Not putting the knife in too deep
Source: Agencies |
December 2, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE man who made "Psycho" was no lightweight, though he kind of comes off that way in "Hitchcock."
Starring Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren as his wife and collaborator, Alma, "Hitchcock" puts a featherlight yet entertaining touch on the struggle to make the mother of all slasher films.
Hitchcock's very dark side gets superficial treatment as the film offers the cinematic equivalent of psychobabble to explore the director's notorious gluttony, sexual repression and idolization of his leading ladies.
Though shallow, "Hitchcock" has a playful quality that often makes it good fun, its spirit of whimsy a wink that the filmmakers know they're riffing on Hitchcock's merrily macabre persona and not examining the man with any great depth or insight.
"Hitchcock" is a promising move into dramatic filmmaking for director Sacha Gervasi after his 2009 documentary "Anvil: The Story of Anvil," a chronicle of heavy metal wannabes who never quite made it.
With screenwriter John J McLaughlin adapting Stephen Rebello's book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho," Gervasi spins a nimble tale of a genteel yet volatile genius turning water into wine as Hitchcock transforms Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho," inspired by murderer Ed Gein, into high art - and one of the scariest movies ever.
Hopkins is padded to match Hitchcock's portly silhouette, yet the jowly prosthetics are a bit distracting and unrealistic. They just make him look like Anthony Hopkins with prosthetics on his face.
Still, the spirit of Hitchcock comes through in Hopkins' sly performance, and he captures the measured cadence of the filmmaker's speech.
If "Hitchcock" ultimately feels inconsequential, it always aims to please, and for the most part, it does.
As Alma says at one point, even "Psycho," after all, was just a movie.
Starring Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren as his wife and collaborator, Alma, "Hitchcock" puts a featherlight yet entertaining touch on the struggle to make the mother of all slasher films.
Hitchcock's very dark side gets superficial treatment as the film offers the cinematic equivalent of psychobabble to explore the director's notorious gluttony, sexual repression and idolization of his leading ladies.
Though shallow, "Hitchcock" has a playful quality that often makes it good fun, its spirit of whimsy a wink that the filmmakers know they're riffing on Hitchcock's merrily macabre persona and not examining the man with any great depth or insight.
"Hitchcock" is a promising move into dramatic filmmaking for director Sacha Gervasi after his 2009 documentary "Anvil: The Story of Anvil," a chronicle of heavy metal wannabes who never quite made it.
With screenwriter John J McLaughlin adapting Stephen Rebello's book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho," Gervasi spins a nimble tale of a genteel yet volatile genius turning water into wine as Hitchcock transforms Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho," inspired by murderer Ed Gein, into high art - and one of the scariest movies ever.
Hopkins is padded to match Hitchcock's portly silhouette, yet the jowly prosthetics are a bit distracting and unrealistic. They just make him look like Anthony Hopkins with prosthetics on his face.
Still, the spirit of Hitchcock comes through in Hopkins' sly performance, and he captures the measured cadence of the filmmaker's speech.
If "Hitchcock" ultimately feels inconsequential, it always aims to please, and for the most part, it does.
As Alma says at one point, even "Psycho," after all, was just a movie.
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