DVD Review: Water and Sugar: Carlo Di Palma The Colours of Life

The magnificent documentary from Kino Lorber explores the life and work of the brilliant cinematographer Carlos Di Palma, including interviews with filmmakers Woody Allen, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach, Wim Wenders, and others.

The documentary is thorough and fascinating, examining DiPalma's early life, is artistic and cinematic influences, his approach as per which director he is working with, his creative contributions to the films he has shot, etc. DiPalma learned from the great Italian neo-realist filmmakers like Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio DeSica, soon making his own impact with his work on films like Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blow Up" and "Red Desert."

Woody Allen's cooperation with this documentary is especially important because of DiPalma's having collaborated with Allen over an 11 year period. The documentary discusses the moving camera closeups DiPalma used during a dinner scene in "Hannah and Her Sisters," and explores the different methods he uses for something like "Husbands and Wives," which Allen wanted shot very simply with hand held cameras. There is also the offbeat and challenging exercise in shooting actor Robin Williams out of focus while the rest of the image is sharp and clear in "Deconstructing Harry."

DiPalma's use of closeups, his interest and showing actors conveying emotion through their eyes, is also explored here, using a series of shots from different movies over many decades, each of them fully resonating. Cinema's visual aesthetic is sometimes overlooked in an era of special effects dazzle and quick edits. DiPalma defies that approach and utilizes the European method of holding the shots, allowing the viewers to examine the visual.

Any library, research center, or film school should have this DVD in their collection. Any aspiring filmmaker can learn a great deal from its content.

The DVD can be ordered from this link: DiPalma