Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Camera work
DW, I'm eager to hear, since you based your selection on the cinematographer, Christopher Doyle, what you really think about the camera work in this movie. I really liked the opening scene where Cleveland was killing something under the sink (what was that, by the way?) and the characters were being shot from underneath the sink. I also liked the scene where Cleveland fell down near the pool in his first encounter with Story. I think the camera was in the pool, as from Story's point of view.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
And of course I'd like to hear what anyone else has to say about the camera work, too!
The film I was going to pick was the other one that Doyle shot in 2006, “Invisible Waves”, made by the Thai filmmaker, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The two worked together on the 2003 film “Last Life in the Universe” which I consider to be a simply wonderful film. Whereas the Hollywood habit in gangster films has been towards more and more and louder and louder action heading towards an eventual reductio ad absurdam of a ninety three minute long explosion, there are several asian filmmakers who have instead opted for contemplative gangster movies with laconic character development punctuated with brief spells of violence. This mix of tempos is as effective as a movie device as it was a music device for Nirvana.
Doyle is a master at filming movies that go along for a spell in a very natural realistic mood that then slip seamlessly into a dreamy or even magical interlude. This has worked particularly well when he has made movies with directors who have a virtuoso command of sound and music like Wong Kar-wai or Pen-Ek. “Last Life in the Universe” has a scene where instead of showing the fastidious Japanese man laboriously cleaning the pig sty of a house that his new girlfriend lives in, instead shows all the sundry objects that were scattered about floating through the air to return to their proper places. I would expect such a scene to feel odd, but in Pen-Ek and Doyle’s hands it seems natural.
“Lady in the Water” was in desperate need for something like this. Doyle, I’m sure, could have delivered gloriously. So the fault must be either that Shyamalan lacked the imagination to concoct the necessary magic, or the holders of the money leash wouldn’t let him. So I agree with you, kc, there were some shots early in the film that promised to develop some mystery and magic, but other than the one underwater scene, they came to naught. The rest of the film was composed of straightforward shots that just advanced the plot—the kind of work that any successful cinematographer could do while talking to his bookie.
Post a Comment