‘My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock’ Review: Mark Cousins’ Documentary Is A Sly And Captivating Celebration Of The Filmmaker

With his latest deep dive into filmmaking, prolific documentarian Mark Cousins ​​shifts his focus and adds a lot of evil. my name is alfred hitchcockHis love letter to one of cinema’s greats hides a title that could be a liar’s declaration. Tell the truth. The opening credits state that the film is “written and voiced by Alfred Hitchcock”. What did you say? The first sound of that voice on the soundtrack, familiar though its adenoid depths and cockney inflections are, arouses reasonable suspicions, suspicions confirmed when the master’s opening remarks concerned an enormous bust of him in London, erected 20 years ago after his death.

The master of suspense is voiced by English impressionist Alistair McGowan, and finally, once the film’s ventriloquist concept is over, Hitchcock, heading for Queens and Us, revises his work from a smartphone-connected 21st century perspective. . — You will be surprised by the impressive details of the work. For now, the film will present Cousin’s typically crisp connections as you study the visual language, narrative motifs, and inventive strategies of Hitchcock’s work: masterful tricks in “deceptive media.”

Whether Hitchcock Speaks’ tactics will enrich the document is debatable, as is whether he is happy to explain everything to us as patiently as he does, despite his remarkable conversations with Truffaut. But the craftsmanship adds a proper layer to the toy, as does Hitchcock’s promise to trick us from time to time with comments, which he does spectacularly.

Cousins’ documentary, which debuts in Telluride, takes place on the 100th anniversary of Hitchcock’s first directorial job. number 13. Among the tenants of an affordable housing building, it was pulled from production due to budget issues, and entire scenes were later lost. not mentioned in My name, a film composed almost entirely of clips from a 54-year-old filmography. Cousins’ selections are remarkable in their breadth and depth, and combined with an organic push, the collection never feels rushed, pedantic or silly (the elegant edit is by frequent Cousins ​​collaborator Timo Langer).

In addition to one of his signature appearances, St. marni, there are no moving images of Hitchcock himself; Instead, the document places multiple author photos in rotation. Any suggestion of a TV news-style rerun soon fades with Cousins’ curious camerawork, gripping tighter, and the dead filmmaker’s narration.

Narrated by Hitchcock, we look at his photographic portrait and his films: The Most Serious (wrong man), lesser-known silences (“You probably haven’t seen it,” says Hitchcock/McGowan 1927 cost belowpseudonym When the boys leave the house), eye-catching black and white nail clippers from the 40s, 50s and 60s (shadow of a doubt, strangers on the train, Psycho) and landscapes of immortal dreams in Technicolor (the rear window, Vertigo, north northwest, birds).

As Hitchcock points out, his films are analyzed in every way and vice versa. Cousins’ fresh approach divides the work into six parts, an elegant capsule that blends existential questions with the practical challenges and possibilities of storytelling on the big screen. The first chapter, A Fuga, is the longest, and from there the film advances in desire, loneliness, time and perfection, culminating in a perspective of the highest. It is a very good model for life, not to mention an attractive model for exploring creativity.

Quince’s cinematic vision is as committed to storytelling as his research into Hitchcock’s works. Biographical elements appear throughout the dynamic interplay of moments in the film, mainly as supplements to the stories they tell. It neither guesses nor destroys films; Appreciate what they prove. With one notable exception, this version of Hitchcock, our narrator, includes the choices he makes. Born in the late 19th century, it replaced Victorian literary ideas with vigorous modernism. Until Truffaut wholeheartedly supported it, it was largely ignored as mere entertainment. But he used radical methods. My name is Noting how Hitchcock escaped the conventions of drama, replacing them with hyper-realities, unlike his favorite Cézanne: “His geometry was not the geometry of the world,” Hitchcock says of Cousins.

This Hitchcock knows how digital the future, our present, has become, but Cousins ​​isn’t interested in updating it or putting it through the revisionist mill. “My Little Metaphor Still Applies” Is Hitchcock’s On-Scene Verdict a spell. His voice cracks as he uses the now past tense “transvestite” and sometimes calls women girls. But there is no reference here to the man who said that actors should be treated like cattle; He speaks fondly and by first name of the megastars who have accentuated his features: Jimmy, Carrie, Ingrid, Hank (Fonda).

For those interested in Hitchcock, Cousins ​​is an easy introduction to his work. For others, it sheds new light on scenes they may have seen dozens of times, evoking the pain of Norman Bates’ philosophical musings and the space occupied around lonely female characters. Find a fascinating rhythm among the phone booths. birds and bathe inside Psychoand connects with the blinding orange glow of flash bulbs the rear windowOn a sound stage at a facsimile in Greenwich, on the other side of the continent, for the atomic bomb test in the desert.

No Hitchcock fan needs to be reminded that his best films can be watched over and over again. And yet, seen through the prism of this insightful and adorable document, it’s amazing how powerful the visuals are still and how the action can still lift the heart. Hitchcock, wielding the camera like a voyeur, a detective and a tense “time ghost”, fascinates us. In comparison, with its theatrical device of a fake narrator, the documentary keeps you at a distance. The resulting push takes this Valentine back, and it seems to be a powerful and eloquent friction.