One of the best video essayists around, Kogonada, specializes in the exploration of directors’ stylistic tics—Wes Anderson’s symmetrical shots, Darren Aronofsky’s use of sound, Kubrick’s one-point perspective. His latest, for the Criterion Collection, is a short but stunning exploration of Alfred Hitchcock’s obsession with eyes.
Like much of Kogonada’s work, the video exposes the method behind the madness: Hitchcock’s rigorous and formal technique are well-known, but here we see how deftly he used actors’ eyes to express what the camera couldn’t. He employed these close-ups as a sort of shorthand, with the eyes functioning as large, layered reservoirs of emotion that instantly immerse the audience.
