Posts tagged Documentary
“Tim’s Vermeer” Fascinating
Mar 19th
“Fascinating”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
TIM’S VERMEER is an absolutely fascinating documentary of how Tim Jenison went to all the time, trouble, and expense of investigating and eventually reproducing one of the works of art of 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.
Vermeer was not widely appreciated in his own time, and authorities have proclaimed that he painted only between 30 and 35 works, but also that he was one of the greatest painters of all time because of his microscopic observation of objects and meticulous depiction of gradation of daylight on varied shapes and surfaces.
His paintings show details and perspectives found in photographs, and Jenison believes that Vermeer could have used a camera obscura to make his paintings, which is Latin for “dark chamber” and is a darkened enclosure with a pinhole on one side through which light enters to form an image of the outside objects on the opposite surface.
Jenison asks, “How did Vermeer do it?” and decides that he is going to paint a Vermeer even though it seems impossible and Jenison is not a painter, but is an inventor.
So, Jenison went around the world to study Vermeer’s paintings, which he says was a “revelation,” and he realized that Vermeer could have used a small mirror to paint his pictures, which allowed him to match colors perfectly.
Jenison demonstrates his theory to Martin Mull, an entertainer and artist in his own right, and Mull is impressed with what Jenison demonstrates.
Then Jenison decides to reproduce a painting by Vermeer called “The Music Lesson,” which is owned by Queen Elizabeth in England, saying that the process is objective and any painter who uses it would get the same result.
He built the room in the painting himself in 213 working days in a warehouse and says that he wasn’t trying to make the painting look like a Vermeer, but it was looking like a Vermeer.
We see Jenison at work day by day, and he says that the project is a lot like watching paint dry, which implies that it is boring, but watching this documentary is anything but boring.
At one point Jenison was ready to quit, but because a film was being made, he completed the painting.
TIM’S VERMEER, written and narrated by Penn Jillette, directed by partner Teller, is magic to watch.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Tim’s Vermeer – Movie Trailer
Mar 18th
Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, (Video Toaster, LightWave, TriCaster) attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer (“Girl with a Pearl Earring”) manage to paint so photo-realistically – 150 years before the invention of photography? The epic research project Jenison embarks on to test his theory is as extraordinary as what he discovers. Spanning a decade, Jenison’s adventure takes him to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted his masterpieces on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artist David Hockney and eventually to Buckingham Palace, to see the Queen’s Vermeer.
“Blackfish” Tragic Story of Tilikum’s Revenge
Aug 31st
“Tilikum’s Revenge”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Blackfish is a heartbreaking documentary about what has happened once again when humans mess with Mother Nature.
As an old television commercial used to say, “It’s not nice to mess with Mother Nature.”
“Blackfish” is the name that the First Nation’s people call the orca, or small gregarious whale that is also known as the killer whale, which we are told has 48 sharp teeth but is amazingly friendly and has no record of doing harm to humans in the wild.
The operative phrase here is “in the wild,” because the movie begins with a 911 call on February 24, 2010, from SeaWorld Park in San Diego and the chilling words, “A whale has eaten one of the trainers.”
The trainer was Dawn Brancheau, who was drowned and torn apart in front of horrified families during her performance with an orca named Tilikum.
Tilikum, one of the largest orcas in captivity, is now estimated to be 32, and he had been linked to two other deaths since he was captured in 1983 off the east coast of Iceland.
Incidentally, orcas are believed to have a life span comparable to that of humans, and we learn that there is every indication that they use language, and their brains have a part that humans don’t have, which is associated with an emotional center.
So, what went wrong with this gentle giant?
The movie uses interviews with experts and former trainers from SeaWorld and other marine parks to help us understand what happened in Tilikum’s past and come to a conclusion as to why this tragic death was not an accident and certainly not caused by anything the trainer did.
We learn about how orcas are trained to perform tricks during shows, how they are punished even by other orcas when they don’t perform as desired, and how mothers grieve when their babies are taken away from them and shipped to other marine parks for various reasons.
We also see interviews and learn about other tragedies around the world involving trained orcas at other marine parks, and you start to wonder how we allowed the situation to get to this point and why we allow it to continue to this day.
Blackfish is the tragic story of Tilikum’s revenge, who today is kept caged and brought out only to take bows.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”