I spent today at home, basically doing nothing (except spending appx. an hour working). I had to cancel the Excel course for tomorrow as I'm utterly sick. My throat is jammed, my wind-pipes are working over-time and I feel like just falling into a coma at any minute. This week-end I was supposed to help [avatar:/bilder/avatars/rade.gif]Rade[/avatar] move to Eskilstuna, but that's hauled off-line as well. Bwah. My work and social life is shattered due to this crap. And then came the bomb - [avatar:/bilder/avatars/mikaela.jpg]Mikaela[/avatar] had to leave work early as she, too, is ill. Hopefully we'll be better tomorrow evening, when we're hosting a Spanish dinner for [avatar:/bilder/avatars/patrik.gif]Patrik[/avatar], [avatar:/bilder/avatars/staffan.gif]Staffan[/avatar] and [avatar:/bilder/avatars/fdp.gif]Frederic[/avatar]. Then Frederic will lend me his Nikon D70 for a while; finally, a chance to use a real digital system camera.
Today I saw "The Machinist", a Spanish-American production directed by Brad Anderson, starring Christian Bale. I think most people know about this film from Bale being extremely thin in it; he plays a machinist who is unable to sleep properly, and doesn't care much for food. To DeNiro himself into shape, Bale ate a can of tuna and an apple a day for I-don't-know-how-long, but forget all that; the film is very good. OK, the story has a few lapses, and despite the fact that Bale's body steals the show for the first minutes of the film, it still flows very well. The film reminds me strongly of "Memento ", "Fight Club" and "The Mothman Prophecies", which has a little to do with the story and plot, but mostly with the extremely well-done style and feel of the film. The cinematography, the acting, directing and, very interestingly as it mimics Bernard Herrman's soundtracks to a certain extent, the soundtrack.
First: the cinematography. The film is beautifully photographed. Check out these pictures and you'll see bits of what I mean. I'm definitely no pro at photo, but this is excellent lighting, and I think every character in the film and every inanimate object are extremely well-weighed against each-other, definitely reminding me of what people like David Fincher are extremely good at: style.
The acting: there isn't a bad actor in this indie production. A lot of the characters left a bad taste in my mouth - but only because they were to. Even an old dragon like Michael Ironside does his bit in lifting this way above what every actor in "Saw" must be dying to be able to do. This is a very successful marriage between two continents. Bale does his character very well, and Aitana Sà¡nchez-Gijà³n plays her part nicely. Of course, Jennifer Jason-Leigh plays a part that Juliette Lewis can only dream of being able to do as well, and Ironside's cynical passive aggressivity is very well-played. I can't go into their respective parts much without giving the plot away, which I don't want to do.
The style and soundtrack: the cinematography (by Xavi Giménez and Charlie Jiminez) strongly reminds me of David Fincher's and Chris Cunningham's. The style is more reminiscent of a film noir story though, as this is a quite hard-boiled story; things are shown in their most basic environments, by which I'm referring to what Kubrick did with "2001" (and a few other of his films): there is often very little, if anything, shown in-screen that isn't thought of before-hand. Also, there are almost no commercial logos or product name-dropping feature in this film. All in all, I'm surprised the film-makers managed to present such a sterile environment and yet keep the characters so real.
The soundtrack has helped the film immensely. Brad Anderson, the director, has written about the music in the film, which is interesting reading indeed; Roque Baà±os' soundtrack is only (as far as I've found - any tips about other places to find it would be highly lauded) available through this page. Using a theremin is one thing, getting a person who really can play it is another, and its very special sound really blends in well with the other noir-ish sounds, creating an atmosphere that matches the film perfectly.
Yeah, the film is very good, even though some bits are definitely (in my opinion) not in place. I highly recommend this film for all to see.
Today I've scoured through the functions available in my little Minolta Dimage E323, while lying in the sofa at home, photographing vegetables and clouds. Sounds really interesting, right? Wait! It's not. I did go through exposure, and what I could do through it. It's very interesting to balance exposure levels by hand instead of relying on the camera to auto-pick one for you, even if it does do a fairly good job at that itself. It'll be really interesting to see what I can produce with Frederic's Nikon D70, considering I'll then be using a 18-70mm Nikkor lens, which will increase contrast and picture angle dramatically. Sure, my current camera has 3,2 megapixels while the D70 sports 6,1 megapixels and is so much more than a little camera, so there really are no valid comparisons to be made. I'll report back with pictures instead. Anyway, here is the little picture gallery from my photographing using the E323 and going through exposure stages.