Cutting Edges - The Birds

(The Birds Poster, 1963)

The Birds is a 1963 American psychological horror-thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on the 1952 story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.

The Birds runs like a romantic comedy for the first 40 or so minutes of the film. But the tone changes when birds (mostly crows and gulls) begin to attack the residents of Bodega Bay in flocks.

"When teasing out the meaning of The Birds, many critics take their lead from the hysterical woman who links the attacks to Daniels' arrival ("I think you're the cause of all of this"). This implies that the birds are a manifestation of sex, some galvanic hormonal storm that whisks sleepy Bodega Bay into a great communal lather." (Brooks, 2017)

The main character, Melanie Daniels, can be compared to a harpy, a mythological monster described as having a woman's head and a birds body and claws. This is a very obvious comparison to Daniels', since she is described as a strong, headfast, and sexually open young woman throughout the film. In fact, Hitchcock often draws to this, giving us details about her life in the conversations she and Mitch Brenner have. Not only are there personality traits that can connect the two, also physical traits. She has very long, claw-like nails, and she is considered in the 1960s a beautiful woman.

(The Birds, 1963)

As Brooks says, Daniels' arrival seems to cast a "hormonal storm" and it is well known that Harpies are also a personification of storm winds in many poems. Thus it seems only natural to draw this conclusion that Daniels' is the cause of The Bodega Bay Birds attacking out of the blue upon her arrival, although the real reason is never revealed in the film.

"But the context of the birds concentrating their fury upon a house in which a possessive and jealous mother hovers anxiously over her son is so obvious and fascinating that I rather lean to it."(Crowther, 1963)
Jealousy is also a large theme in this film, mostly between the mother and Daniels'. The mother is jealous that someone could steal her son (Brenner) from her, and Daniels' is jealous of the mother for keeping Brenners attention on her. There's also Annie, the school teacher of Bodega Bay who used to date Brenner, and who is also still in love with him. She was chased off by the mother but encourages Daniels' to try, knowing she will most likely fail.

(The Birds, 1963)

"It is about three needy women (literally 'birds') - and a fourth from a younger generation - each flocking around and vying for varying degrees of affection and attention from the sole, emotionally-cold male lead, and the fragile tensions, anxieties and unpredictable relations between them." (Filmsite.org, 2018)

At Filmsite says, the film is not about these birds attacking people, its about jealousy of these women ("birds). All through the film these women are fighting for attention from Brenners, but in the end, after Daniels' gets attacked they realise that there's no point in bickering, because Brenners cares for them all equally.

Bibliography:

Images:

Your Bibliography: The Birds Poster. (1963). [image] Available at: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51n50YDJYUL._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg [Accessed 28 Feb. 2018].

The Birds. (1963). [DVD] Directed by A. Hitchcock. United States: Universal Pictures.

Quotes:

Brooks, X. (2017). My favourite Hitchcock: The Birds. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/31/my-favourite-hitchcock-the-birds [Accessed 28 Feb. 2018].

 Crowther, B. (1963). Movie Review - - Screen: 'The Birds':Hitchcock's Feathered Fiends Are Chilling - NYTimes.com. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D05E7D9143CEF3BBC4953DFB2668388679EDE [Accessed 28 Feb. 2018].

Filmsite.org. (2018). The Birds (1963). [online] Available at: http://www.filmsite.org/bird.html [Accessed 28 Feb. 2018].

Cutting Edges - Psycho (1960)

(Psycho Poster, 1960)

Psycho is a 1960 American psychological horror directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.

"In Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock not only created a blazing masterpiece and spawned a new cinematic genre – the slasher. He also delivered one of the boldest blows in screen history. It was not just how he killed Janet Leigh's Marion Crane, astonishing though that was – it was when." (Monahan, 2015)

The film starts with our supposed heroine and her boyfriend. They get up, get dressed and she goes to work. She goes about her daily business until she comes across a large sum of money she's meant to take to the bank for her boss. The next 40 minutes is of her driving up to meet her boyfriend to give him the money for her debts. And in a hotel she stays at, after only just identifying with this girl, she is killed in one of the most iconic scenes in film history.

(Psycho, 1960)

"The film is 109 minutes long, but he offs his heroine, the glamorous miscreant with whom he's made us identify, after just 47. In 1960, this generated, by all accounts, an unprecedented sense of careering into uncharted and terrifying territory: what the hell would happen next? Even now, it's distinctly unnerving." (Monahan, 2015)

Its a very clever scene, made of many 70 camera setups and 78 pieces of film. And yet the knife is never seen piercing her flesh. Its merely implied by the action of the camera and of the actress. The film is a wonder in the uses of misdirection, not only in this scene but in the entirety of the plot itself. 

We are made to think the killer of our heroine is the hotel managers mother. But toward the end of the movie we are shown that it was the manager himself, with an alternate personality acting as his mother. This is very clever, and the way Hitchcock hid this was so simple it makes you a fool when the film tells you about it.

(Psycho, 1960)

"There, it appears, he has a mother—a cantakerous old woman—concealed. And that mother, as it soon develops, is deft at creeping up with a knife and sticking holes into people, drawing considerable blood." (Crowther, 1960)

He never shows the mother directly. Not talking, not moving. Only twice. Once when the manager carries her downstairs and another when she's revealed to be a corpse. She's heard talking but by the end of the film its revealed that it was the manager talking as her.

Bibliography:

Images:

Psycho Poster. (1960). [image] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/Psycho_%281960%29.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2018].

Psycho. (1960). [DVD] Directed by A. Hitchcock. United States: Paramount.

Quotes:

Monahan, M. (2015). Psycho, review. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/11025424/Psycho-review.html [Accessed 29 Jan. 2018].

Crowther, B. (1960). Movie Review - - PSYCHO - NYTimes.com. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173DE273BC4F52DFB066838B679EDE [Accessed 29 Jan. 2018].

Cutting Edges - Rope (1948)

(Rope Poster, 1948)

Rope is a 1948 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was based on the 1929 play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton, which in turn was loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb murder case in 1924.

"Actual lensing time was 10 days, plus five days of retakes, but complete schedule was 36 days, including intense rehearsals." Connolly, M. (1948)

Rope is considered to be a very contemporary film for its time, the reason being that the film looks like it has been done in one full take when in reality it was 10 cuts spliced together. Hitchcock never disguised these cuts either, making them obvious to spot to the trained eye, but not to average film viewers in that day. The end of each of these cuts often pan into a blackout on someones back or on the chest, but most are unmasked cuts from just people talking. As the quote above says, it took 15 days in total to finish shooting the film, since Hitchcock was determined to get his shots right.

(Rope, 1948)

Stepping away from the way it was made, the film in a way explores the homosexual relationship of the two main characters, which is very interesting for the time it was set in. It's heavily implied through the use of script and props that Philip and Brandon are in a gay relationship. It's never said directly in the film, but you can imply a lot simply from looking and listening.

These two characters are shown in extremely close situations from beginning to end, from Brandon taking off Philips gloves in the first few shots of the film, to their use of cigarette use after especially intense moments in the film.

"Hitch, never one to shy away from explicit content or gay subtext, wanted to play up the plot’s homosexual undertones — even the piece Phillip routinely plays on the piano is by an openly gay composer."  (IndieWire, 2014)

It's also worth noting, that Philip and Brandon both refer to their murder in an explicit way.

"How did you feel... during it?" "I don't remember feeling much of anything... until his body went limp. Then I felt tremendously exhilarated. How did you feel?" (Rope, 1948)

(Rope, 1948)

Even after the murder, they both agree to stay in a state of "bliss" as Brandon takes out a cigarette, which as said earlier is a symbol of sex. They then hide the body, hiding something in plain sight of their dinner guests, hoping they won't be found out. This again is much like their relationship.

Rope is a very complex, contemporary and in a way controversial piece of art, which stuns its audience and leaves it wanting more again and again.

Bibliography:

Images:

Rope Poster. (1948). [image] Available at: https://cdn.traileraddict.com/content/universal-pictures/rope_1948.jpg [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018].

Rope. (1948). [DVD] Directed by A. Hitchcock. United States: Warner Bros.

Quotes:

Connolly, M. (1948). Revolutionary No-Pause Filming on 'Rope' Stresses New Pic Technique. Variety, p.18.

IndieWire. (2014). Hays’d: Decoding the Classics — 'Rope'. [online] Available at: http://www.indiewire.com/2014/03/haysd-decoding-the-classics-rope-214547/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].

Rope. (1948). [DVD] Directed by A. Hitchcock. United States: Warner Bros.

Cutting Edges - La Jetée (1962)

(La Jetée Poster, 1962)

La Jetée is a 1962 French science-fiction short film by directed Chris Marker. It is constructed with still photos, with the exception of a few small parts with moving image, which are very hard to catch if you're not paying full attention.

(La Jetée, 1962)

It tells the story of a post-nuclear war experiment on time travel, focusing on a man and his experience in the experiment, and how his childhood trauma of watching a man die has influenced his time travel.

The short film plays extremely well thanks to its use of its atmospheric soundtrack. Its very minimal, but this works very well in the context. Since focusing on the narration should be your true goal whilst watching this film, you pay attention to the sound work on a subconscious level, in a way you would in everyday life. Its a genius strategy to not only keep you engaged, but to keep you in discomfort as you wonder what happens next.

"The soundtrack's texture is similarly sparse, and the fluid montage leads the viewer into the sensation of watching moving images. Until, that is, an extraordinary epiphany when an image genuinely does move: the man's sleeping lover opens her eyes." (Timeout, 2016)

As timeout states, the soundtrack makes the movies still images come alive, giving an illusion of movement when obviously nothing is moving physically on the screen. It then, in a sense, jars you when the woman opens her eyes, making you more aware of the movie as you wait for something else to move.

(La Jetée, 1962)

Aside from the editing, this film is an interesting take on the time travel genre. He doesn't go back to a specific time, but only the times in which the girl he saw at The Jetty has been in.

"This time he is close to her, he speaks to her. She welcomes him without surprise. They are without memories, without plans. Time builds itself painlessly around them. Their only landmarks are the flavor of the moment they are living and the markings on the walls." (La Jetée Script, 1962)

She seems to remember him each time, as if these scenes are playing constantly, even as he is bought back into the present. Time doesn't change her in each sequence, she stays the same.

"The girl is protected (the statues, the museum, her slumber) by time. She is the face of time and, above all, the very content of time (its secret, its truth)." (Jean-Louis Schefer, 1995)

She doesn't die, She doesn't falter, yet the man in this story does as he comes in and out of these sequences. In a way the girl has killed him, as he only wants to see her while he is threatened with death. She is also the reason the death at The Jetty (revealed to be his own by the end), haunts him through his life.

Bibliography:

Images:

La Jetée Poster. (1962). [image] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f7/La_Jetee_Poster.jpg/220px-La_Jetee_Poster.jpg [Accessed 11 Jan. 2018].

La Jetée. (1962). [Film] Directed by C. Marker. France: Argos Films.

Quotes:

Jean-Louis Schefer. (1995). On La Jetée by Jean-Louis Schefer ~ Chris Marker. [online] Available at: https://chrismarker.org/chris-marker-2/jean-louis-schefer-on-la-jete/ [Accessed 15 Jan. 2018].

Marker, C. (1962). Chris Marker : La Jetée Script. [online] Markertext.com. Available at: http://www.markertext.com/la_jetee.htm [Accessed 11 Jan. 2018].

Timeout. (2016). La Jetée. [online] Available at: https://www.timeout.com/london/film/la-jetee [Accessed 15 Jan. 2018].