Woody Allen's 2016 Film

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

I really can’t thank you enough, Satsuki, for putting up with me. You’ve explained it beautifully, as you always do. I freaked out when I saw that camera when I first saw it. I couldn’t believe I haven’t seen anything like it before. Later, more and more it seemed like some sort of a modified Canon EOS.

 

There are two more videos of pretty much the same:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZfRMkj5U1w

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

 

Storaro is known for being elegant dresser, I still remember the behind the scenes of Apocalypse Now and how well dressed he was in the middle of the jungle :) he got Italian class.

 

The first anecdote I read about him was that quote from Francis Ford Coppola about how Vittorio is the only man Francis knows who could fall off a ladder into mud and not get dirty.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos

[Satsuki Murashige]

Sure, no prob. Happy to help.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Another interview with Vittorio Storaro!

 

Screencaps!

 

http://www.woodyallenpages.com/2016/04/cafe-society-new-images-from-vittorio-storaro-interview/

 

http://blog.screenweek.it/2016/04/cafe-society-vittorio-storaro-concepito-quattro-aspetti-diversi-nuove-immagini-508809.php

 

I’d love to hear som impressions!

Edited April 18, 2016 by Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos

[Manu Delpech]

 

Trailer, looks good, very clean though.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Oh, my God! The trailer! Yay! :lol: B) It looks great! B)

 

So much better than what those screencaps made me think it would look!

 

Thank you, Manu!

[Satsuki Murashige]

Looks really great! I love all the hard light he uses in the background, very interesting shapes and colors. I'm assuming the film will be cut much slower than the trailer, as per usual with Allen's other films. Will be great to let the eye linger and roam through all the detail in the frames.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

That light in Steve Carell character’s office sure is harsh! I understand that Storaro wanted to evoke the Californian Sun.

 

I keep thinking why he chose to use white light for the Bronx family apartment. I guess such apartments in those days were lit with that kind of light, and not with incandescent light bulbs.

 

Then there are those baffling jarred white lights in that night club.

 

The powerful light pointing right at the camera in that library or whatever it is?

 

It was also a bit jarring to see that softened frame introducing Vonnie. Suddenly you go from supersharpness into that softness.

 

California is a bit to monochrome for me. A little bit too much “sepia” (“sepia” nowadays means a lot of different things to different people so thus the quotation marks). Just look at those characters at that pool party when the Oscar-winning screenwriter speaks – their costumes are almost identical and match the surroundings.

[David Mullen ASC]

The powerful light is probably coming from a movie projector screening some print that the people in the house are watching.

[Satsuki Murashige]

Storaro is almost certainly using white light versus colored light for a story purpose, behind which he has constructed a philosophical structure to the use of different colors for the film. Until he explains it to us, we can only guess what the meanings of certain colors are intended to be.

 

My guess is that 'white' light represents balance, the home, where things are safe, stable, and boring. The beginning and end of the journey. Hence New York where the character begins (and, I'm assuming, ends) his travels. The other colors Storaro frequently assigns meanings to: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. You can make your best guesses on what those might be. I'm not going to attempt that though!

 

I would wait to see the film in its entirety before making further judgments. The lighting and color scheme probably had to be seen in context to make sense. Storaro is a bit unique in this way, he is less focused on making individual pretty pictures than he is on telling a story with light and color, which is why he prefers the term 'writer of light' rather than 'painter of light' for what he does.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

David, yeah, I spoke too soon: only after I’ve posted that I saw that it was a film projection they are attending. I was to focussed the first time on the projector light. It was pretty much the only thing I saw the first time I watched the trailer.

 

You’ve been awfully quiet; I presume you want to see the whole film before you speak?

 

Satsuki, you’re on the right path: have you read the huge feature in Film and Digital Times about the film I posted above? Here’s the direct link:

 

http://www.filmanddigitaltimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/75FDTimes-Storaro-PassageToDigital.pdf

 

In it, he says that there are four parts to the story: among them, one is lunar Bronx and another the sunny Hollywood. The third one is when the main character comes back to New York from Hollywood to work with his brother in the night club – it is the combination of the previous two I listed, Storaro says. Thus the clash between white and yellow light.

[Mark Kenfield]

I don't know how I feel about the look of that trailer. I think I find the combination of the deeper depth of field Storaro has used, when combined with the insane detail (and 'cleanliness') of the F65, a bit distractingly 'digital' for my tastes.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

It will be shown at the Seattle Film Festival on 19th May 2016:

 

http://www.woodyallenpages.com/2016/04/cafe-society-to-open-seattle-film-festival-in-may/

 

That will be its U.S. premiere.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Just a quick pop up from me to let you know about The Hollywood Reporter interview:

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/woody-allen-interview-he-wont-889678

 

Nothing cinematographically relevant, except perhaps the photo of Vittorio and Woody together. I wonder what that light is behind them.

 

Woody is also doing the rounds in French newspapers:

 

http://www.woodyallenpages.com/2016/05/new-woody-allen-kristen-stewart-french-interviews-for-cafe-society/

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Extracts:

 

 

 

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Premieres tonight at Cannes. I believe I read 7.30 PM local time.

 

Pictures from the press conference:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2016/may/11/cannes-2016-woody-allen-kristen-stewart-blake-lively-in-pictures

 

Vittorio Storaro has spoken to Le Monde, but the interview is behind the paywall. The article is 2 euros:

 

http://www.lemonde.fr/festival-de-cannes/article/2016/05/11/vittorio-storaro-je-crois-aux-affinites-electives_4917228_766360.html

 

There are tons of coverage around. And the first reviews are up.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

The premiere is actually at 8 PM.

[Manu Delpech]

Seeing this tomorrow.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Waiting for your impressions. :)

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Press conference, among other things, which Storaro attended, too:

 

http://www.woodyallenpages.com/2016/05/cafe-society-videos-from-cannes-interviews-press-conference-photocall/

Edited May 12, 2016 by Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos

[Freya Black]

You’ve been awfully quiet; I presume you want to see the whole film before you speak?

 

 

I think people are very happy to talk about the great work of Vittorio but less happy in the context of Woody Allen.

[David Mullen ASC]

I'll be more than happy to talk about a movie that I've seen, but this one isn't even in release yet.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

 

 

I think people are very happy to talk about the great work of Vittorio but less happy in the context of Woody Allen.

 

It’s funny that you should say this because I was just reading that thread where someone asked about screenwriting. And just as this message board isn’t dedicated to that literary endeavour, neither are all these threads I started about Woody Allen, but rather about the cinematographical aspect of his work. So I was just wondering if David, like Mark Kenfield above and Satsuki before Mark, had any quick impressions of the cinematography from the trailer.

 

What about you, Freya? Any thoughts? :)

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

I'll be more than happy to talk about a movie that I've seen, but this one isn't even in release yet.

 

It is in France. And it will be shown in Seattle on 19 May 2016, as the non-competing part of the Seattle International Film Festival. Two dates are mentioned for the U.S.: 15 July and 29 July.

 

Everywhere I looked, the praise for what Storaro did here is quite high. There are at least three iconic shots mentioned, one in a motel lit only by candles (someone compared it to Barry Lyndon) and a dawn scene, if I remember that correctly, in Central Park. I can’t remember what the third one was.

[Freya Black]

What about you, Freya? Any thoughts? :)

 

I think Storaro is one of the worlds greatest living cinematographers. I really like what he has to say about the subject too and his very different outlook and way of talking about cinematography. I think he has interesting things to say about the subject that make you think as opposed to people who waffle a lot trying to sound clever. I'm interested to see what he does next.