"Why you do something is more important than how."
November 18, 2015 4:51 AM   Subscribe

"In order to recover a bit from a recent feeling of exhaustion, I spent a significant amount of this past weekend diligently sitting on my ass, in front of the television. On Saturday night, I popped in my copy of Woody Allen’s 'Manhattan,' which, among other things, is as stunningly designed a movie as I’ve ever seen. This is largely thanks to the work of Gordon Willis, a master cinematographer who, apart from his incredible work on this film, was also responsible for photographing an alarmingly high share of my favorite movies of all time: 'The Godfather,' 'The Godfather Part II,' 'All the President’s Men,' and 'The Parallax View,' among others." posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (23 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
[Note: Manhattan has just been posted to FanFare.]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 4:53 AM on November 18, 2015 [4 favorites]


Just watched Manhattan last night for the first time and it truly is one of the best looking films of all time. If those images weren't in the service of a romantic comedy about Woody Allen and a teenager I might feel a little better about the film as a whole but fortunately this thread is about Willis and not Allen.
posted by octothorpe at 5:17 AM on November 18, 2015 [6 favorites]


Pennies From Heaven (sigh!), Zelig (wowser!), The Money Pit (huh?)
posted by fairmettle at 5:20 AM on November 18, 2015


...The Money Pit (huh?)

Boat payment?
posted by Thorzdad at 5:27 AM on November 18, 2015


Boat payment?

Kitchen remodel.
posted by valkane at 5:38 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


Boat payment?

Kitchen remodel.


I can certainly understand how that may have been a motivation for Willis, but I was more curious imagining how the conversation went when director Richard Benjamin managed to jusify using Hollywood's top cinematographer to executive producer Steven Spielberg.
posted by fairmettle at 6:13 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


I love how well widescreen and black and white work in Manhattan. You usually associate black and white with a 4:3 ratio since wider formats and the adoption of color came around the same time but it's astounding how well they work together.
posted by octothorpe at 6:15 AM on November 18, 2015 [4 favorites]


Stardust Memories is just as gorgeous as Manhattan and isn't nearly as creepy, if anyone's looking for more B&W Willis charm.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:15 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


All snarking aside, if I remember correctly, aren't there a couple of complex set pieces in that movie where a person like Willis would be invaluable in staging and shooting?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:15 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


"The Money Pit" is the perfect title for a kitchen remodel gig.
posted by umbú at 6:43 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


One of my favorite parts of "Visions of Light" was their discussion of Gordon Willis and how he went really dark on some of the shots in Godfather II. Willis says in the interview, "Sometimes I went too far," then pauses and with a chuckle says, "I think Rembrandt went too far, too, sometimes."
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:44 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


My heart skipped a bit when I saw this post, JCIFW: I was afraid that you did not not abide by rokusan's rule, and that this was an obituary thread. Then I followed the links, and I was kind of relieved to see that this it was not...
posted by growabrain at 7:21 AM on November 18, 2015


Until his retirement Willis was the greatest living/working cinematographer. Then Storaro. Now it's Roger Deakins. I will tolerate no dissent in this matter. Chivo is great but no Deakins.

Of course, rumor has it Storaro is coming out of retirement to do Woody Allen's next movie, so we'll see....
posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 7:29 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


Stardust Memories is just as gorgeous as Manhattan and isn't nearly as creepy

Though Stardust Memories does have that really-creepy-in-retrospect scene where Allen's lover accuses him of flirting with a very young girl, but her accusation is played for laughs and written off as evidence of her increasingly fragile mental state. It really feels like this is something that happened in Allen's life, and this is his way of spinning it / getting revenge.

Say what you will about how toxic the Internet and celebrity culture have gotten, at least no one would be allowed to make something as self-indulgent as Stardust Memories today. Like, imagine the response if Lena Dunham made a movie about a woman named Lisa Denham who’s depressed because she’s super-famous but not for what she wants to be famous for.
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:42 AM on November 18, 2015


imagine the response if Lena Dunham made a movie about a woman named Lisa Denham who’s depressed because she’s super-famous but not for what she wants to be famous for.

Patience, my friend. She's just getting going.
posted by mwhybark at 7:55 AM on November 18, 2015


Stardust Memories is in a long line of films by filmmakers about filmmakers making films. 8-1/2, Day for Night, All That Jazz, Alex in Wonderland all work in a similar space. It does seem to have died out as a genre lately.
posted by octothorpe at 8:01 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


Like, imagine the response if Lena Dunham made a movie about a woman named Lisa Denham who’s depressed because she’s super-famous but not for what she wants to be famous for.

This must be some kind of ironic meta-joke because not only can I imagine that happening, I would bet money that something like that will inevitably happen.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:53 AM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]


All snarking aside, if I remember correctly, aren't there a couple of complex set pieces in that movie where a person like Willis would be invaluable in staging and shooting?

Little problem in the kitchen.

posted by Kabanos at 8:57 AM on November 18, 2015


Stardust Memories is pretty blatantly Allen's 8 ½.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:16 AM on November 18, 2015


Stardust Memories is in a long line of films by filmmakers about filmmakers making films. 8-1/2, Day for Night, All That Jazz, Alex in Wonderland all work in a similar space. It does seem to have died out as a genre lately.

and more's the pity. Can't speak for Alex in Wonderland but the rest of these are fascinating films, and I include Stardust Memories in that (in spite of the space aliens who prefer Sandy Bates' earlier funnier films). The danger with any deeply personal work of art is that it can cease to engage with an audience (and end up disappearing up its own self importance). But when such stuff does work (and I suspect only the very best artists of any form can really pull it off) it gets us looking the other way, examining our own unique selves in all of our mysterious complexity ... which is fine, as long as we don't go disappearing up our own self-importance.
posted by philip-random at 9:17 AM on November 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


Can't speak for Alex in Wonderland

Mazursky is sadly forgotten these days, I had part of a post put together last year when he passed away but then never actually finished it and posted it.
posted by octothorpe at 10:06 AM on November 18, 2015


This is a very interesting post, though I have zero knowledge about critically analyzing film. Funnily enough, the main reason I've become increasingly interested in lighting in the past two years is possibly because my eyes have gotten overly sensitive, not only to the lighting in a room I'm in, but also pretty sensitive even to the way sitcoms and TV shows are filmed, the color quality of scenes, etc (too much blue gray tone or washed out film, I can't pay attention to it). My eyes strain a little these days at the resulting effect that lighting has on contrast in movies like Godfather I & II.

( from the buzzfeed link, it looks like Manhattan would kill my eyes and possibly invoke the feeling Willis would want a viewer to feel. but (I am a little embarrassed to admit that) I'm one of those people who can't separate a person and their art/work. I wanted to watch Manhattan but my gut identifies Woody Allen as a predator and I loved Diane Keaton once, but she defends him to this day. I'm too distracted by that to be able to be able pay attention to the film.)

I'm going to go look for books/resources on lighting on movie sets. Maybe such a thing exists. This is all very interesting stuff. I'll look up that "Visions of Light" that was referenced above as well.
posted by discopolo at 2:07 PM on November 18, 2015


I'll look up that "Visions of Light" that was referenced above as well.

Well worth seeking out, discopolo. It's awesome. One of my favorite documentaries on filmmaking.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:08 PM on November 18, 2015


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