Hitchcock/Truffaut

This documentary is a bit on the light side but anytime some of my favorite directors sit down and talk about one of my favorite directors, I'm in. Hitchcock has his critics but he is one of the few directors of "old" films that my kids will watch and not dismiss out of hand because the movies weren't created within the last five years. And there's always that problem with Millennials and black and white movies to try and get past.

I was in the mood to watch this after my wife and two older teenagers started talking about "Psycho" at the dinner table. I take some pride in that actually happening as opposed to everyone staring at their phones. I remember us talking about "Rear Window" a couple of times, too.

Anyway, this had enough film clips and comments of other great directors to keep it interesting.

Fascinating documentary on the meeting of two great minds. It may veer off topic occasionally - it sometimes becomes a discussion on Hitchcock's films more than the meeting itself - but still must see viewing for any fan of great cinema.

[Filmin] An approach to the work of Alfred Hitchcock from the analysis of some current directors whom he has influenced. From that point of view, it is interesting. But the François Truffaut interview remains in the background, and it seems more an excuse than the central theme of the documentary. The best thing is that it encourages you to reread the book.

A documentary about the multi-day interview between Alfred Hitchcock and François Truffaut.

As a look into Hitchcock’s work from the perspective of some big name directors (Scorsese, Linklater, Fincher, Godard… amongst others), this proves to be quite an interesting film. They provide some valuable insight into how the director influenced their work, as well as some enthusiastic analysis of certain scenes and films that might make you look at some old favourites in a different light.

However, as a film about the Hitchock/Truffaut interview, Jones doesn’t really bring much to the table. In fact, the interview doesn’t get discussed much at all by the talking heads, and as an audience we are left wishing we were just listening to the source material rather than watching the documentary.

I have to wonder if the Truffaut part of the film was just an excuse to get people talking about Hichcock’s work and style. If you remove the interview element altogether, the film doesn’t lose much at all in terms of content.

Still, it never hurts to see experts in the field talk about the films they love and in this regard Hitchcock/Truffaut is definitely worth your time (and at 80 minutes it’s not exactly a chore…).

http://benoliver999.com/film/2016/05/03/hitchcocktruffaut/