The film that that doesn’t see black

July 27th, 2008 • Life

Watched Collateral again this morning. Probably the sixth or seventh time I’ve watched the film right through. I begun to wonder why I find it so habit-forming - I’m certainly no major fan of either Cruise or Foxx, and the plot itself is hardly life-changing (in fact, Vincent’s attempts to intellectualise his killing is just annoying).

Then I realised: it’s the cinematography, Mann’s digitised vision of nightime LA. A little Googling unearthed what was so special about it:

The difference between film and HD, says Cameron, is that film’s sensitivity falls off sharply at the bottom of the curve, transforming subtle shadows into deep rich blacks. But what if, he asks, you went into those shadows? “How do I record what the eye sees at the toe of the curve?” Where everyone is trying to make black, Mann decided he would go into those shadows and pull out information to create intense emotions.

But I reckon there’s more to it than technology. The most memorable scenes are set in the most miserable locations; shit-cheap motels and nameless side-streets, usually with the skyscrapers of downtown LA as a distant backdrop. If you’ve ever strayed from the path inn any major American city, Collateral works on a whole new level.

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