The Key to Reserva

The Key To Reserva is a film buff's ten-minute joy drawn from seeing a born master filmmaker play around with a geeky little experiment. In under the amount of time it takes to get a coffee refill at Sitwell's, one sees a nearly complete suspense thriller, bookended by director Martin Scorsese's preface and reaction.

He announces his intention before we see the actual cut of the film, which is that he is trying to do justice to Hitchcock's style by doing it as he believes Hitchcock would do it today, as it is of a lost script for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. When we see the movie, though, it actually translates into the awkward cartoonishness of De Palma. However, it's fascinating for any film buff.

Scorsese does Hitchcock, how awesome is that! This is basically one fine homage to the master of suspense from a great and acclaimed director of this age. Beware though that this is not really a movie, it's in fact a cleverly and originally done advertisement.

It in fact is a complex advertisement for a Catalan winery, disguised as a short movie directed by none other than Martin Scorsese, based on a lost script for an Alfred Hitchcock movie (which of course is not true). It really must have gotten some publicity and the advertisement also obviously won some awards. The movie focuses on some behind the scene's work, in documentary style, in which Scorsese discusses his golden find and why he made the film. It also even features Scorsese's editor Thelma Schoonmaker, to make it all seem all the more legit. The movie further more also features the entire short, which got based on the 3 pages of the 'lost script'. The short is entirely done in Hitchcock style and features many tongue in cheek references to some classic Hitchcock moments.

Quite funny how many people actually still believe that Scorsese found really a lost Hitchcock and this movie got based on it and therefor this movie is also a real and serious one. On the other hand, if there are still so many people who think this is real, than you could also wonder if the advertisement truly worked out, since so many people did not and still don't 'get it'.

As a whole, this short is a fun one to watch. It's quite amusing to see Scorsese raving and babbling on about his great find and it shows that Scorsese is actually quite a good and amusing actor on his own, as he had already proofed before in some movies, in which he often played a very small role.

But of course it's mostly all about the short, based on the 3 pages script, which got entirely done in the style of Hitchcock. The Hitchcock fanatics should get a real kick out of it, since Scorsese seemed to have gotten every little detail right. No doubt Scorsese himself is also a great admirer of Hitchcock's work. Things such as lighting, camera-work and angles, editing and even the look of the actors are spot on. It on top of that also features lots of references to some classic Hitchcock movies, such as; "North by Northwest", "Rear Window" and "Notorious", among many others.

Seems like Freixnet will also do more movies such as this one in the future.

A nice homage, as well as a great and clever advertisement.

8/10

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Key to Reserva, The (2007)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Nine-minute short from Scorsese has him playing himself as he uncovers three and a half pages of an unfinished Alfred Hitchcock screenplay. Not much was known of this project but for fun Scorsese decided to film those pages and try to keep it as close to what Hitchcock would have done had he been directing it himself. If you're a fan of Scorsese or Hitchcock then this is a must see even though it's nothing more than an eventual product placement. It was great fun seeing Scorsese return to the short film because he certainly delivered the goods with not only his performance but his stab at directing like Hitchcock for those three and a half pages. The opening sequence, a homage to North by Northwest were just great as was the ending, which I won't spoil but it too is a homage to one of Hitch's most famous movies. Rear Window and Vertigo are also mentioned as is a joke about the lost portions of Greed. This film certainly isn't meant to be anything serious but it is a lot of fun for fans of the director.

"The Key to Reserva" is the most innovative piece of film-making I have seen for a long time. It was recommended to me by a fellow Hitchcock enthusiast but actually seeing it really blew me away. The plot was so unexpected and the execution by Scorsese, a master of cinema, was flawless. The moment I reached for my phone to tell my buddies about this masterpiece it started ringing anyway with my pals also wanting to spread the news! But now we all have the same question for Martin Scorsese: 'Will you please finish writing and shooting the film?' Yes, yes I know you can't emulate that other master, Alfred Hitchcock, but 'The Key to Reserva' can take on a life and indeed style. of its own with barely a backwards nod. This can be a winner in the right hands and Scorsese has shown that he has the magic touch and is just the man to do it. So, Sir, please take us out of our agony and say you will. From Tim Costello, Ireland.

I have been a longtime fan and imitator of Alfred Hitchcock from day one. I opened up the file for "Key To Reserva" and I had to watch many times. As explained in the prologue, Martin Scorsese found some notes depicting a three minute scene from an unrealized Hithcock film called "The Key To Reserva". Scorsese decided to film the three minutes in the style of Hitchcock, basically the style of late 1950's Hitch ("The Man Who Knew Too Much", "North By Northwest", even "Torn Curtain") Not Marty style, Hitchcock style. Well, it was like Hitchcock came back from the grave (actually his ashes) and lensed this great piece. We have a hero in a blue business suit, ala Roger Thornhill, seek out a hidden key in an elegant theater box. It's pure Hitchcock, even down to the crazy Hitchcock logic (The key is hidden in a place that would be scientifically impossible. But we're watching Alfred entertainment us, not teach us.) Our villain hardly looks like a villain. He looks like anybody can mop the street with him, but watch it, still waters run deadly and deep. Throw in references to "Rear Window" "Notorious" "Saboteur" a Bernard Herrmann score, and you got one tasty cinematic snack!