SIDE BY SIDE - MIFF 2012

Initially I thought “Side By Side” was going to be an in depth look at both the positives and negatives of shooting with digital versus celluloid, however the documentary turns out to be more of an overview of how digital technology has taken over all aspects of the filmmaking process from editing, to digital colouring, to special effects and even the cameras themselves, as well as taking over from celluloid.  While I found the film very entertaining, it wasn’t as in depth as I had hoped.

Director Chris Kenneally has come up with an interesting selection of interview candidates such as directors like David Fincher, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese and Steven Soderbergh, to editors like Walter Murch, cinematographers such as Dion Beebe and Michael Ballhaus, and even actors like Greta Gerwig.  Keanu Reeves, who also wears the producers hat for this project, interviews each subject and his candid way of doing so seems to find the interviewees opening up and being a lot more jovial than you would expect.

There are a lot of great anecdotes and interesting discussion points about the digital versus celluloid argument with most people seemingly agreeing that 35mm film has the greatest look to it, but the convenience of shooting digitally ultimately outweighs its counterpart.  At the end of the day, there is no unanimous opinion in regards to which technology is superior as some directors such as Christopher Nolan still believe that at the moment nothing digitally comes close to the beauty of shooting on film and thus will continue to shoot on celluloid until he is unable to do so, while directors such as David Lynch and Steven Soderbergh both state that they will never again shoot on film.

My favourite anecdote of the documentary is from David Fincher who tells a story about how Robert Downey Jr. struggled with shooting on digital (during the making of “Zodiac”) because the takes were much longer and the continual shooting periods were extended to up to forty minutes at a time.  Being used to the regular cutting and stopping to reload film, Downey Jr. was used to using this time to get his head together and get ready for each scene which he was unable to do here due to the fact they didn’t need to cut as often on digital.  As a form of informal protest, Downey Jr. took to urinating into pots and leaving them around the set, which is very funny.

Overall “Side By Side” was an interesting and entertaining documentary but not overly enlightening although it does sadly prophesize the death of celluloid, and that its extinction is likely to come sooner rather than later (which is very sad).

3 Stars.