Double Take - the cold war told through Alfred Hitchcock
{FILM DIARY}
Double Take (Belgium/Germany/Netherlands, 2009)
Seen: Friday, 30th April 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 80′
Director: Johan Grimonprez
Production House: Zap-O-Matik, Nikovantastic Film, Volya Films
Plot: A strange collage of Hitchcock, Hitchcock’s look-a-like Ron Burrage and the cold war period.
Trailer
Rating: -0 (Ok)
Impressions In Short
Interesting and quirky, but I was a bit disappointed. I hoped it would be funnier.
More About the Film
I think one of the problems with this film was that Mark Perry who did Hitchcock’s voice for some of the film just wasn’t good enough. I mean the accent and the voice itself was spot on, but the personality and the comic timing was not. Hitchcock had a very specific sense of humour and amazing comic timing. A lot of it came through in his voice and Mark Perry just wasn’t able to capture that.
Ron Burrage, who was the look-a-like was a bit better at expressing something of Hitchcock’s humour and personality, but generally speaking I just didn’t find the film funny enough *sigh* I had really hoped for more of Hitchcock’s humour.
The film itself is interesting, but a bit slow in parts. I think it’s probably more enjoyable if you either remember the cold war or are very interested in that period.
Recommended?
I’d particularly recommend it to those who are interested in the cold war. Anybody who thinks a strange collage of clips from TV in the cold war period (a lot of coffee commercials! :)) intertwined with Alfred Hitchcock sounds interesting would probably do well to see it. Otherwise I’m not sure.
