Suspenseful Movie with Great Cinematography

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2018)

Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" has a simple premise, but is executed masterfully. A photographer named Jeff Jeffries is recovering from a broken leg. He's so bored he looks out his window all the time suspecting one of his neighbors committed murder. He disregards his beautiful girlfriend because he thinks she's too perfect for him. He's into adventure while she's into fashion, but they work together on solving the mystery and settle their differences.
You see everything from Jeff's perspective out of his window. The whole movie is filled with nervous energy, I felt like I was in his spot spying on his neighbors. You can get a sense of the whole neighborhood all through that one window. The camera never leaves that one room, even when something happens outside you see it all out of the window of Jeff's apartment. It really makes you feel like you're in his shoes watching everything play out. The cinematography shows just how intentional it was to evoke this feeling. The camera work is truly fascinating and adds to the suspense to really get inside your head. There are nuances and the subtle details that work well with what the film tries to communicate. You can hear people across the way, but only faintly. It reels you in and makes you want to be able to hear what they're saying.
I was never bored throughout the entirety of the movie. The music fits atmospherically well with what's being portrayed. All the characters are very well written and the dialog is wittingly funny. The humor of the characters balances out well with the drama. The quarrel between Jeff and Lisa is as amusing as it is heart wrenching. You can tell that Jeff is impatient about his situation as it doesn't help his character any. While he can be abrasive and course we eventually get to see his soft side when Lisa warms up to him as the mystery unfolds. Through their differences there is a turning point in the film after Lisa believes Jeff's suspicions. She grows to adapt to Jeff's lifestyle even going as far as to stay with him living out of a handbag.
Additionally, you can see the stories of the other neighbors play out simultaneously. There's a newlywed couple, a songwriter, a ballet dancer, and a woman who can never seem to find love dubbed "miss lonely heart". This makes a very compelling story as the main plot unfolds along with these sub stories. These characters add depth to the already engaging story. By the end of the film it's heartwarming to see that there's a resolution along with most of these other characters as well. These minor characters build up the various lives occupying the neighborhood that bring the setting of the film together.
I liked the fact that while the plot progresses as a murder mystery, but the main character isn't a detective. Jeff is just an everyday person that turns out to be a sleuth just by a matter of occurrence. It feels as though anybody could be living in that situation. The later half is extremely suspenseful. The pace of the movie builds up increasingly until the very end. When Lars Thorwald looked straight at the camera at Jeff it took me out of the moment as if he was looking at me. This film made me believe there could be a murder going on right next door behind close windows. The acting and pace are what really make this; It's brilliantly shot and edited by which could only be the work of a master that is Hitchcock.