HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT [2015]

A Letter to Elia director Kent Jones pieces together this audio/visual companion piece to what is probably the most essential book for film-lovers everywhere, Hitchcock/Truffaut.
Director François Truffaut interviewed Alfred Hitchcock over a period of 8 days on the subject of his impact on cinema and then published it as a book in 1966.  This film explores some of the more interesting bits of conversation and the influence it had on many of the modern visually-driven directors of today.  Jones manages to turn the subject matter into something tantalizing to the well-educated film connoisseur as well as clearly giving informative insight into the craft for those who are new to film as a finely tuned art.  Pair this one with De Palma and you have a wonderful evening of master suspense film-makers talking about what they do best.

4 lite entertainers or masterful storytellers out of 5

CURE [1997]

aka Kyua

Pulse director Kiyoshi Kurosawa subtly creeps into your psyche and makes a mess of it without you even realizing it until it's too late in the chilling slow-burning thriller Cure.  

A burnt-out Tokyo police detective is investigating a gruesome series of seemingly unrelated murders where each killer has no idea recollection of the violent acts they've performed.  

It's an emotionally distant chiller that sends shivers down the spine with it's long wide-shot takes, sparse sound design and isolated photography that will most likely frustrate the average viewer looking for the usual cat-and-mouse psychopath thriller.  Normally a film so emotionally detached would be it's biggest failure but here Kurosawa makes it work to great effect that leaves an unsettling chill long after the disturbing final frame is over.  

4 excessive X's on the exes out of 5