Saturday, March 26, 2011

Hitchcock movies I´ve seen

Most of us have some idea of Hitchcock´s bathroom kill in Psycho, but I happen to be one of those people  who still have not seen it, though I´m looking forward to see it tomorrow.
The first movie I saw was The Birds. At first, I didn´t know what to expect, the only I knew was that it was among the director´s best movies. So, I watched it and really got scared when the birds actually started getting hurt by them. It´s got that edge that I expected from horror movies, with the exception  that this one was not a bloody mess kind of deal (that´s one of the main reasons I don´t like those pictures). The quietness and all the expectation before each attack is there, always present, I was able to feel the tension generating between the characters and the unexpected events. And that scene where the girl is at the phone booth and the birds start hitting that window and you start to see how it slowly breaks, waiting for someone really dreadful to happen to her and well, the outcome is not the one I expected but was thrilled and moved in that moment.
The next one, Vertigo, I happen to came across it last year as I went to my cousin´s wedding, in the airplane. It was one of the movies that looked worth looking after realizing that I was not going to see any of the others. And  just when I was getting to grasp the concept of the movie, the plane landed, therefore, I just had to see it again once the plane took off because it had already hooked me. It was unbelievable to watch this man who couldn´t see from heights because he got dizzy, go to all lengths to figure out what his best friend´s wife was doing while he wasn´t there as he noticed that she couldn´t really remember where she had been. It seemed pretty harmless, with a supernatural kind of thing going on and he ended up falling for her. And then, when he gets accused of murdering her by throwing her off the tower, I started to wonder what had really happened. Everything seemed so circunstancial that he didn´t go to prison but soon learned how he had been fooled, it was well done, and you sort of understand what he decides to make in the end, and of course, overcoming his problem.
And just like an hour ago, I finished watching Rear Window. I got this one from Blockbusterg because I had seen the two before and I knewtI wouldn´t be dissapointed. The funny thing is that I tried to watch it with english subtitles, but I got the feeling that I was missing important parts of it, so I took them off. I listened as hard as I could at a volume that was acceptable because my sister was also in the family room, I found out that I had made the right call. The opening scene seemed so natural, until I saw the man in the wheelchair and his cast, which had the words <<Here lies the broken bones of L.G. Jeffries>>, was kind of funny. And then I noticed the rhythm of his movements from one window to the other, as a peeping tom, and being careful so tha he couldn´t be seen. It was a wonderful concept and then I saw the first glimpse of the movie´s theme, what was that man doing at three a.m. in the morning and all the weird things that called up his attention and soon drew into this game his nurse, Stella, and his girlfriend, Lisa (this is the first movie that I have seen of Grace Kelly, imagine that and without knowing it; meaning I missed it in the credits the first time). Another thing was his cop friend, who was unwilling to believe him because he thought that his friend might be hallucinating because all the facts that he would gather would contradict Jeffries´ statements. I was able to put some pieces together as it unfolded and again, I was surprised at how great the movie was done. And in the end, I saw the funny joke just like at the beginning: the guy had both of his legs broken. I finished watching and the Psycho dvd was there because my mom used the dvd player before me, I just knew that I had to watch that one tomorrow, or today since the clock just turned 0:00.
I think that what is actually real awesome is that now we can actually see those movies because someone has taken up the time to remaster them without losing their magic, their intrigue, their horror, their mistery and the fact that they are unique because nowadays I have seen too many movie trailers that tell me that they are not worth watching because you have seen the same story told over and over again, but these ones make me want to see more of Hitchcock´s movies. That is the real value of it, that they are set in another decade but that at the same time, are timeless.

No comments: