The Digital Revolution

I've found that generally speaking, most people don't watch documentary movies. If you do, it's already somewhat implicit that you're a film enthusiast. Well recently, I watched a documentary for the real film enthusiasts: Side by Side. Made in 2012, it's an hour-and-a-half examination of conventional celluloid film vs. digital camera use.

The documentary has as a host and narrator an unlikely choice: Keanu Reeves. But as the movie unfolds, that choice seems less odd. Reeves has worked with a number of modern auteurs in film, like Richard Linklater and the Wachowskis. (The latter give so few interviews, that it's quite possible they wouldn't have participated without Reeves reaching out to them.) Meanwhile, there are plenty of directors with such strong opinions on the film/digital issue that they would likely have been interviewed for this documentary in any circumstances, people like George Lucas, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Danny Boyle, David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, and Christopher Nolan. The movie also features a number of cinematographers (directors of photography). None are household names, but you'll know the movies they've worked on, and you'll learn they have in most cases even stronger opinions on the subject.

The documentary tracks the very beginning of digital camera use in movie-making, starting just before the turn of the millennium. It follows the introduction of new and better digital cameras over the years that followed, and shows examples of movies shot on eachmodel. You can see the advancement of the technology, and the plateaus it had to reach to make converts out of more and more people.

You also get the strident response from a handful of people who'll have none of it. Christopher Nolan is an ardent supporter of film (to the point where his latest movie, Interstellar, was given first to theaters willing and still able to screen it on film instead of digitally). But though the documentary starts off balanced in its presentation, with Keanu Reeves proving a surprisingly effective devil's advocate to each person he interviews, it ultimately comes down pro-digital. The film purists are never quite able to articulate the advantages of the format, not even as clearly as vinyl lovers sometimes argue in the world of audio. The film purists come off like oldsters shaking their fists at kids on their lawn.

But that doesn't mean the documentary is without merit. Actually, the most fascinating moments come in hearing certain directors talk about the use of digital. You really see who these people are in a nutshell, through the reasons they've embraced the format. Martin Scorsese proves the thoughtful artist so many regard him to be, as he proclaims digital photography to simply be one more tool in the storyteller's box. James Cameron characteristically looks down his nose at everyone else, as his chief argument against the notion that film is "more real" is that nothing about the process of making a movie was real to begin with. George Lucas demonstrates how the prequel Star Wars trilogy emerged so lifeless as he argues for an exacting vision that can't see the forest for the trees -- he praises the ability to make minor alterations to individual frames, without really justifying how that improves the storytelling as a whole.

If you love movies, Side by Side has a lot of intellectually stimulating points to make. If you don't know your SD from your HD from your 4K, then you're sure to find this documentary lacking; I'm not sure it really presents a case for why the "film vs. digital" debate matters at all. Overall, I'd say it lands at about a B-. Certainly, you'll know if you're this movie's target audience.