Movie Blog MSPIFF Spotlight: 'Cameraman'
By Jonathon Sharp, WCCO
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff is a portrait of an artist – a painter, a director and, most importantly, a cinematographer.
The movie, directed by Craig McCall, is a documentary that outlines and highlights the career of Jack Cardiff, whose name appears in the credits of an absurd number of movies. Cardiff worked in silent films, the first British Technicolor films and in Hollywood. During the span of his nearly 80-year career, he worked with beauties like Hepburn and Monroe, heroes like Wayne and Stallone and directors like Powell and Hitchcock. Cardiff was (and in death is) a titan of cinema.
But the movie doesn't quite portray him as such. Instead, Cardiff appears like a man to whom cinema was equal to life, as elementary to existence as eating or breathing. Cameraman makes Cardiff out to be a prolific and tenacious artist, willing to do whatever to achieve his vision for a shot, a scene, a photo or a painting.
His sense of color and his understanding of light in art will fascinate anyone interested in learning about cinema as an art form. Likewise, his inventiveness in solving technical problems will interest those who just like people who are awesome.
If you find yourself interested in either of those things, check out Cameraman (theater 2, 1:15 p.m.)
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Other Highlights: Saturday, April 16
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, a slasher comedy about two hillbilly friends who get into wild fights after a run-in with some college students on spring break goes wrong. (Theater 3; 11 p.m.)
Incredibly Small, a Minnesota-made comedy about a couple who move into a 300-square foot apartment and realize, through a series of mishaps, that they might not be meant to be. (Theater 1; 9 p.m.)
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For the complete festival schedule, click here. An alphabetical listing of all the movies being shown can be found here. Ticket information is here.
