Hitchcock/Truffaut (Kent Jones)

[Gittes]

As with Jones' excellent documentary on Val Lewton, this was rather good and fairly substantial. It worked best when it veered toward closer analysis of specific moments from Hitchcock's films (i.e., Scorsese's repeated emphasis on perspective, and the use of an ominous omniscience, which was helpfully illustrated by Jones' selection of footage). While not every shared view is of a gobsmacking, highly original caliber, there are a lot of thoughtful takes and keenly-felt affections that come through. The people Jones gathered together are compelling, entertaining, and occasionally edifying. Their enthusiasm — alongside the irresistible potency of Hitchcock's work, footage of which is, naturally, peppered throughout — really enriches the experience.

Much of what we hear is praise, which is fine, but there are a few digressions (even if these are then rerouted back into adulation). Fincher, for instance, claims that Leigh's performance in Psycho is flawed. That's a point that I strongly disagree with, but I like that this is part of the film's tapestry. For the most part, though, the talking heads alternate between sentimental reminiscences about the titular text and their own exegeses of Hitchcock's work (the latter is most memorably offered via James Gray's remarks about a certain scene in Vertigo). The rewards of this format are a number of nice observations about Hitchcock's style; the film supplied a few "I never thought of it that way" kind of moments.

What's missing is a female perspective, as well as a few critical and scholarly voices (if Robin Wood were still alive, I suspect that Jones would have invited him). Jones apparently attempted to involve a couple of female interlocutors, but those arrangements didn't work out, so he opted to not force the inclusion for the sake of diversity. I can also understand the emphasis on filmmakers rather than scholars or critics, given that the film pivots around a book about a conversation between two filmmakers. However, given Truffaut's critical pedigree, it would have made sense to invite a few critics (or, at the very least, refer to the work of certain critics and scholars, and offer a kind of précis of their grapplings with Hitchcock's films).

I haven't seen De Palma yet, but there's a ready appeal to this sort of thing: thoughtful filmmakers or critics assembling a film about their idols. James Gray, in particular, could likely prepare a great film about one of the artists he admires. Fellini, perhaps? Given Fincher's contributions to the Chinatown commentary track — in which he endeared himself to me by rhapsodizing about the lacquered door at the Mulwray residence — I wasn't surprised to see that he's pretty great in Hitchcock/Truffaut. One could go on and on about other filmmakers whose voices would have been fascinating here, but it's nice that Jones kept returning to a select few rather than relying on brief blurbs from a longer list of directors.