Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015)

Director: Kent Jones

Cast: Alfred Hitchcock, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban, Wes Anderson

Have I Seen it Before: Never. Although Hitchcock is certainly in the pantheon of great directors for me, I’m sad to say Truffaut barely registers for me, outside of his appearance in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). 

Did I Like It: It’s probably hoary in the extreme to proclaim that I would probably have liked the book better than the film, especially when I… ahem haven’t read the book, but nevertheless, that’s where I land on the subject. I picked this up from the local library, and the pull quote “This changed the way I see cinema”* certainly appealed to me, but I can’t help but wonder if that critic was also speaking about the book, too.

The documentary-as-literary-adaptation is a tricky needle to thread. I can’t readily think of an example of the form that accomplished anything more than being an afterthought. The whole prospect eschews the more interesting artistic aspects of the adaptation process, and leaves one going beyond the aforementioned tired cliche. It isn’t merely enough that the book feels like it would be a more fulfilling experience than the film. I’m not getting anything out of the film—in a truncated form, no less—that I couldn’t have gotten out of the book. Shouldn’t we all be wondering if reducing the documentary to televised Cliff’s Notes diminishes the form and the material?

Still, I do wonder what either Hitchcock or Truffaut might have said on the subject, so at least that’s something. If only there were a book I could obtain that would further illuminate their thoughts on the finer points of cinema…

*I don’t remember who said the quote. Indeed, who can ever remember the source of a pull-quote, aside from a stray “Two Thumbs Up” in the 90s…?

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, François Truffaut

Have I Seen it Before: Yes. It’s not been a staple of the Spielberg canon for me, and that might have something to do with, at it’s core, the film being about a father who will stop at nothing to not be a father anymore. I think Spielberg would probably agree with that assessment.

Did I Like It: I think I’m more up for the film now, and that may be tied to how it is now less about a man who can’t wait to be free of his kids and wife*, and more about a man in his thirties who maybe didn’t have things work out them. Something extraordinary happens, and it is all he can do to hold on to that sense of wonder.

Which, for some reason, I can relate to now. I won’t spend much time analyzing why, precisely. 

One could spend some time dwelling on the technical skill on display here, but how many ways can anyone say that Spielberg knows what he’s doing with a movie? Each frame is pristine, the editing is flawless, and by some miracle, the special effects still work over forty years later. Every Spielberg movie is a worthy cinematic experience**, and here in his prime Amblin phase, each entry into his filmography is an unparalleled celluloid confection.

In times past, I’ve talked about what separated Spielberg from his closest contemporary (as far as this era is concerned), George Lucas. Lucas made great movies generally when the sword of Damocles was swinging right above his head. By the time The Empire Strikes Back (1980) came out, Lucas didn’t have anything to worry about. Aside from a handful of films directed by Spielberg himself, he never quite got it right again. Spielberg on the other hand is the more natural director, and never stopped making worthy films. That being said, there is something special about Spielberg’s films that might very well have fallen apart at the seams, but still managed to miraculously came together. Jaws (1975), with its mercurial shark is that way. This film, with a studio nearly going bankrupt during production, a producer being fired, and by my count 6 separate directors of photography before we even start talking about a second unit, this film is another.

If, like me, this is not one of your favorite Spielberg films, it might be time to come home. It’s probably time for Roy Neary to come home, too.

Actually, it’s probably way too late for that.

*It is still about that, but stay with me, folks.

**Yes, even 1941 (1979).