Hitchcock/Truffaut

At the time young French director Francois Truffaut conducted a series of interviews with Alfred Hitchcock (whom he revered) in 1962, the older man was treated by most American critics as a light entertainer, famous for splendidly-executed but glib thrillers that offered little beyond surface pleasure. But the filmmaker's European admirers, especially members of the French New Wave, saw much more than technique; for them, Hitchcock's films were profound works of art. Kent Jones's respectful documentary argues that Truffaut's subsequent 1966 book Hitchcock/Truffaut led many across the Atlantic to revise their judgment. According to Jones, the fact that Hitch is now widely regarded as one of the masters of 20th-century cinema—with films like Vertigo considered among the greatest ever made—is largely due to Truffaut. While that argument is a mite simplistic, Hitchcock/Truffaut offers an engaging look at how Truffaut's project came about and the impact that his book has had on filmmakers ever since (including interviewees David Fincher, Wes Anderson, Paul Schrader, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, and Olivier Assayas, among others). Jones draws on archival material—stills and footage, letters, audio recordings—and biographical data on Hitchcock and Truffaut to set the stage for excerpts from the interviews while also presenting a clip-filled, roughly chronological survey of Hitchcock's films. The result winds up being a tribute to both directors that will delight movie buffs. Recommended. (F. Swietek)