Doc makes a case for the cinematographer
Movie stars become celebrities and movie directors are acclaimed by cinephiles as “auteurs,” but there’s a gorgeous Italian documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival that suggests that stars and directors should step back and make room for the unheralded artist behind the camera, known as the cinematographer or the director of photography.
When you think of the great classics of Italian cinema, the name Carlo Di Palma hardly ever comes to mind. But you will never forget about this genius, who died at age 79 in 2004, if you take the chance during TIFF to watch Water and Sugar: Carlo Di Palma, the Colours of Life.
The film had its premiere on Sunday, but you can catch it on Saturday afternoon at the Scotiabank Theatre. Through his work, you will get a crash course in the history of Italian cinema and what made it loom large in the world.
Di Palma’s father, an anti-Fascist who was in and out of jail, made a living by repairing motion picture cameras. Fascinated by the magic those machines created, the younger Di Palma studied cinema before starting his career as a focus operator. It was during the Second World War, when the city was occupied by U.S. forces.
That was an era when filmmakers, forced to work with small budgets, moved out of the studio and into the streets, using natural light and creating a visual record of the city in that period. Early on, Di Palma worked on two of the great Italian classics of the 1940s: Rome, Open City (1945), directed by Roberto Rossellini, and The Bicycle Thief (1948), directed by Vittorio De Sica.
Di Palma got his first cinematography credit in 1950. He mostly avoided commercial films in favour of ones that had artistic ambitions and challenges, but he did work on one of Italy’s most popular comedies of all time, Divorce Italian Style (1961).
What made Di Palma legendary within the industry were two history-making movies of the 1960s, both directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. In Red Desert (1964), distorted, hazy colour was used to show how a woman who is ill per- ceives the world.
Blow-Up ( 1966), shot in English, starred Vanessa Redgrave and David Hemmings, as a fashion photographer who accidentally records a murder. Alas, it’s all about alienation, sex without meaning and style without heart. But Di Palma was able to catch the look, mood and feel of Swinging London for all time.
One element of special interest to Toronto cinephiles is that TIFF CEO Piers Handling appears onscreen in Water and Sugar as an expert commentator on why attention must be paid to Di Palma.
In many ways, the most fascinating part of Di Palma’s career was his lengthy collaboration with Woody Allen. They made odd partners, since Allen didn’t speak a word of Italian. Di Palma moved to the U.S. in 1983 and made an astonishing 12 movies with Allen, starting with Hannah and Her Sisters.
It was Di Palma who, with his way of seeing and thinking, brought a European sensibility to Allen’s movies, catching New York in his own way.
“Carlo was essentially a poet,” says Allen, whose extended commentary is a major part of the doc. “He had a great eye for composition and colour. Whatever he did always looked good.”
Di Palma especially loved period pieces, like Radio Days.
In the late 1990s, Di Palma became ill, stopped working and returned to Rome for his final years.
If ever there was a movie perfect for watching at a film festival, this is it. Water and Sugar screens Saturday at 2:15 p.m. at the Scotiabank Theatre. See tiff.net for details. mknelman@thestar.ca