale Comme Un Ange – 7\10
Sale Comme Un Ange – 7\10
@Jazz
In Psycho are you referring to the woman’s not-thought-through plan to steal $40,000 or the murderer’s grift? I wouldn’t call that a grift so much as being genuinely insane.
My interpretation of Stewart trying to transform Judy into somebody else is that he thought a person he loved died because of his own psychological crippling, and in his devastated mind he felt he could redeem himself by creating a second chance to rescue her.
I’m thinking of the way the film seems to be about this woman and her lover embezzling money and going on the lam, and then switches to something dramatically different.
My interpretation of Stewart trying to transform Judy into somebody else is that he thought a person he loved died because of his own psychological crippling, and in his devastated mind he felt he could redeem himself by creating a second chance to rescue her.
OK, but you said “rescuing the woman.” He’s not doing it for her.
Mogambo – I’ve also seen Dead Ringers, it’s great, no doubt. Also seen Crash (pretty messed up, but great) and The Fly (again, messed up, but great – seems to a trend with this guy lol). I think eXistenZ is my favourite so far.
eXistenZ is a very underrated film.
^ Agreed.
Cosmopolis
4.5/5 (and maybe 5/5 after I’ve sat with it a bit).
This is what we are. Ego and arrogance tearing through the world ambivalent and wrapped in tech cocoons. This is a society near death.
Ah i’m very excited for Cosmopolis :)
I don’t get how Existenz is underrated exactly. It feels like an intentionally minor work, and Cronenberg left that phase of his career behind after it.
I want to see Cosmopolis but i’m worried that my knowledge of the book will interfere with my appreciation of it!!
ehhh Cosmopolis is down to the last screenings, and only when I am busy as well.
“I’m thinking of the way the film seems to be about this woman and her lover embezzling money and going on the lam, and then switches to something dramatically different.”
The woman and her lover don’t embezzle the money — she does it all by herself, without his knowledge.
The Awful Truth 1937
Leo McCarey spins out mad-cap fluff
8.5/10
Link
Has anyone seen Compliance? It’s showing near me but only at 9:35, I’m curious if it’s worth going to an inconveniently timed screening.
A friend of mine said it was good. Looked cool from the trailer… I would make the effort.
Matt Parks