FaveFilms: Notorious (1946, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

Alfred Hitchcock is probably the single individual most responsible for my love of movies. My earliest introduction to his name and image was being terrified beyond all reason as a young child when the chilling “Funeral March of the Marionettes” accompanied by the massive film director’s silhouetted outline came onto my television screen. As a child I did not understand the irony in Hitchcock appearing with a noose around his neck and dryly saying “good e-vening … I’m … Alfred Hitch-cock.” All I saw was a macabre, death obsessed British gentleman prepared to take me to a world of pure terror.

As I grew older, I realized that Hitchcock was not just a television personality on Nick at Nite reruns, but also directed some movies too. I sought out such standard titles as Rear Window and The Birds. My childhood fears of the gloomy silhouette on the small screen morphed into an intense admiration, even obsession, for the techniques and themes of the greatest of all cinematic artists. My teenage years were accompanied by screenings of most of the Master’s great works. The first time I saw Vertigo was a real turning point in my life, the moment at which I understood that cinema is indeed an art form worthy of my utmost respect and admiration. For whatever reason, Notorious is the one great masterpiece of Hitch’s that I did not see until much later, after my tastes in cinema had largely already been formed. The film has been difficult to find on DVD for some time, existing for a while only on an expensive Criterion edition, and then going out of print altogether. I am happy to report that the film is now available for the entire world to see as part of MGM’s Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection. Wow, what a film it really is.

Notorious is important and magnificent for numerous reasons. One can point to the amazing performance by Ingrid Bergman, perhaps the most nuanced and sympathetic of her career. I was also blown away by the film’s incredible story, structured so tightly that you think it is going to burst in two. There’s the film’s overall atmosphere, the post-war paranoia that pervades every frame. Hitchcock’s films, though, are always about the technical virtuosity the director delivers from scene to scene. Notorious is perhaps the greatest of Hitchcock’s films in its impeccably-planned structure and cinematic technique.

Hitchcock was known for planning every last detail of a movie in his head before filming even began. We can tell that the Master most certainly employed this technique when he made Notorious. Consider the much-discussed scene in which Cary Grant and Ingmar Bergman kiss for three minutes, defying the censors and all sense of decency in 1946 filmmaking practice. Hitchcock gets away with it by having them talk, answer the phone, and engage in other innocuous activities in between passionate kisses. Consider the miraculous camera movement in which we start with an extreme long shot overlooking a private party and crane ever so deliberately to an extreme close-up of an important key clutched in Bergman’s hand. Or, consider the suspenseful scene in which Grant and Bergman rummage through vintage bottles in the wine cellar looking for the one that contains a radioactive substance before they are discovered by Bergman’s Nazi husband. These are the moments that make Notorious an absolutely thrilling ride.

Bergman plays a young woman who is hired by the American government to spy on post-war German Nazis. Her father was an American traitor, so she automatically has an “in” with the Germans, especially a wealthy businessman played by Claude Rains. The film is deeply concerned with questions of loyalty and patriotism, as Bergman must decide how far she is willing to go to serve her country. Is she willing to give up her body? How about her soul?

A cursory plot summary, though, doesn’t do justice to the overall mood and suspenseful emotion the film evokes. While Notorious is often named by critics as one of the greatest Hitchcock films, if not the greatest, it still seems to be underappreciated by the public at large. Make no mistake, Notorious is an absolute treasure and deserves to be ranked with Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest, and Strangers on a Train as the best of the best in Hitchcock’s massive oeuvre.

Movie Review: A Christmas Tale (2008, Directed by Arnaud Desplechin)

I’m trying to see as many of the end-of-the-year Oscar contenders as I can before they leave the theatres. This is not an easy task since film distributors find it wise to pack all the interesting and halfway-intelligent films into the month of December. Each year, I find myself waiting impatiently for eleven months until we reach the month of indie dramas, character-driven stories, and, invariably, a Holocaust story or two (or three or four). Don’t get me wrong, many of the hyped-up films in December are just that, pieces of pretentious Oscar-bait that wear melodramatic emotions and human suffering on their sleeves. Sometimes, though, you see a film that actually lives up to its critical hype, or at least transcends the Oscar-centric structure of contemporary cinema in a meaningful way.

In the spirit of experiencing such films, I sauntered off to an arthouse cinema for a screening of A Christmas Tale, one of 2008’s critical darlings. Don’t let the movie’s title mislead you. This is not a charming story of the joys and perils of the holiday season à la A Christmas Story or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Rather, it’s a French-language subtitled three-hour film about a dysfunctional family at Christmas time.

Don’t all rush to the theatre at once to see this film. I know it might not sound like your cup of tea. But, it’s actually pretty good. In fact, while the film is flawed in many ways, it has moments of absolute brilliance and clarity. I’m not going to talk much about the movie’s elaborate plot, because that’s not really the point of the work. I will say that the narrative focuses upon the family’s matriarch, who has a terminal disease, and her decision about how to deal with the sickness. In the process of watching her work through her own ethics and values, we meet the important people in her life, all fascinating characters themselves.

I don’t think A Christmas Tale is one of the greatest films of the year. It suffers a bit from a lack of narrative clarity at times and some melodramatic moments that feel out of place in the context of the work as a whole. Nevertheless, it offers a nice alternative to the mainstream (and predictable) Hollywood movies playing at a Cineplex near you. Like several other films of the year, we feel like we’ve really spent some time with these characters, as neurotic and messed up as they are. In the end, we feel the full force of the matriarch’s decision regarding her cancer. What better time than the holidays to meditate upon the nature of life and death and the role that one’s family plays in one’s existence?

Movie Review: Bolt (2008, Directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard)

Bolt, the latest Disney family offering, is about a small dog who is convinced he has super powers, since he’s spent his entire life on a television show set. Bolt sets on a cross-country expedition to rescue his “person” Penny, whom he believes has been kidnapped. Along the way, he meets the cat Kittens and the hamster Rhino, who become his sidekicks for the journey.

Families looking to spend a night at the movies are faced with the fact that very few family-oriented films are released by the major studios on a yearly basis. Therefore, it is more difficult to be critical of the family-friendly films that do find their way to the local multiplex. Bolt is just fine as fun and harmless family entertainment. There have certainly been more creative and profound animated films released recently, though (see WALL-E and Ratatouille). The voice acting of Miley Cyrus and John Travolta leaves a lot to be desired. The visuals are competent, but not breathtaking in any way. Nevertheless, the animals are cute and there’s enough fun to keep both kids and adults entertained.