The central question here (as in Rebecca and Psycho) is can someone from the past, someone dead, take possession of another person? Hitchcock means to ramp up the mania of a tortured-past-affecting-the-present to manic proportions. In conversation with Truffaut, Hitchcock said that when Scottie is in love with someone he believes to be dead, when ( Read more... )

Yesterday I was talking to Suie about technical failures in the cinema. Like when I saw American Gangster (2007) and the projectionist didn’t mask the frame and the boom mic was visible for the whole picture. Or when, for The Darjeeling Ltd (2007) the first 10 minutes were marred and stretched because the projector was set to the wrong aspect ratio ( Read more... )

I watch this again and again. And everytime I forget how painful it is watching Cary Grant send Ingrid Bergman into a marriage with a Nazi in exile in Rio. Also Cary Grant's character's demands are too proud and cruel. He doesn't even want to know how she feels. He assumes the worst and punishes her for it again and again. That's what's great ( Read more... )

I watch these again and again over the years and I each time it's like the first time. I can never remember what they're about, who the culprit is, or what's going to happen.

I want to age as well as Cary Grant. It makes me want to take better care of myself. Or start a life of crime, either way.

Mika Miko live at Zaphods: A majorly slept-on show for Ottawa. They played for a hyperactive 25 minute set and said, "we have stuff for sale" a stopped. Still they were so damned good and made it look so easy. It was funny whey almost stopped the set two songs in to pee. Wesley Willis is the only performer I've seen do that.

Hiroshima Mon ( Read more... )

[movie ends]
Cd2006: So, did you love it?
Rekha: No, it was terrible!
Cd2006: Really? [pause, speechless] Really??
R: Agh, the characters were so stupid, I just stopped caring what happened to them.
Cd2006: What about Cary Grant? Wasn't he awesome as a murderer? And he can get away with anything because he's such a charmer!
R: Sorry.

Rekha brought in the new year by getting the stomach flu. That put a bit of a damper on the festivities, but no worry. I still got to wear my suit before she totally fell ill. Now we're in video lockdown while she convalesces ( Read more... )

This makes a wonderful Christmas movie. Watching it again I really really appreciate it more. The scene on that spinning ride, when he steals the milk, or when the detention officers ask if he's a virgin - so amazing. What I also love about Truffaut, which, I think he may have picked up from being obsessed with Hitchcock, is his little ( Read more... )

Someone in IMDb said something funny. They compared Miyazaki to Hitchcock. Apparently Miyazaki was a huge fan. The scene at the bus stop, they pointed out, is similar to the waiting scene in North By Northwest when James Stewart is waiting by the roadside. I think that one thing that Miyazaki took from Hitchcock is pacing. Your can't really ( Read more... )

I still find this painful to watch. Melodramas were never my thing. Still I like it better the second time around. It's harder to pick out the hitchcock influenced moments, and it's not really clear until toward the end with the character of Jack Favell. Also, more obviously, the whole motif of events being influenced by the presence of dead ( Read more... )