DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME

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Unburied (previously lost) nitrate films prints from late 19th and early 20th centuries make up this documentary feast from documentarian Bill Morrison.

Settled in 1896, Dawson City (located near the Arctic Circle) is a Canadian Gold Rush town that provide this doc with a treasure trove of historical truth, culled from 533 films. Astonishing.

Time travel is real.

History comes to life.

Go back in time.

This is a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience worth repeating.

Not Rated. 120 mins. 

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH VILMOS ZSIGMOND — CANNES 2016

   Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

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Cannes, France — Pierre Filmon’s “Close Encounters With Vilmos Zsigmond” is a lovely doc about one of the most gifted and talented cinematographers in the business. This film will make you want to go back and watch movies such as “Deliverance,” “The Crossing Guard,” The Witches of Eastwick” and “Heaven’s Gate” for Zsigmond’s lush camera work.

Pierre Filmon makes no secret about his status as a newbie filmmaker; he asks his revered subject for advice about setting up shots.

If anything, such moments of amateurishness only make you appreciate Zsigmond more. However formulaic you can't help but be swept up by the film as interviewees such as John Travolta recount on-set experiences, such as making Brian De Palma's "Blow Out" with Zsigmond behind the camera.

Zsigmond recounts his early career growing up in Hungary during the 1956 revolution after studying cinematography at the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest. His immigrant journey to Los Angeles in 1962 took the budding artist through a stream of B-movie work that couldn't disguise his genius.

The rest is history. The films that Zsigmond made with such gifted directors as Robert Altman, Steven Spielberg, Michael Cimino, Richard Donner, George Miller, Mark Rydell, are the stuff of movie legend. Sadly Vilmos Zsigmond passed away not long after this wonderful was made. 

“Close Encounters With Vilmos Zsigmond” is a movie-lover’s dream; we are so fortunate to have this documentary about a true genius of cinema to celebrate his great legacy.

Not Rated. 90 mins. 

Cannes 69 Complete from Cole Smithey

DE PALMA — NYFF53

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More edited than directed, “De Palma” is rightfully content to let the director of such classics as “Carrie” and “Scarface” tell the story of his career.

Seated comfortably in front of a fireplace, Brian De Palma retraces his steps over the past 50 years that put him in the “New Hollywood” company of Steven Spielberg, Geroge Lucas, and Martin Scorsese.

De Palma forcefully maintains that for all of the adoration poured on Alfred Hitchcock, that he [De Palma] was the only filmmaker to embrace Hitchcock’s techniques and style. Sure he’s leaving out Claude Chabrol, but so what; he’s making a point.

From a cinephile’s perspective, hearing De Palma go on at length about nearly all of his movies in chronological order they were made is about as good as it gets. Co-directors Jake Paltrow and Noah Baumbach fulfill their role as documentarians by virtue of their congenial relationship with De Palma that allows him to be candid, funny, and insightful about a career filled with highs and lows.

It may be a no-brainer to attach appropriate clips from films like “Sisters” and “Blow-Out” under De Palma’s fascinating descriptions of making the films, but this is exactly what the film demands, and what the audience expects and deserves.

Seeing a young Robert De Niro acting in a couple of De Palma’s early student films while studying filmmaking at Sarah Lawrence is a pure kick. Hearing the filmmaker discuss his use of split-screen imagery on “Sisters,” while watching the effect achieve his desired result of increasing suspense, is better than anything you’ll learn in film school. Indeed, “De Palma” serves as a multifaceted lesson in filmmaking, directing, and the joys of making movies during the ‘70s golden era when anything seemed possible.

Especially enjoyable are De Palma’s anecdotes about such things as the way Sean Penn taunted Michael J. Fox on the set of his 1989 film “Casualties of War” in order to get the desired result from his co-star. “Television actor” never sounded so insulting.

Not Rated. 107 mins.