tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post997486817995977398..comments2024-03-27T14:57:37.031+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: PoV 3: Norman's stuffed toysJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-5266815884021161532013-06-10T09:56:17.060+05:302013-06-10T09:56:17.060+05:30Just watched this yesterday. An absolutely grippin...Just watched this yesterday. An absolutely gripping film. Would like to comment on the december loophole you mentioned. <br /><br />What happened was that while shooting a scene, the december lights on one of the stores accidentally got shot in the picture. Instead of reshooting the scene, Hitchcock just added the December date. Also, anyways the movie starts from Phoenix, Arizone which is dry and as far as I know, it hardly snows there. So I dont think the characters would have required cold clothing,Rajeshnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-77501270396202274892010-06-20T11:38:41.548+05:302010-06-20T11:38:41.548+05:30Jai,
Thanks for the post. I have always regretted ...Jai,<br />Thanks for the post. I have always regretted the fact that I had missed experiencing one of the greatest cinematic plot twists because a friend had told me the Psycho story much before I got to see it. But thanks to your post I know now that there's a lot more to look for in the film. <br />I hope you write something soon to alleviate my regret for missing another great movie moment. Not watching Kill Bill - 2 on the big screen and thus missing the full impact of the scene where Uma Thurman is put into a coffin and buried alive and the screen goes completely dark for a few heart-stopping seconds. Pity, Odeon in CP just ran it for a week.Rummannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-68609941916300734402010-06-10T21:11:12.738+05:302010-06-10T21:11:12.738+05:30Daeboo - I was under the impression that Phoenix w...Daeboo - I was under the impression that Phoenix weather is somewhat similar to that of Delhi - long hot summers and moderately cold winters.<br /><br />But yes, a winter similar to that of Delhi may not warrant winter-wear in Phoenix since Americans are apt to find a max of 20 and a min of 5 very pleasant.<br /><br />American weather is uniquely diverse. It is impossible to stereotype it.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-46599656032656536442010-06-09T23:54:08.373+05:302010-06-09T23:54:08.373+05:30I saw Splice yesterday. Despite the shortcomings (...I saw Splice yesterday. Despite the shortcomings (many), it manages to weave in an Elektra-complex theme that was rather interesting. <br />Who could have imagined that a chimera could be so beautiful? <br />Aesthetic monstrosity, or the aesthetics of the monstrous - it's in the eye of the viewer. <br />Plus, it properly sends up our propensity to anthropomorphize and infantilise.Felix Cattusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-4146286101036751262010-06-09T21:28:14.072+05:302010-06-09T21:28:14.072+05:30@shrikanth
"The film is set in early December...@shrikanth<br />"The film is set in early December in Phoenix. Yet, none of the characters are dressed for winter. One of them even complains about the lack of air-conditioning in Marion's office!"<br /><br />- Phoenix, AZ in daytime December generally is always warm. I do not think this is a flaw, rather part of the screenplay implying the city. And in Phoenix you really do need air-conditioning in December, I have lived there.Debajyoti Guhahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12487012374604495621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-33089061830028158812010-06-09T19:47:27.023+05:302010-06-09T19:47:27.023+05:30Mimi: actually I do try to put dry humour into nea...Mimi: actually I <i>do</i> try to put dry humour into nearly everything I write - whether I succeed (or whether that particular brand of humour is to anyone else's taste) is of course another matter. I know the <i>Psycho</i> piece is a bit on the earnest side, but I hope you were at least mildly amused by the anecdote about my uncle in the 1960s!<br /><br /><i>As a reader it becomes very painful at times to carry on reading</i><br /><br />Well, you always have the choice not to carry on reading, no? And about the template: why don't you try subscribing to the blog by email - that way you won't have to put up with the infernal green-and-white!Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-24243707998343759022010-06-09T05:34:37.863+05:302010-06-09T05:34:37.863+05:30Hello Jai,
I'm a regular visitor to you weblo...Hello Jai,<br /><br />I'm a regular visitor to you weblog. I do enjoy your critical reviews very much. I thought I would suggest you something. Can you please try to add some humor into your writings? Sometimes it looks like plain bland information you are providing. As a reader it becomes very painful at times to carry on reading. And one more thing: please try to change the template too. I do not think you have changed it since its inception. Thank you.Mimi Senhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17382064438369055345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-64681557872323705982010-06-08T09:16:18.169+05:302010-06-08T09:16:18.169+05:30Jai: Thanks for the extract.
speak to the anxieti...Jai: Thanks for the extract.<br /><br /><i>speak to the anxieties of fifties life - which Hitchcock had already addressed in Vertigo</i><br /><br />Liked the allusion to the fifties. Hitchcock's films, especially Psycho, examine the tensions between familial commitments and individual urges. Another great film from the forties that deals with these anxieties is that sentimental favourite - <i>It's a Wonderful Life</i> : a movie that grapples with the pressures of patriarchy more adeptly than most films.<br /><br />Ofcourse, modern western audiences are less likely to relate to these themes, given the reduced hold of family and religion on our lives.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-52748732917529070232010-06-08T08:28:24.543+05:302010-06-08T08:28:24.543+05:30Shrikanth: your last comment reminds me of somethi...Shrikanth: your last comment reminds me of something Robert Kolker wrote in his fine book <i>A Cinema of Loneliness</i>. Just quoting a small passage here:<br /><br />"...But it is Alfred Hitchcock's <i>Psycho</i> that marks the passage of American film to its classical to its modernist stage. Its grim, grayscale images of a barren Southwest and California landscape develops the mise-en-scene of so many low-budget fifties science-fiction films into a painful statement of the moral vacuum and incipient violence of postwar America. The film's unattractive characters, living diminished lives that come to violent ends, speak to the anxieties of fifties life - which Hitchcock had already addressed in <i>Vertigo</i>. Both films address the failing of human community and positive moral action...In its nameless and inexplicable horror <i>Psycho</i> looks backward to America's wartime experience of Nazi Germany, which the culture has never been able to understand, absorb or adequately represent, and forward to a new history of film violence, which it has never been able to have represented too much."Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-28276613103983236882010-06-08T08:26:09.700+05:302010-06-08T08:26:09.700+05:30http://www.highheelconfidential.com/press-9/
Here...http://www.highheelconfidential.com/press-9/<br /><br />Here's the link. <br /><br />Looking the type who is "casually" snapped by the Sartorialist will now be de rigeur!Anuhttp://bluecompositionbook.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-51534904334423092952010-06-08T08:18:02.737+05:302010-06-08T08:18:02.737+05:30Anu: no idea about this. Was it in the June issue?...Anu: no idea about this. Was it in the June issue? And yes, rushing out to buy my Manola Blahniks now...Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-48196770559581902842010-06-08T06:47:33.116+05:302010-06-08T06:47:33.116+05:30Was over at High Heel Confidential (guilty pleasur...Was over at High Heel Confidential (guilty pleasure) and note your blog has been cited in Vogue. Is that akin to Franzen/Oprah?!<br /><br />Anyway I assume a better dressed reader is on her/his way to this blog!Anuhttp://bluecompositionbook.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-83249679515256228472010-06-06T22:58:37.623+05:302010-06-06T22:58:37.623+05:30my relationship with a movie that, more than any o...<i>my relationship with a movie that, more than any other, got me interested in cinematic form and structure.</i><br /><br />Just had to comment on this as I revisited the film today!<br /><br />The structure of this film marks a clear break with the traditions of classical cinema. Ofcourse, the most obvious departure is that the lead actress gets murdered barely 45mins into the film. But what struck me this time around was the moral arbitrariness of the circumstances surrounding her death.<br /><br />Norman Bates moves her so deeply with his talk in the parlour that she even decides to go back to Phoenix next morning and return the dough. At this point, Norman is this conscientious guy who has reformed a potential criminal. The Marion Crane we see bathing under the shower is a relieved Marion free of guilt. And yet, a few seconds later, she is rewarded for her change of heart by a murderous assault by the very person who made her see sense, albeit inadvertently.<br /><br />I cannot recall such a moral arbitrariness of outcomes in any pre-1960 classic film. Can you?<br /><br />Which is why, I think Psycho, more than any other film, marks the first clear break from the traditions of classical cinema.<br /><br />Godard's <i>Breathless</i> is often regarded in a similar light. But Jump cuts notwithstanding, I don't think even that film's narrative is as startlingly discontinuous as Psycho.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-43158760191887490892010-06-05T12:43:03.525+05:302010-06-05T12:43:03.525+05:30Jai: Yes. Also, people tend to be underwhelmed by ...Jai: Yes. Also, people tend to be underwhelmed by iconic films like Psycho or Citizen Kane given their sky-high expectations to begin with.<br /><br />Coming to think of it, I can recall just one minor, albeit trivial flaw in Psycho's screenplay. The film is set in early December in Phoenix. Yet, none of the characters are dressed for winter. One of them even complains about the lack of air-conditioning in Marion's office!shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-19657287555705365502010-06-05T11:25:56.534+05:302010-06-05T11:25:56.534+05:30You write SO well. Always a pleasure to read anyth...You write SO well. Always a pleasure to read anything written by you. Thanks :)Radhikanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-37673999996217355642010-06-05T10:01:46.297+05:302010-06-05T10:01:46.297+05:30shrikanth: "needlessly apologetic"? Uh-h...shrikanth: "needlessly apologetic"? Uh-huh. I consider this film one of the greatest works of art I've ever experienced, and I've at least implied that in the post. But unfortunately any discussion of a movie like <i>Psycho</i> has to have an element of defensiveness in it, especially because too many people think of "serious" or "meaningful" cinema in terms of on-the-surface profundity: in other words, a moderately well-made film version of a great literary work is perceived as being more respectable or important than a great piece of cinema that has "lowly" literary origins.<br /><br />Byomkesh Bakshi: have written about <i>Vertigo</i> and <i>Strangers on a Train</i> (and a few other Hitch films) on the blog in the past - check the archives if you're interested.<br /><br />Blogdie: thanks!Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-44644022109694784642010-06-05T09:07:10.944+05:302010-06-05T09:07:10.944+05:30a great post....u r such a great motivator for you...a great post....u r such a great motivator for young movie buff like me.Blogdiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11685661677743564948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-35207126049457319142010-06-05T09:04:34.097+05:302010-06-05T09:04:34.097+05:30Hi Jai,
Well written - Anthony Perkins did a fanta...Hi Jai,<br />Well written - Anthony Perkins did a fantastic job as Norman Bates, <br />Bernard Herrmann's repeating violin/cello bit is awesome,<br />but personally i feel Psycho is a bit overrated when compared to the repretoire of Hitchcock - especially Stranger on the Train, Daphnen Du Maurier's masterpieces Rebecca, the short story Bird. Rope , Vertigo, Rear Window and Notorious are not far behind. <br />Keep writing<br />Sundip GoraiUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601374361503464240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1721588167221549462010-06-04T19:09:35.216+05:302010-06-04T19:09:35.216+05:30As far as pure thrills is concerned, I can't r...As far as pure thrills is concerned, I can't readily recall any film that can beat Psycho for the sheer suspense generated by Vera Miles' stroll inside the Bates Mansion. The suspense makes it almost unbearable to watch the film at that point, for a first time viewer.<br /><br />So, it is a very, very good film even at the most superficial level, without considering its thematic complexities.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-55367445046775224192010-06-04T18:57:21.177+05:302010-06-04T18:57:21.177+05:30Nice post.
I know the column is meant for a gener...Nice post.<br /><br />I know the column is meant for a general audience that may not be into old movies in a big way. But still, I thought you were needlessly apologetic about the film.<br /><br /><i>In many superficial ways - especially if you watch it purely as a thriller - it's a creaky, dated film today. </i><br /><br />I don't think it is creaky in the least or has dated even a wee bit. Yes, people harp on the "superfluous" Psychiatrist babble at the end. To my mind, that's one of the best parts of the film. It is Hitchcock's way of parodying the audience and its need for simplistic and definite resolutions. It's intended as a comic relief and lends humour to an otherwise grim film.<br /><br />The rest of the film is anything but creaky with some pretty edgy Method performances from key actors. Try contrasting that with a "modern" horror film like Kubrick's <i>The Shining</i> which is less intelligent than it sounds and replete with hammy performances.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.com