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Cinema Technology

Berlinale with Arri

Arri is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  The famed camera maker is a leading technology firm in the motion picture industry.

The new Trinity Mount is a new tool to produce films offering great flexibility.  For those of you in film production you understand the time used for setting up shots.  With this device, time is saved because the director and Cinematography do not lose time setting up shots.

 

When I watch movies I am always curious about the production of the film.  I ask myself how did the team set up a certain shot? What lighting style or lens was employed? How was the camera choreographed for movement.  I have watched Rope and Touch of Evil many times just for the tracking shots and long takes.  Imagine what Hitchcock or Welles would have done with the Arri Trinity?

A BIG THANK YOU to the Arri team for the demonstration during the Berlinale.

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Cinema

Berlinale Report Day 3

Up Date The Dinner did not live up to its level of artistic pretentious. Bloated, missed the mark,  who cared were the comments.  I was told not to waste my time.

The reviews for Trainspotting have been “OK” but no rave reviews.  Does the tale of a group of aging misfits from Glasgow resonate today?

As usual this festival season, politics became a topic with reporters asking questions concerning Brexit.  In this hyper political age Director Boyle states his film is not political.  It is a story of life’s disappointments, a post modem.

Early news on the new Stanly Tucci debut directorial film has been met with a lack of enthusiasm.   The screening is today.

Up Date: A labor for 10 years, actor, director, producer, and writer,  Stanley Tucci’s Final Portrait arrived at the Berlinale.  Sadly, it was not the welcome a filmmaker would like to have.  Based on the last 2 years of the life of painter Alberto Giacometti, played by Geoffrey Rush, the film portrays the artist as a man who lives a life without consequences.

At the press conference helmer Tucci described the film making process of using handheld and two cameras for coverage and the color palette.

Armie Hammer and Stanley Tucci during the Berlinale Press Conference for the Final Portrait.

Can I recommend this film? Based on the reactions in the press area, NO, because the press conference felt more like a firing quad than a film festival, which is always a tall tale sign of a films reception.

Final Portrait stars Geoffrey Rush, Armie Hammer, and Clemency Poescy.

Is Wilde Maus from Austria the breakout film?

Up Date: There were smiles after the press screening of this dark comedy, Wilde Maus/Wild Mouse, Austrian Actor, Director, and Writer Josef Haider’s story of a Viennese Music Critic who loses his job and esteem.  A well-known performer in his native country, Haider decided to star and direct in his own film after realizing what he wanted to do with the feature.  Saying, he could not imagine another person directing him or another actor playing the lead role he wrote.  Hating the casting process of auditions, the director pulled actors, George Friedrich, Jorg Hartmann, and Pia Hierzegger, from his personal relationship circle, asking them to be spontaneous on the set.    Judging by the favorable response from the press core I think he succeeded with his debut directorial effort.

 

 

 

Categories
Cinema

Berlinale-Reports

Berlinale opening film Django received a lukewarm response according to press room feedback.  Clichéd, typical, and wooden Nazi characters is how the  biography feature on jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt has been described.    Judging by the reactions I think I will pass.

The Dinner with Richard Gere and Laura Linney.   Director Oren Moverman’s film based on the Herman Koch novel just finished the press screening.  Was it any good?  I am waiting for the instant reviews. The applause before the Q&A was less than enthusiastic.   Attention was turned to politics with responses on the state of the US Executive Branch, Gere gave a blistering rebuke of Mr. Trump.   Mr. Gere and Ms. Linney noted The Dinner is there third collaboration.