Hitchcock Review
I have a bit of an obsession with Psycho, so this film to me was massively exciting, and I was hoping to be given an insight into the making of the film. In this respect I was a bit disappointed, the film ends up being more of a schmaltzy rom com than a biopic. While Hollywood might be to blame for the somewhat more shallow film than I imagined, it was in my view a fairly solid picture, with only a few niggles.
The plot of the film revolves around the Hopkins played Hitchcock and his wife played by Helen Mirren, around the time of the filming of Psycho. It essentially follows all the typical tropes of the romance genre without much variation on the age old narrative, the film manages to convince us of their relationship, which is mostly down to the wonderful Helen Mirren, who once again plays a fantastic role. The same can't be said for Hopkins, while he had some great one liners, he appeared stiff and emotionless and I simply wasn't able to connect with him as much as I would have liked. The film has a lot of the scenes we expect from the genre, and doesn't surprise in any way, which is a shame considering the iconic subject matter.
The main plot aside, the technical aspects of the film were also pretty standard,the camera work for example was fine but nothing special, and it did its job, seemingly without much thought put into it. The other peformances in the film from Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel and Toni Collette were all pretty solid, although understandably there was a significant lack of camera time compared to the main characters.
The good parts of the film, the parts where we got to see how the film was made and what the ideas were behind it, were interesting and provided a break from the sugary sweet relationship story arc. The film managed to keep my attention throughout, albeit with a few eye rolls near the end, and as I said the performances were solid and well directed. If you're looking for a 'feel good' film that doesn't stray from the formula then this film is for you. If however you're looking for a more intelligent and thought provoking film, stay well clear of this as its unlikely to satisfy your appetite. Overall, a fine film.
6/10
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