Camera

A man with an expressive face sits in a chair and laments his aging. While he is there, a group of elementary aged kids bring a big, professional movie camera into the house. He is to be the subject. He talks about how his life is coming to an end and he doesn't seem to have the desire to do much about it. Meanwhile, those kids literally put that camera to its appropriate use. An unusual but thoughtful film.

Camera (2000)

*** (out of 4)

An elderly actor (Leslie Carlson) is discussing cinema when some children enter his apartment with an old movie camera.

This six-minute short from David Cronenberg isn't the greatest thing that the director ever did but it is an interesting piece to his filmmography. I honestly can't say I know what the director was going for but it's got a rather surreal nature to where you're watching it, not knowing what it's trying to do yet when it's over you find yourself thinking more about it. Obviously morality is something I think plays a role in the film. The elderly man talks about getting old and how he once had a dream about growing older due to a camera. The lead performance by Carlson is very good and there's no question that he draws you into the material.

A great short, one of the two best created by Canadian auteurs to serve as Preludes for the 25th Anniversary of the Toronto Film Festival. (The other MUST-see from the group is Guy Maddin's "Heart of the World".)

It is not a two-character piece (as misstated elsewhere), but a somewhat rambling, splendidly written monologue "filmed" by an intriguing on-screen crew of unlikely film makers. Warm, funny, ironic and profound (not qualities normally associated with Cronenberg), yet a wee bit little creepy (and with this director, could it be anything else?), it will haunt your memories. Inspired by a dream, it captures the irrational clarity and lurking unease of the dream state in a way that may remind you of Altman's "Three Women" or Lynch's "Eraserhead". This feeling of lucid drifting is a feat that many films attempt but few achieve.

All in all, "Camera" is a splendid few minutes of film, not easy to find, but well worth seeking out.

An old man sits in his home and tells how his group of children found an old camera and brought it home with them. He dreads the action of the camera but prepares himself to be filmed by it with an air of inevitability.

As I watched this I found it quite difficult to get into and struggled to understand what was going on. As I watched this I found this to be a weakness however afterwards I realised that it's strength is that it forces you to analyse it after you have finished watching it as you search for understanding. The film is essentially driven by a good performance by the man who practically gives a one man show (asides from the children). His fears over the effect of film are voiced well albeit without an abundance of explanation or clarity.

I don't know why the subject interested Cronenberg but he has made an interesting short regardless. The idea of film capturing the moment has always been a good thing to me – I never thought that it might be hard to know that the moment it captured is now gone forever and is not just another second of your life – it is more a finished chapter. Of course I may be just chattering here because I am still not 100% sure what it was getting at – but that is the reason I enjoyed it.

At times the direction seems a little clichéd, mostly notably when the old man is shot with a very close focus on his lower face, however this was only the odd shot. For the most part it is a clever mix of shots, all of which are held together by a well written and well delivered narrative.

Far from his most interesting work but this is still worth seeing as it is quite thought provoking and interesting. The downside for me was that, although thought provoking – I am still leave without good answers as to what it was actually getting at beyond my own interpretation.

This 6 minute short film directed by David Cronenberg, which can be viewed on the Criterion Collection 2-disc DVD of "Videodrome" has an elder actor (Genre great Leslie Carlson) coming to terms with his own waning mortality after a group of young children find an old Panavision camera and wish to film him with it. He goes into a monologue about how he distrusts this camera equating it with death. For some reason I felt it was Cronenberg himself trying to express his thoughts and fears. The short itself is a tad impenetrable and difficult to derive any specific meaning from and although I did think it was good. it's not one of his better works. Despite (or maybe because of) this short being so introspective) or perhaps I just wasn't used to this kind of work to come from David.

My Grade: C+