l’été passe sans aucun souci
A prospective renter came by today at 3:30. He saw my ad on craigslist and sent me an e-mail. His name is Nick and he’s a 28-year-old med student at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital finishing up a PhD in neurosurgery. And he’s in an improvisational comedy troupe based in Chapel Hill and owns a pair of pet rats. I hope he decides to rent. He sounded interested. But that could just be politeness.
Watched The Right Stuff earlier this afternoon in between spurts of productivity. I had already seen it. They don’t make movies like that any more, at least not ones that are widely seen. The cinematography and effects are an example–they’re all optical. No special effects, and yes, the external shots of the planes and spacecraft do look cheesy and fake, but in many other ways there’s a clarity, a refraction, a prismatic effect to the images that gives them a visual poetry digital effects can’t approach.
One shot in particular I remember. John Glenn (played by an always-excellent Ed Harris) is in the Mercury Redstone capsule preparing for liftoff, and we see a shot of his helmet and head at the bottom of the screen looking up at the instrument panel opposite him, off-camera at the top. He reaches up and toggles a series of switches, activating their lights. We don’t see the actual switches, but we see the lights reflected by his helmet come on one by one, just below his eyes, almost like tears. It’s a brilliant bit of cinematography. I’d frame it if I had a still.
Another way the movie dates itself is in its heavy use of visual contrast. In many of the scenes the actors are just black silhouettes against a light sky, and in others sharp searchlights cut across frames. Blade Runner, made roughly in the same era, relies heavily on contrast as well, and both movies I think are the better for it. The technique underscores the bold, brash nature of the movies’ themes and gives the images a visual punch that holds your interest. One of my favorite paintings, Hopper’s Nighthawks, gives an idea of the visual style used. I love it.
All in all it’s excellent storytelling. Not realistic, but it encapsulates the mood of the time (or so I’m told). The epic nature of the movie and the director’s use of visual symbolism (match cuts, thematic juxtaposition) give the film an overall feel halfway between an arty documentary and a good Kubrick movie. Enjoyable film.