Analysis of a Scene: Alfred Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man"

Having just seen Alfred Hitchcock's “The Wrong Man” for the first time, I was particularly taken by one sequence early in the film. Hitchcock was often known for his distinctive and often stylized filmmaking, but “The Wrong Man” is not at all a typical Hitchcock thriller but a more straight-forward drama based on the real life case of Emmanuel 'Manny' Balestrero, played by Henry Fonda, who was arrested for a string of robberies he did not commit. One doesn't necessarily expect a film about social injustice from Hitchcock.

The style of the film is very simple, shot almost documentary-style in black & white, even though this movie was made between "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "Vertigo". This scene shows that great sequences in film can be effective with precise camera placement and editing.

Tetro: The Filmmaking Process

To go along with my review of "Tetro", here are some videos related to the filmmaking process behind the movie.

First, here is a video of Francis Coppola talking about he is still learning today:



This is a segment on Mihai Malaimare, Jr., the cinematographer of the film:



And, finally, though I cannot find embed codes for this, here is a video in two parts featuring Walter Murch at the Final Cut Pro User Group Supermeet in London, discussing the process of cutting "Tetro" on Final Cut Pro.

This is Part 1 and this is Part 2.

Tetro: Room for Only One Genius

“Tetro” left me baffled. Not by the movie I saw, which I felt was Francis Coppola's most engaged movie in years. I am baffled by the movie most others saw and that even arthouse audiences have completely ignored. In New York City, “Tetro”, which played at primarily on one screen at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema for 5 weeks, was replaced this past Friday by Zack Snyder's "visionary" director's cut of “Watchmen”. The movie has been popping up throughout the country with absolutely no publicity or even press screenings. The reviews have been pretty dismissive even when they have been positive.

I caught “Tetro” near the end of its run and the audience was rather sparse. I flashed back to just last year when the restored versions of “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” played at New York's Ziegfeld Theater for one week. I went there on a Sunday to watch both movies with about 30 or so other people in a 1,100+ seat theater. After watching them again and still finding both films powerful and relevant, I wondered why few people turned up for films that are supposed to have a huge following. Had the “Godfather” films become too slow and esoteric for moviegoers to commit their time to absorb it? Perhaps, that explains the reaction to “Tetro”.

Public Enemies: Replaying the Greatest Hits

I have often found filmmakers and musicians to be kindred spirits in their endeavors. Due to the sheer number of films that any of us have seen in our lifetime, there comes a certain time when the same plot points and story turns occur with more frequency. At that point, what becomes more important in watching the movie is the point of view, not merely in its themes but visual presentation through cinematography and editing.

When a director revisits subject matter over the course of several movies, we often see auteurist-themed articles where film writers attempt to sum up a lifetime of work by examining recurring themes and visual motifs. Many of these articles, while offering terrific insight into their subjects, sometimes forget to train a critical eye towards each individual film, instead becoming somewhat self-congratulatory that they can declare a director a visionary merely because they can connect the dots between their work.

Often, a director's body of work is more complicated than that, comprised of highs and lows that demonstrate filmmaking is not an exact science where artistic vision is absolute above all other factors that may work against the success of a film. Filmmaking is often an uphill battle where the original artistic vision is often compromised by any variety of elements during the process. Film is also a medium of happy accidents and moments that were never planned.

Onwards and Upwards: The Evolution of Pixar

The struggles of being an artist. A critique on society's treatment of the environment. A meditation on love and old age. These subjects were once the domain of serious art films, but now have become the subjects of the last three Pixar films. The other films this summer, supposedly geared towards adults, are about superheroes and fighting robots. Movies based on toys, as opposed to movies that may eventually inspire toys.

This summer sure has felt long and uninspired, particularly considering what Hollywood has had to offer. So, since there have been few, if any, traditional summer movies to see, some of you may be thinking of revisiting “Up”. Or some of you may be seeing it for the first time. No matter what, it is worth it.