'His & Hers' Review

As you may know from my previous blog post, I was pretty excited by the success Irish Documentary 'His & Hers' has been receiving since its release. Last night I eventually got around to seeing it. 

'His & Hers' is a feature length documentary by Ken Wardrop consisting solely of women, from young to old. It features 70 women from the Irish Midlands and documents their relationships with men who are close to their hearts -be it their father, son, boyfriend or husband. 

I think the documentary's biggest triumph is making a story that is visually restrictive i.e. talking heads, look interesting. The arrangement of shots and meticulous framing undoubtedly achieves this. It is no wonder Sundance picked cinematographers Kate Mc Cullough and Michael Lavelle to receive the World Cinema award. My serious/lame love of symmetry was satisfied as much of the framing abides by this carefully planned out positioning. In addition to that, there is a regular pattern of somewhat voyeuristic 'out the window' (the very technical term) shots. These scenes capture the subtle sense of each woman's character going about their daily routine. The beautiful mix of imagery and stories told by the women made me care for them despite the fact that each woman only ever makes a brief appearance. 

'His & Hers' is consistently paced however it may be criticised for being 'a bit slow' but for me it was engaging throughout. Wardrop's talent shines through as every aspect of the filmmaking process is taken into consideration, not least it's editing. He skillfully assembles the footage with perfect comic timing. The filmmakers take a back seat in the documentary abstaining from narration and audible questioning. In this case it absolutely works. The women are left to ramble or sit in silence, this way we catch glimpses of their personality rather than a contrived version of themselves. 

The story is simple but addresses more than the women's relationships. It highlights the journey from youth to old age. From the thrill of finding out a boy fancies you to the grief of losing your soulmate. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me reflect on love and men. It was beautiful and I'm so glad it didn't disappoint me. Maybe it won't change your life and it's probably not for everyone but who can deny it's originality and the genial sentiment behind it. I'm delighted and so proud Ken Wardrop's work has been internationally recognised, it deserves to be.

8/10

Canon Wonder Camera

Fast forward 20 years when lugging around numerous lenses for your DSLR's will be no more. At this years Shanghai World Expo, Canon revealed what they envisage to be the future of professional photography, the 'Canon Wonder Camera'.

The Wonder Camera is still a very vague concept. It will apparently have a focal range from macro to 5000mm without ever changing lenses.

Also, what's so unusual about this camera is that the idea is not to take photos (bizarre aay?) but to shoot video and later select a still from the video as your picture. The image stabilisation and accurate focusing captured on video produces high quality stills; photos just as good, if not better than your own DSLR's pictures. No specs are out at the moment, so bear in mind much of what it does is hearsay and from the demonstration at the Expo (as shown in a rather mundane video below)

If this is what lies in store, as a photographer I'd be apprehensive about it's implications. Does it mean that the creative control of the camera is lost if it takes 'perfect' shots every time? Does it mean a lot of hassle picking and choosing one image from lots of video stills? Hmm...well I do have a Canon camera I love...and I believe the Canon people are smart. So I'll put my trust in them. Roll on 2030!

Photo and Youtube video  by Gizmag

'Get Him to the Greek' 1 (long) Sentence Review

Yesterday's lazy Sunday movie choice was 'Get Him to the Greek'. Lets face it, the trailer doesn't really sell the movie. If anything, I was repelled by it. However, the movie has been getting decent reviews and I do like Russell Brand (in a purely sexual way). Also, it's a spin-off of 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' which I really enjoyed. So aside from justifying why I went to see it, here is my 1 sentence review:

Jonah Hill is large n lovely, Brand plays a typical rock star -boozing, babes and blow, Puff Daddy/P Diddy etc made me lol several times, it's slow to start, pacing gets better, Apatow's raunchy humour distracts from the weak plot, drop in several outragous sex scenes and finish it off with the predictable 'drugs are bad' moral lesson and you've got yourself a 6.5/10 star movie.

This is my opinion of course. But there are a few things to consider before going to see this:

• Do you like Judd Apatow's movies (The Hangover, Knocked Up, Funny People, Stepbrothers...the list goes on)?
• Do you like Russell Brand (Sexually or otherwise)?
• Do you like crude jokes?
• Do you like boobs?
• Are you male?

If you've answered yes to at least 3 of the above, you'll most probably enjoy this movie.