——Rear Window——

(A+)

What a brilliant idea for a movie. Take a film (which in a sense is already a kind of voyeurism) and make it about voyeurism. Have the main character not only be representative of our voyeurism (he’s stuck looking out the rectangle of his window unable to interact with what he’s watching, much like us) but also the focus of our voyeurism. To be honest, a film about a guy looking out a window didn’t sound at all appealing to me before I saw the film, but it is amazing how well the actual concept works. It is so easy to become riveted to what is happening out in the courtyard just like James Stewart is. Hitchcock plays with our own natural impulses to look out that window so well that I was literally hanging on every moment just like James Stewart was. As Hitchcock pointed out we are all voyeurs in one way or another. Although none of us will admit to it, if we walk by a window and see our neighbors doing something we’ll stop for a moment to watch. It is as if we are daring ourselves not to watch, but we can’t help it because our imagination gets the best of us, just like Jimmy Stewart there was able to get his nurse and girlfriend hooked on what he was watching as well as the audience. This is such a film about film that it’s not funny, and yet it is so light and interesting that we don’t even seem to notice that. Meanwhile we are getting played like instruments by Hitchcock, who not only gives us a view into the apartments around Stewart’s, but also gives us a view into Stewart’s life revolving over the question of whether or not to get married. The cutting from scene to scene is like the opening and closing of blinds, or having to leave and come back to the story. You’re only given certain pieces of information that feed your imagination just like Stewart’s. It’s no real coincidence that the film opens with the opening of the blinds, and closes with the closing of the blinds. And beside the technical brilliance of the film, there is just the fact that the film is so damn fun and compelling. This film probably has the easiest character in the world to relate to, because we are in the exact same position as him. That coupled with the excellent performance from James Stewart and the amazing beauty of Grace Kelly (she has to be the hottest screen siren from that era, bar none) and you have an amazing and delightful movie experience on your hands.