Vilmos Zsigmond has died - January 1, aged 85 - a cameraman who I could recognise and love even as a teenager - outliving his friend Laszlo Kovacs by nine years - as Audrey Kovacs commented, they were about as close as two men could be - not surprisingly, after eluding death escaping from Hungary, supporting each other's careers.
It is quite something when you look at their collaborative body of work particularly in the 'American New Wave': Easy Rider, The Hired Hand, The Last Movie, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Deliverance, Five Easy Pieces, The King of Marvin Gardens, Images, Cinderella Liberty, The Long Goodbye, Scarecrow, Sugarland Express, What's Up Doc?, Paper Moon, New York, New York (marks off for showing these clips in the wrong ratio), Shampoo, Obsession, Close Encounters, The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate - and that's just the seventies.
Good contributions from Peter B, Graeme Clifford, Sharon Stone (who proves enlightened on the subjects of lighting and the contribution of the photography), Ellen Kuras and Bob Rafelson.
Good tips: Deliverance - long takes. Paper Moon - Orson Welles suggesting red filters. Long Goodbye - all on zoom. Five Easy Pieces - outside shots all static. Vilmos generally, having seen America by bus - how important are backgrounds to the story (the outsider sensibility). Vilmos being fired five times from Close Encounters (once by Spielberg, once by his gaffer!). Easy Rider - 'who needs another biker movie?'
As to the film itself, the tricksy moments during the interviews add nothing (in fact are distracting); but you have to praise Mr Chressanthis for getting the film made at all.
Clips from early no-budget sixties movies are hilarious.
Didn't mention the historic 1973 BAFTAs, at which Vilmos was nominated for three films (McCabe, Deliverance and Images) and still lost to Geoffrey Unsworth!
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