The countdown is on until the start of the largest local fest, Transilvania International Film Festival on 13 June. Or, as everyone calls it: TIFF.

To pass the time and (or) have an alternative, do not miss some of the most entertaining stories of all time courtesy of suspense master Alfred Hitchcock. And check out the American Independent Film Festival that has just started in Bucharest and goes on tour until the end of June.

Of all the titles to recommend, here are a few. Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day is my favourite film of the year so far. Not much happens in terms of plot but the dialogue-centred film is the perfect, wittiest, most moving and ravishingly beautiful gem. Based on the 1974 interview conducted with the eponymous character by his friend and writer Linda Rosenkrantz, the chamber piece is just that: two characters talking about art and life. Hujar was a New-York based photographer, already famous at the time. Set in his apartment in which light and textures change with the passing hours, it is the loveliest ode to friendship and New York.

Wes Anderson has made a new movie and The Phoenician Scheme has all the elements that made him famous and the object of design classes at universities: meticulous sets, fabulous costumes, quirky everything, wit, deadpan one-liners, and imaginative plots. To be honest, it is often more about style than substance or psychology, but Anderson has reached the perfection of his method and watching his latest is a delight.

The classics are just as good. David Lynch’s massively influential Twin Peaks needs no introduction. The fest screens the show’s second season (1991) as part of a section dedicated to the beloved director who passed away in January. Another legendary artist who passed away recently is American actor Gene Hackman and his role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) is one of his best. A terrific film to pay homage to a great artist, the drama focuses on a lone surveillance expert who is hired to follow a couple by listening to their conversation. He is startled by what he hears (or thinks he does) and throws himself into an increasingly dangerous and erratic situation. A sharp, laconic, bleak film, and a masterpiece.

Bleak and terrific thrillers are also Alfred Hitchcock’s trademark, to close the circle. The British director is another artist that needs no introduction. Cinema Eforie is currently screenings some of his films and I could not recommend them passionately enough. Sure, you might know many, and they are easy to catch online but a cinema is where the brilliance of this technique is best appreciated. From the breathtaking colours and camera in the psychological obsession drama Vertigo (1958) to the elegance of Suspicion (1941) and the ingenious shots and montage in Psycho (1960). This horror gem must be one of the most homaged, spoofed films, discussed pics in cinema books (and The Simpsons, the ultimate sign of pop culture relevance) and one of the most entertaining films ever done. A big shout-out to the programmers for also including one of the lesser known pics for large audiences – although in Hitchcock’s case this means it’s still a famous one: the noir Strangers on a Train (1951), in which said strangers meet on a train and discuss each getting rid of a person in the other’s life so as to not raise any suspicion. What a plan. But things do not go smoothly when exchanging murder.  

By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com

(Photo info & source: poster for Strangers on a Train / Wikimedia Commons)