Peeping Tom (1960)

5/5

Michael Powell's Peeping Tom is a movie about a man named Mark Lewis, played brilliantly by Carl Boehm. It is a character study masquerading as a psychological horror movie. The film begins with a brutal murder, from the killer's point of view, behind a camera lens. Later that night, he watches that same footage, just as we have watched it. We are immediately implicated as viewers and voyeurs--we feel the same thrill that he does. The rest of the movie attempts to explain how we got to that point; it asks us to empathize with him, and it succeeds. It is unsettling how little time it takes. The story unfolds effortlessly. I was absorbed from the first frame to the last. With no way of predicting what would happen, I no longer tried. I simply waited in fear of the events to come. And the finale is so utterly haunting that I do not think I will forget it any time soon.

Technically, cinematically, it is a masterpiece. The editing feels natural, the camerawork fluid. Subtle choices in composition and movement contribute to both mood and analysis. Such a union of art and entertainment is what determines a true master director. Powell is the equal of Hitchcock, Kurosawa, Scorsese, and other such icons. How I had not seen any of his works until now is a mystery even to me. This is a phenomenal film.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0054167/

Frenzy (1972)

4/5

Frenzy sees Hitchcock return to London to follow the story of the necktie murderer and, of course, the man falsely accused of it. It doesn't have the same feel and texture as most of Hitchcock's films. It is more "adult," both in language and content. The film is grittier and more graphically violent, darker yet at the same time funnier. The mood is closer to British gangster films like Get Carter and The Long Good Friday. It was extremely shocking to see nudity in a Hitchcock film, as well as the graphic depiction of rape and murder. But it is not all gloom and doom, as this is by far, hands-down, his funniest film. I was laughing nearly the entire time. My favorite parts involve the police chief and his "gourmet" cook of a wife, but a close second is the scene in the potato truck with the victim experiencing rigor mortis. This movie could have been directed by the Coen brothers and would have fit in their oeuvre very comfortably.

Many scenes are surprisingly experimental for a man so near the end of his career. He lets his camera sit outside, watching the exterior of a building, as a new victim is found. We watch in silence, waiting for her scream. Another time, the camera backs out of the murderer's apartment after he takes his next victim inside. It goes down the stairs and backs out the hallway until it retreats to the streets of London. In both these scenes, we know what is happening, and Hitchcock lets our brains fill in the gaps, involving us and even implicating us. Another shot that has now been replicated numerous times shows a woman coming out of a pub, emotionally distraught, and the sounds of the streets of London fade out for several seconds until her introspection is cut off by a man who appears behind her, seemingly out of thin air.

As in nearly every Hitchcock film, it was technically outstanding. The editing, the music, and the acting were all spot-on. But there were also some problems with the movie. It seems to have no center or focus because of how it's told. For about thirty minutes in the middle of the movie, we follow the travails of the true murderer instead of the man accused of it. Why? Hitchcock uses this scene to generate tension, but it is not a tense moment for the person we sympathize with. Interestingly, we don't want him to get away, but to get caught. Additionally, there are several minor characters who disappear halfway in and whose motivations are never explained. These are rather minor quibbles with a great film, a film that is perhaps Hitchcock's most graphically violent and darkly comedic. Watch it. If you like the Coen brothers, Get Carter, or The Long Good Friday, you will enjoy this movie immensely.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0068611/