Hitchcock/film buff heaven: Kent Jones' estimable adaptation: HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT

Unlike the recently-released Israeli documentary, Censored Voices, in which the attempt to bring to visual life some important audio tapes mostly fails to do so, the new documentary HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT, based upon the landmark book in which film directors François Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock met and exchanged, over nearly one week, a wealth of ideas about cinema, the resulting movie, adapted, directed and co-written (with Serge Toubiana) by Kent Jones (shown below), succeeds brilliantly on several levels.

First off, it brings Hitchcock to life again, via his looks, his words, his voice and his movies. This is much more about Alfred than it is about François, which is certainly the way Truffaut wanted it. It was his idea to point out and then herald the artistic greatness in Hitchcock, and to show that this filmmaker was so much more than a mere "entertainer."  His book certainly did this, effectively adding enormous momentum to the already rolling idea that Hitch was the movie master. Mr. Jones has not tried to given us the book visually (it's already a hugely visual experience), but for those of us who've read it he has added some marvelous touches. For those who've yet to peruse it, he will certainly have turned them on to doing so.

TrustMovies had forgotten that Jones was responsible for some of the writing of that fine Martin Scorsese doc, My Voyage to Italy, as well as directing other good ones like Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows and A Letter to Elia. Here, you might say that he updates Truffaut's original by adding some very smart, incisive interview snippets with some of today's finest filmmakers, who tell us what Hitch and his films have meant to them -- from Fincher to Kurosawa (Kiyoshi: Cure), Assayas to Linklater, Anderson to Desplechin, plus Bogdanovich, Scorsese, Schrader and James Gray.

Their comments are smart, useful, entertaining and often on the mark. Here's Bogdanovich on Psycho. "It was the first time that going to the movies was dangerous." (That was certainly my experience, as a 19-year-old at the time of the film's release.) And Linklater: "The world was ready for a film like that. It didn't know it was. But it was."

Intercut with the interviews, of course, are scenes from a number of Hitchcock's films (as well as from a couple of Truffaut's): We see a lot from the now-somewhat-reinstated Marnie (yes, the use of color and psychology), The Birds,  Sabotage and Saboteur, Notorious, and Rope, with most attention paid to Vertigo (above and below) and Psycho. Fincher talks of the guilt that seems to set off Hitch's work, while Schrader notes the fellow's use of fetish objects. And then we get something that the book used in words that is here both audial and visual. The famous interviews come to life on film!

We hear the master's magical voice and see him talking, motioning, joking, even thinking. I am not sure what your average movie-goer will take away from all this, but for us buffs, it's heady stuff indeed. As narrated beautifully by Bob Balaban, the movie is above all enjoyable -- like picking up the book itself, beginning to read, and then being whisked away into the films themselves (including, briefly, The 400 Blows).

Mr. Fincher, especially, makes remarkable points about Hitchcock's astute use of psychology, even if, as per the actors, he did not really allow them to use it in their performances if those performances went contrary to his plan for the film (Montgomery Clift in I Confess, is a prime example of this). Hitchcock/Truffaut is chock-a-block with thoughtful, intelligent ideas. "As Fincher puts it: "Acting is a great part of movie-making, but it is not the only part." Hitchcock puts it a bit differently: 'That's why all actors are cattle."

From Cohen Media Group and running just 80 exhilarating minutes, the documentary opens this coming Wednesday, December 2, in New York City at Film Forum and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema, in Los Angeles on Friday, December 4, at the Landmark NuArt, and in more than a dozen cities in the coming weeks. To view all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here and scroll down.

Series streaming: BATES MOTEL's addictive enough to induce a good, if guilty, binge....

Adult fans of Vera Farmiga and Nestor Carbonell and younger fans of Freddie Highmore and Max Thieriot have no doubt already checked in to the BATES MOTEL. Ms Farmiga, in fact, is so good in this surprisingly deft cable TV series -- just now beginning its second season on A&E (the first season is streamable via Netflix) -- that she gives the series the kind of class that no other actress I can quickly think of could begin to bring to the table. Farmiga, above and below, does this effortlessly, via her usual manner of being absolutely in the moment, no matter how bizarre some moments turn out to be.

In Bates Motel -- a kind of modern-day/present-tense prequel to the Norman Bates (and his mom) that moviegoers first met in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho -- the "moments" (well, actually, the entire series) get so crazy that they leave any soap opera you've witnessed dead in the dust. (This must be the reason why soap operas as we've known them have all but died: Cable TV has cribbed their sex, sin, love, death and general nuttiness then goosed it all to the nth degree, while giving it glossy writing, acting and production values and -- most important -- smart, often-ground-breaking story lines that keep us glued.)

Ms Farmiga grounds this series, and what a pleasure it is to watch her go through her paces. The actress can, and often does, turn on a dime while keeping things believable. Mr. Highmore, above, lends the show youthful energy, sweetness and (on occasion) shock. Younger viewers who may not be familiar with Psycho need not worry: There's no necessity to have viewed the source. Older folk who have, however, will enjoy how Bates Motel uses the things we remember so well -- the motel room, the large stairway inside the house and a certain upstairs bedroom -- to jog our memory on one hand, while giving these objects a new and different look and purpose.

The series begins following the death of Norman's dad/mom's husband, as the mother and son move to a beautiful seaside town in what looks like northern California. The town turns out to be a bright and perky cess pool, as we learn once the episodes begin to mount up. The police prove more hindrance than help (that's Mr. Carbonell, as the sheriff, below, and Mike Vogel, above, as his deputy), while Norman doesn't fit in well at school -- though he does manage to catch the eye of two pretty students, as well as one hungry teacher.

Quite soon into the picture comes Norman's half-brother and Norma's (yes, that's mom's name) other son, played quite well by Mr. Thieriot (below, with Farmiga), who adds a little sexy sass and a new plot line or two to the mix -- as does the hotel's previous owner, who doesn't much take to this family twosome who now owns his old stomping grounds.

Best not to question a few of the series' odder events and looser ends. These are good for surprise, shock and some suspense, even if they defy reason now and again. As much as we come to like Norman and his mom (and we do), it is also clear that there is something deeply wrong here. By the final episode, the Norman we thought we knew and the Norman we see now, are beginning to merge.

Season One of Bates Motel, with ten approximately-42-minute episodes, can be seen on Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and probably elsewhere. We'll hope that Season Two, now playing on cable TV, complete with annoying commercials, ends up here, too, commercial-free.