Weekend moviegoing

I saw Hitchcock’s Vertigo yesterday, for about the sixth time in my life. I had forgotten how perverse it is, how much the theme of male impotence and voyeurism runs throughout the movie, how deeply sadistic Jimmy Stewart becomes, and how much the movie flirts with the theme of doubles (compare Scotty and Kirby, for instance, or think about Scotty’s ex-beau). I’ve been watching “Japanese extreme” cinema lately, films such as Audition, which have to be seen to be believed. Vertigo is at least as sick as any of those. Vertigo also has the most successful integration of cinematography and musical score that I’ve seen. Watch it again if you can, especially if it is shown on a big screen.