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Saturday, December 1, 2012

MOVIE REVIEW: HITCHCOCK

HITCHCOCK



Director Sacha Gervasi adapts Stephen Rebello's book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho to explore the relationship between the legendary British director (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren), who played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in the making of her husband's terrifying 1960 classic Psycho. Scarlett Johansson co-stars as Janet Leigh and James D'Arcy portrays Anthony Perkins in a film also featuring Jessica Biel, Danny Huston, Toni Collette, and Ralph Macchio. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Sacha Gervasi

Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, James D'Arcy

Release Date: Nov 23, 2012

Rated PG-13 for some violent images, sexual content and thematic material

Runtime: 1 hr. 38 min.

Genres: Drama

Review:

Hitchcock takes a fun and lighthearted look into the trials, tribulation and machinations of the making of one his seminal films. Sasha Gervasi, helming his first non documentary film, makes it feel like we are watching a sort of accurate cliff notes version of what actually happened. As such he keeps it from being overly dry, allowing his cast to relish in their roles. Anthony Hopkins, under heavy prosthetics which work with varying degrees of effectiveness, delivers one of his better performances in a good while. He can’t hide his singular voice but occasionally he does get the tenor of Hitch down perfectly. Hopkins allows us to see various sides of Hitch, his obsessive controlling nature along with his voyeuristic tendencies. Helen Mirren makes a good match for Hopkins as Alma, Hitchcock’s long suffering wife/collaborator. Mirren takes on the meaty role and she shares a steady effective chemistry with Hopkins and they play out the collaborative but dysfunctional relationship the couple shared. Both can carry a scene easily and are given plenty of chances to shine. Supporting players like Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Toni Collette, Danny Huston and James D’Arcy, doing an impressive turn as Anthony Perkins, all do solid work filling out the film. The film ends on a tad bit too much of a happy note for my taste. A good companion piece to follow up with is the recent HBO film The Girl, which covered the making of The Birds, with a very effective Toby Jones playing a creepier Hitch as he tormented Tippi Hedren played by Sienna Miller.

B+


10 comments:

  1. Hopkins is one of my favorite actors. I will be seeing this movie.

    Thanks for the review.

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    Replies
    1. Mine too, I think you'll find plenty to enjoy here, thanks for reading!

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  2. The trailer didn't exactly impress me, but your review makes me curious. I might check it out when it's available for me.

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    Replies
    1. The performances were very good and direction keeps it from being overly bland or dry.

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    2. Ha, fully agree with you now. Who would have thought that it's actually THAT good?

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    3. I found it really enjoyable and that scene at the screening was just killer.

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  3. nice! i am really looking forward to seeing this.

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  4. Can't wait to see this as Psycho is one of my all time fave films. Loved Toby as Hitch BTW. :)

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    Replies
    1. Me too Melissa! I thought The Girl was pretty well done and Toby captured the feel and look of Hitch more than Hopkins but in a creepier sense.

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