Rear Window

Hohum, since its been exactly a week that means I have 2 journals to post up tonight. The screening for tonight was Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window and a short film called Les Filles du Roi.

Rear Window
I really enjoyed watching tonights screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. I thought the plot was nice and the characters Jeff, Lisa and Stella were also exeptional. I also enjoyed this film because it almost seemed to have more than one story going on at one time. Depending on which window Jeffrey was looking at, the audience would then get a glimpse at a different story line with different people in it. There was Miss Torso and her dancing and the many young gentlemen she would sometimes have over. And then there was Miss Lonely-heart and her story of trying to find a partner. And also there was the pianist and his story about trying to finish composing his songs. And of course the story of Mr and Mrs Thorwald. I liked how all of these 'mini-stories' made up the main story and it was done without being confusing at all. Alfred Hitchcock is said to be the master of suspense, and I'll say that for this movie I think he did a wonderful job. The very first hint the audience gets that trouble is coming, is when Stella is introduced and says something like, 'i can smell trouble a mile away, and frankly, i smell trouble' I also like how the the character Lisa progressed throughout the story. In the beginning she was always all dressed up and posh talking about things like the Waldorf, and Harpers Bazaar. Jeff and Lisa then argued about how 'she couldn't live in his world, and he couldn't live in her world'. Lisa then starts changing when Jeff introduces the thought about murder next door. She starts snooping around (ie finding out the names of the Mr and Mrs) and near the climax of the film she actually volunteers herself to dig up the flowerbed. I thought it was great showing Lisa climb up the fire escape and into the Thornwald's apartment, nearly killing herself, all the while doing it in a fancy dress and high heels. The ending of the movie also wrapped up nicely as it showed happy endings in all the windows, including Jeff and Lisa's.

A little side note that I made at the very beginning of this movie. I never watched Rear Window before, but I did recognize it from an episode of the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror. I immediately recognized the storyline when I seen the foot-in-cast, wheelchair-bound, spying Jeffries since it was the exact same image shown of Bart Simpson in that episode. I found it all the more interesting to watch because, in the Simpsons episode, the murderous neighbor is actually innocent and all of the 'clues' that point to him being a murderer are actually a bunch of coincedences. I kept on wondering if the Simpsons episode was exactly the same as Rear Window and that the outcome would mean that Mr Thorwald was also innocent and that Jeffries, like Bart was just thinking too deeply. So the fact that I had two suspenses going on at the same time, made this film even more enjoyable.

Les Filled du Roi
I was actually surprised that this short film wasn't quite what I expected it to be. After just finishing watching a 2 hour movie I figured I was going to be quite restless and bored throught this film. But as it progressed I thought it wasn't too bad. I guess I wasn't expecting the Feminism theme to be portrayed, and the fact that I felt it was portrayed really well probably aided in my liking of this film. The constant portrayal of women in their 'workplace' mass producing things. Rows and rows of sewing maching operators, data entry workers, it showed how women's jobs at the time weren't unique at all. It was like watching a bunch of lab rats in a cage, you couldn't tell who was who. The narration wass really well done too. I didn't notice how all the women, while at work to 'be closer to their husbands' were actually more in contact with strangers rather than their loved ones, until the narrator clued me in. The narrator cleared up the idea being conveyed in certain scenes, and also made the audience ponder about thoughts, where as if there were no narrative, the audience would just sit there watching pretty pictures on the screen. Considering that this movie seemed documentary-like and I had immediately labelled it as boring, I actually enjoyed this film as well.