Thursday, August 06, 2009

Films of the 00s: Timecode



Far be it from us to disappoint two of my loveliest and most loyal readers, Catherine and Glenn, who specifically asked for this conversation. And far be it from Tim or me to treat Timecode as any run-of-the-mill picture. I don't just mean that we managed a greater-than-usual difference of opinion, though I hope that's a welcome splash of novelty, and an incentive for lots of you to chime in and take some sides, or pick your own battles. Even beyond that, we had a lot of fun with this piece. One might say, four times as much fun as usual. Choose your own path! It's that kind of conversation, because it's that kind of movie.

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posted by NicksFlickPicks at 10:00 AM Links

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8 Comments:

Blogger Bill C said...

Just an FYI, Nick, I can't read beyond the first couple paragraphs in any of the windows: I can adjust the frames but can't scroll the text within them in my browser (IE7). It's a cute device but counterproductive--a pointed criticism of TIMECODE itself, if you intended it!

12:36 PM, August 06, 2009  
Blogger Colin said...

@Bill C: I haven't any scrollbars in each frame, either (I'm on Google Chrome), but the scroll wheel on my mouse is good for scrolling through each frame.

If you haven't a scroll wheel, try highlighting the text and dragging it down the frame. Or opening each frame in a new tab/window.

8:00 PM, August 06, 2009  
Blogger NicksFlickPicks said...

I don't have a scroll wheel, but I just click the mouse within each frame and use the arrows on my keyboard to move up and down. Does that not work for everybody?

10:42 PM, August 06, 2009  
Blogger NicksFlickPicks said...

Okay, evidently not. We all do agree that things look prettier and crash less often in Mozilla Firefox than in IE, right? But that aside, I have added scrollbars to all four windows.

Deflated. Thought I had figured out a surefire way to Wow. But: let's talk about the movie!

10:57 PM, August 06, 2009  
Blogger Glenn Dunks said...

Aah, thank you!

I'm obviously more with Tim on this one than Nick and it's for, very much, the reasons Tim goes into in the "structure" section. Seeing characters from each square interact, parallels within squares and so on. Watching people with the voyeuristic manner than we can when the volume is off and so forth. I think it makes a fascinating filmmaking study and one that, as you mention, is never really the same each time.

Also: "TimeCode" is a really great example of how far indie cinemas has regressed over the past decade. This movie made a fraction over $1m in it's 7 week theatrical run despite debuting with only $94,000.

Then consider something like "The Girlfriend Experience", which seems to have that same indie LA cool vibe, debuted to $160,000 and yet hasn't even made $700,000 11 weeks later.

I think that speaks volumes.

3:23 AM, August 08, 2009  
Blogger NATHANIEL R said...

i love this piece and the four quadrants work perfectly for me (i'm on firefox which has its problems but i'll never understand why anyone uses explorer for anything when browsers are free!)

anywayyyyyyyyy

i can't really add to the conversation (failed comment. sorry) because the movie and discussions of it overwhelm me. Too much all at once. But i do remember being thrilled at the experiment while watching it ...and I'm with Tim that I have similar feelings about the experiment and accomplishment of Russian Ark.

8:14 PM, August 09, 2009  
Blogger Bill C said...

@Nathaniel R: i love this piece and the four quadrants work perfectly for me (i'm on firefox which has its problems but i'll never understand why anyone uses explorer for anything when browsers are free!)

Speaking for myself, I use IE because 76% of my readers do, according to my tracker. It would seem counterproductive to not know how my site looks to the majority of my readership.

Still, sorry for being a pain in the ass.

9:11 AM, August 10, 2009  
Blogger NicksFlickPicks said...

@Glenn: Thanks for the comment. It's almost always depressing to compare indie movies of the moment to comparable cases of the past, in terms of risk-taking and box-office reach. I was just re-watching The Rapture this weekend and, while I don't think it's a great movie, it's hard to imagine it coming anywhere near a cinema now.

@Nathaniel: Never a failed comment when it's from you! Glad you like the design.

@Bill: You are the absolute opposite of a pain in the ass. I don't even know how to check stuff like what browser my readers are using. I do double-check formatting against my widescreen monitor and a more standard 4:3 aspect ratio for other computer monitors, but that's as far as my proofing goes. I might have to add a notice to the homepage about optimal browser settings for reading the site.

11:06 AM, August 10, 2009  

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