Lumiere & Company [DVD]

This is a very interesting film, with a very interesting premise. Not having exposure to a lot of French film, there were a lot of directors I did not know, it is great to see how everyone took the opportunity of the camera and really ran with it. I loved watching the difference between how the African film makers used the camera and the Europeans and Americans. Lot so great little insights into that, and lot so lovely surprises about how the directors I did know, used the camera. !! Great Expose on the the Lumier Camera and how great film makers use can use it.

it's a pretty interesting premise and they definitely got some of the most prestigious names in filmmaking today to sign on. this alone makes the dvd pretty satisfying and the little snippits of the filmmakers themselves is also very interesting. the strict limitation of the means makes it fairly difficult for too much real expression to be apparent in the films, and while the challenge ellicits some rather interesting ideas from some, many otherwise talented directors seem unable to work within the confines of the structure, and 52 seconds feels like a long time. all the same, it's worth watching once for the insight it provides into filmmaking, its technique, history, and proponents.

As a tribute to the spirit of motion pictures, Lumiere & Company is a tremendous achievement and a sublime experience for true cineastes who are fortunate to find a copy on DVD. Produced in celebration of the centennial of what is considered to be the first motion picture camera, invented by the Lumiere Brothers of France, the approach is similar to asking the most accomplished electric guitar player to go acoustic.The producers asked a collection of international film directors to create a 52-second piece each using the same technology as the Lumieres did more than one hundred years ago, 52 seconds being the amount of time it takes for one spool of film to run through their camera. Therefore, each of the segments is done in one take. All the directors are well respected, but among the more well-known participants are David Lynch, Wim Wenders, John Boorman, Spike Lee, James Ivory, Zhang Yimou and Liv Ullman.Each segment is intriguing. While the results are understandably uneven, the pleasure of watching this film is in discovering the remarkable diversity in the working minds of motion picture's prominent practitioners. The DVD allows for free roaming and alternative selection of each short film. Given the nearly limitless possibilities available in the modern film industry, it's worth noting how the directors make use of their limited time and yet still reveal their own styles.The subject matter ranges from miniature narratives to political statements and social documents. The locations are as varied as the directors themselves, from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Hiroshima. Although this film may seem a bit obscure and tedious to the non-enthusiast, historians and die-hard cinema fans will marvel not only at how limitations forcibly create ingenious ideas to spring forth, but also at how well the Lumiere camera still functions.The DVD release also offers production notes, a trailer, French language, and English subtitles.

This is a delight to watch from beginning to end. Great directors are each given a huge obstacle (antiquated technology) and they make great films.

Only rent this if you are a big David Lynch fan and you want to see his part. Everyone else just turns on the camera and has the people around smile and wave. Worst than watching someone's home movies.

Only one or two segments were good.

See how creatively and un-creatively many directors doing a short film the old fashioned way.... I think that Claude Lelouch was the winner!

Lumiere and Company (Sarah Moon, 1995)No, Lumiere and Company is not some sort of obscure sequel to Disney's Beauty and the Beast. (And where I got that idea, which I had for years, is completely beyond me.) Instead, it's Sarah Moon's third film, and a kind of global version of her second, Contriere l'oubli. Moon took the original camera manufactured by the Lumiere brothers, set some ground rules, and asked forty world-famous directors to shoot a fifty-two second scene with it. She then made a documentary incorporating behind-the-scenes footage with the short pieces themselves.The result is a wonderful look into the mind of the filmmaker as he goes about the filmmaker's art. Each of the filmmakers does something completely different, and each answers the five questions put to him by Moon so disparately that the overall effect is one of a sort of comprehensive feeling about how films get made; one that no one director would subscribe to, but all embrace.The short films themselves are directed by such luminaries as Costa-Gavras, Spike Lee, David Lynch, Liv Ullmann, Lasse Hallstrom, and many others who are easily recognizable; the trick was to get Moon, the relative neophyte, to create a wrapper that is the equal of the movies therein. And she did so, admirably. The is a fine little gem of a film, and well worth seeing. **** ½

thanks

映画の最新技術を駆使したアバターが話題のいまとは対照的な作品。映画の原点という意味でも面白かったし、いろんな監督の52秒の捉え方、使い方が面白かった。いろんな映画が好きなひとには満足の一本になると思う。