Scorsese Makes a Hitchcock Flick

Earlier this year Martin Scorsese directed an ad for a Spanish wine house, Friexenet, that produces Cava. This clip ends with the spectacular ad but begins with a prologue where Scorsese explains to the bewildered interviewer that he’s found a lost script by Alfred Hitchcock called “The Key to Reserva” and he’s decided to shoot the film just like Hitchcock would have done in his glory days. I suppose the prologue is just a joke, but the “Key to Reserva” ad is not really.

It’s a dedicated homage to Hitchcock performed by a master who is also an expert on the masters that preceded him. The film stars Simon Baker and the action takes place during a concert (just like in The Man Who Knew Too Much) where the music of Bernard Herrmann is played. In the audience is a woman who’s made up to look just like Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest. Many visuals here remind us of Hitchcock classics, including the fall off the balcony, the way Baker is blinded by a camera flash, etc. The epilogue shows Scorsese laughing and thinking about how he could turn himself into Erich Von Stroheim next, but the birds are watching…

Perhaps he’s practicing. His next movie project will be an adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s “Shutter Island”, which those of us who’ve read it know has potential to be a good Hitchcock-type thriller.

tv film movies tv martin scorsese alfred hitchcock dennis lehane