hitchcock's birds

i just came back from a showing of "the birds" at symphony space. i had seen this film dozens of times as a kid, but never in a theater.

there is something special about seeing a movie in a big dark room full of strangers (apart from the "special" prospect of acquiring bedbugs). the shared experience is a unique one. discovering how your tastes and sensibilities are similar to, or vary from, those of your neighbors when a laugh or sob (either yours or anothers') becomes audible.

the experience can also, unfortunately, be marked by someone in the front row standing up to go to the bathroom, leaving their silhouette on the screen, or talking, or texting etc etc

but one of the best experiences, and perhaps what hitchcock is best known for, is creating moments of suspense for us to share. no one has mastered it like alfred. it's what he shows you, how he shows it to you, but more importantly, what he doesn't show you that so brilliantly grips us, the viewers.

i'm surprised i didn't have nightmares about birds as a child, because even as an adult, and even recognizing that this movie is as old as it is, with it's limited (but pretty amazing for it's time) technology, and even though i knew what was going to take place in every scene before it started, i was still geniunely scared.

thanks dad for introducing me to hitchock - even if i was waaaay too young to see most of his movies at the time... i still remember them all fondly.

and thanks vio for inviting me to the screening. if you are interested in hearing what she had to say check out skip rip or play. here's vio's review.