SIDE BY SIDE **

Don't let Keanu Reeves' involvement put you off, as it almost did me. "Side by Side" is a terrific documentary that examines the differences between the use of traditional film and the development of digital photography. It's mostly made up of talking heads, primarily directors and DPs, but their passion and enthusiasm for the medium is infectious. There aren't too many examples of the uses of either and often the film seems more like an excuse for why digital is preferable to film; it's almost a valedictory to film and that depresses me. Younger and younger audiences are growing up knowing only digital and are losing out on the beautiful, pain-staking imagery of over a 100 years of film.

I admit film fades and great movies have been lost but give me the black and white glories of Gregg Toland over a lot of what we are seeing today anytime. Is there room for both? Of course; art is all-embracing. I know I'm old-fashioned in my love of old movies and that, in time, the digital revolution will probably, (hopefully), produce masterpieces as great as "Citizen Kane" and "Psycho". I love high definition and the clarity of well shot digital films but for me it will never match the thrill I got seeing for the first time D W Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916) on a large cinema screen.
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