Celluloid Dreams
A rambling about my own love of film stock, and when contemporary filmmakers use it.
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of watching Sinners three times on back-to-back days. But I also went out of my way to go to one theater in Vaughan, perhaps best known to many Toronto-based cinephiles as the Colossus, as it also happened to be one of only ten theaters in the world that was playing the film on IMAX 70mm projection. Truth be told, it’s always felt like a very pointed event whenever a big movie comes out and is released in this format because it never really seems to come by all that much - so the rare times when filmmakers release their films with this particular format always feels like an opportunity that I can’t let slide.
Aside from the fact that I found Sinners to be one of the best films of the year, the only thing that really came to my mind while watching it over in a theater that I normally have to trek nearly two hours to arrive at, was that it’s so satisfying to get to see a big new release projected on film. As I usually sit towards the back of the theater for IMAX screenings so that I can take in the full picture for a film that utilizes the IMAX aspect ratios, there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing the film projector running right behind you as it’s running the print for the film you’re about to see.
The least I think I can say in the moment is that I’ve always felt that even with the nightmares that shooting on film may leave oneself with, the results are still worth the trouble one can go through. There are some filmmakers who’ve made it clear that their goal is to keep using film stock as much as they can, whether they be Christopher Nolan, Sean Baker, or Quentin Tarantino - and so the fact that Ryan Coogler went and utilized such methods when making Sinners together with cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw utilizing both Ultra Panavision 70mm and IMAX film cameras.
Yet while we see many filmmakers utilize digital filmmaking as a means of formulating their own distinct aesthetic, whether they be directors like Michael Mann or David Fincher, one can’t help but feel like film will always have a very special place in many of our own hearts. As a kid, I think there’s a point in time where I still find myself remembering to pay attention to the corners of the screen looking for the “cigarette burns” that would signify a reel change. But I’m only putting it simply when I talk about the joys that film stock can provide as someone who’d only been spoiled by retrospective screenings on 35mm screenings every month.
But what is it that makes film stock so special to someone like me? I think it’s evident when you see a recent movie shot on film and then take into account how the people behind said films have achieved the look that they carry. Sean Baker for example, has been shooting on film from The Florida Project onward and one can only sense that he’s developed his own visual style to become so distinct from many other American filmmakers working independently too, and it even extends itself into Anora, which was shot entirely on 35mm cameras.
Obviously, the point of this piece is not to say that I think filmmakers who use digital photography should stop using it outright. But I find that when filmmakers are working with celluloid, they also get far more playful with the format as they make the most out of the image that they’re capturing. Given the fact that film itself has an incredible dynamic range with regards to what it can capture in one frame; it’s only appropriate that a very colourful film like Sinners is captured on film so that every minute of it will pop out. At the same time though, some filmmakers would note that the usage of film stock will also help emphasize a more gritty, realistic tone so that we as audience members can feel grounded into the experience too - which becomes part of where the aesthetics of aforementioned filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Sean Baker come to mind.
Taking an example from Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which I found to be one of the best blockbuster films of the decade thus far, we’re seeing Nolan use the IMAX aspect ratios to emphasize the intensity of certain moments that range between Oppenheimer’s security clearance, or even the detonation of the Trinity test scene. These aren’t the only moments that utilize the most out of the IMAX cameras but you’re seeing that when filmmakers care deeply about their own vision for the stories that they’re telling, it’s also felt in how they capture said moments for audiences to witness. Christopher Nolan isn’t just one of the most important filmmakers we have working today in the blockbuster scene on the count that advocates for the usage of film stock, but he’s also one among a handful of filmmakers working in the mainstream with a very distinct cinematic identity despite the studios he works with too.
Yet I think that when you’ve watched enough films projected on film over the years, you start to notice how film has a certain texture that digital cameras can’t quite produce. Sure, there’s far less margin of error when it comes to shooting on film especially with regards to the fact that there’s a finite amount of film you can use on set versus digital having the infinite range so that more “safety” takes can be redone. But you can’t beat the look of film, let alone the feel especially when it’s very essential towards how films like The Dark Knight, Dunkirk, or Inception have achieved the success that they carried. It just becomes clear especially when you’re seeing what Christopher Nolan has been advocating for throughout his career ever since he started using IMAX film stock for what would later become his most critically acclaimed films.
But someone like Christopher Nolan is always very precise about what exactly he wants to capture, and how he wants people to experience it. The same can be said about artists like Sean Baker or Quentin Tarantino, who have also remained very highly outspoken about the usage of film and calling for more theaters to continually project on film whenever they are able to do so. In the case of someone like Sean Baker, an interview he had done with Letterboxd talks about how there’s a wish to keep film stock alive as it’ll also provide a very hypnotic quality which will benefit the images being captured for the screen. In a case like Anora, where so many contrasting colours have been utilized both for scenes that take place in daylight but also inside of the strip club where its title character works, you can sense that with the sort of work that can be done in making a 35mm print - we’re sensing the extent to which the colours can still pop out at us.
Granted, I know it’s much cheaper for most theaters to project films on DCPs these days, especially in multiplexes. But I think that there’s a particularly hypnotic quality that can only really be captured in essence by film stock which can’t be so easily replicated. I just love film stock, and I wish more theaters could project on that format more — even if I know it’ll be another expense on most theaters. Yet I just can’t help but feel like there’s another level of magic to be found in the projection of film.
It’s nice to not only see the usage of film stock being revitalized once again, but just to see what filmmakers nowadays are making with these opportunities as they come by. As someone who’s always found the movie theater to be a very precious experience, just simply seeing celluloid is enough to make me feel happy in the moment especially with all the imperfections that come by within its projection. Among many other things, it also helps with providing the data for some of the best-looking home media releases, especially within the growing 4K Ultra HD market.
Here’s to hoping that we get to see more of it in the coming days.