Cameraperson (2016) User Reviews

Experimental Movie

[boblipton · 6/10 · 12 October 2020]

Kirsten Johnson has been working in the camera department and as cinematographer, producer and director for decades; her first credit, according to the Internet Movie Database, was in 1996. This movie is a series of excerpts from the movies she has handled the camera on, all over the world, from Afghanistan to Serbia, to Brooklyn, to her family. She calls the results onscreen an album, and a betrayal: that you may have someone's permission when filming, but later.... in some ways it is a betrayal: particularly when she films her mother in the grip of Alzheimer's.

But even an album requires organizing. Even if you include everything, the order of each sequence's inclusion affects its meaning; that's the point of the Kuleshov Effect. So what does this movie add up to, what does it say, what does it mean?

That is a question that can only be answered by the audience, the often unremarked component of cinema. A good film maker, a good editor, can often estimate what that result is, but only the audience can say what it is. Theory and practice: try it out and see what the result is. It's experimental cinema. The creator may have an opinion, but, well, at that point, it's no longer Miss Johnson's movie.

An intimate portrait from behind the camera

[backwardsiris · 8/10 · 15 March 2018]

Kirsten Johnson's CAMERAPERSON is a documentary collage lovingly pieced together from outtakes of the many documentaries she's worked on in her long career as, well, a cameraperson. Intermingled with these outtakes are snippets from Johnson's personal life: playing with her twin toddlers, poignant flashes of her mother succumbing to Alzheimer's, sweet moments with her father & the twins at her parents' home in Beaux Arts, WA. In the vein of Koyaanisqatsi or Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, the seemingly unrelated clips are woven together until patterns begin to emerge. In the Q&A afterward, Ms. Johnson said that in most every Q&A an audience member discovers a new pattern or theme--pointing to an editing process that is both intentional & subconscious. The pacing & structure of the movie invokes the essence of fleeting memories. As an audience, we are given a behind the scenes look at what it takes to make documentaries. In a clip that illustrates the difficult balance between objective observer & compassionate storyteller, we watch a Bosnian toddler attempting to play with an axe. As his tiny fingers come perilously close to the blade, the audience cringes & we hear an off-camera exclamation of "Oh, Jesus!" from Johnson. An intimate portrait of a cameraperson, illustrating the delicate balance between the personal & the professional.

may help to see her documentaries first

[asako · 6/10 · 17 January 2017]

Cameraperson (2016) begins with a collection of short segments, which may leave you wondering why you are watching this footage. Since it was my first experience with Kirsten Johnson's work, if I'd seen her documentaries earlier, I might have appreciated them more. However some segments (or possibly all?) will have follow-up segments later.

The film is a memoir and certain parts are personal, which I cannot say I was able to establish connections with, but she also touches upon the creative process of documentary filmmaking. Such segments marked a turning point in my viewing experience and made me see the segments in her film in a different light.

Just as I did, watching this film as the very first film by Kirsten Johnson might be similar to watching Andrei Tarkovsky's "The Mirror/Zerkalo" (1975) before any of his other work. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you see her other work later and like them, it may worth watching this film again.

"Cameraperson"

[lmaldarella · 10/10 · 17 February 2017]

"Cameraperson" is recent film by veteran documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. It is composed of several different scenes that were filmed by Johnson over her career for various other documentaries all over the world. The images in this film may be familiar to some members of the audience because they were originally filmed for other documentaries. They aren't all final cuts though; many of them are clips of trying to set up the camera or getting the right angle or frame along with clips from the family life of Kirsten Johnson. The first thing that struck me about this film was how captivating it is from the first frame to the last; I could not look away from the screen no matter how opaque the shot might seem at the moment. The first twenty to thirty minutes or so will have most members of the audience, including myself, confused as to what exactly the point of the images we are seeing is. Patience is required in the viewing of this film. Once it clicks, and you'll know when it does, it becomes all the more engaging. This film tells many stories, not chronologically, but nonetheless effectively and perhaps all the more moving. At its core, "Cameraperson" is an autobiography of Kirsten Johnson. But it is also a meditation on human suffering, the wonder of the world around us, the ethics of nonfiction film, the sadly ironic contrast between the beauty of nature and the extent to which it can be defiled by evil, and an examination of the filmmakers own family. We see her in scenes taking place at her New York apartment, home in Colorado Springs, and far away ranch as she interacts with her mother, a victim of Alzheimer's disease, her father and her twin boys. These scenes are surrounded by scenes of shepherds in the Bosnian Mountains, desert plains, city streets, and government black sites. The ethics of documentary filmmaking, as I mentioned earlier, are also examined. Is it more moving to see images of a body that has been torn to shreds after being dragged by a truck, or to see the chain that dragged him being held by the prosecutor as he speaks about the atrocity? This question is answered in one scene, split in to two parts and book-ending several other scenes. In the first scene, we see the lawyer talking about the book of images that they distributed to the jurors to prevent causing further pain by having to show them in trial. The second comes directly after a conversation had with a film professor as he talks about the depiction of violence in nonfiction film and how it ultimately ends up being disrespectful, becoming entertainment. We then jump to a cut of the cover of the book of photos; we no longer want to see what's inside as we did before. Bringing attention to the art of filmmaking is also a theme in the film, particularly in recognizing the technical aspects of filmmaking. Most people don't think much about the cinematographer when they think about a great film. Shots are attributed to the director, but this film brings a special attention to the person behind the camera making all the shots work, and staring directly through the lens of the camera into the eyes of human beings. In film, especially nonfiction film, the cinematographer is responsible for establishing the human connection between the audience and the subject. "Cameraperson" does this especially beautifully because at the end of the film, we are able to see how the experiences and people Johnson has filmed connect her to them, us to them and her to us. This is an autobiography not merely because it is a compilation of the footage that has touched her throughout her extensive career, although it is that, but because she has her own story that is also full of pain, loss, love and life just like those she connects with as a Cameraperson.

"Cameraperson" is directed and photographed by Kirsten Johnson, distributed by Janus Films and released by Criterion. It had its premiere on January 26th at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. It is not rated. I gave it four out of four stars.

Fascinating movie, but not an autobiography

[Red-125 · 9/10 · 7 October 2016]

Cameraperson (2016) is a documentary, directed by Kirsten Johnson, about her own career. Johnson has directed--or done the cinematography--for many documentaries that certainly appear to be extremely interesting. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any of them, so I can't comment directly about her work. She calls Cameraperson an autobiography, but I don't think that's really accurate. We do learn a bit about Johnson and her family in the movie, but mostly we see a patchwork quilt of her work. (I say patchwork quilt because Johnson has presented short segments of her films in seemingly random order.)

Michael Moore--who appears in one of the segments--is a documentary film director who is always in the center of his movies. However, Johnson doesn't seem to appear much in her own films. (One exception is a movie she filmed in Bosnia. She returned five years later to interview the same people, and they treated her like an old friend.)

Johnson is talented, so a short segment of each film whets your appetite. However, each segment is too short to be satisfying. Also, it's hard to learn why she makes documentaries. Is it just what she does, or does she have a political or social agenda? Johnson doesn't tell us, so we have to speculate.

We saw this film at the excellent Little Theatre in Rochester, NY. It will work almost as well on the small screen.

We won't grow old together

[fluidsliquids · 25 April 2021]

I had such high hopes for this to work. The very title makes a huge promise, and it partly fulfills it, however You might find the Person not as charming as She thinks She is.

There's a dissonance between first two sequences of the film and the whole rest. Whatch these two. These are amazing - there the Camera really is the Person. The whole rest is pedestrian, with too much 'in your face' ideology and self indulgence.

Does a good job of showing how a veteran cinematographer views the world; and now, so do we.

[Hellmant · 7/10 · 17 February 2017]

'CAMERAPERSON': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A critically acclaimed documentary, based on the life work of veteran cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. The movie is a collage of samples from all of the different films she's worked on (over several years, in multiple different countries). Johnson also served as the director of the movie, while Doris Baizley and Lisa Freedman are credited as the writers. It has 100% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's considered one of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2016. I think it's a tad overrated, but it is a well made (and beautiful looking) film.

The movie cuts together clips from several different films, all shot by Kirsten Johnson. It cuts back and forth, through the different movies (and through many different scenes), and it takes place over several years, and in several different countries. Johnson uses all of the different selected footage, that she's filmed, to tell a broad story about her life as a cinematographer. She even interviews her mother in it.

I think the film does a good job of showing a very wide selection of many different people's lives, all around the world (and in many different walks of life). It actually reminds me (quite a lot) of the YouTube documentary 'LIFE IN A DAY' (I did like that movie a lot more though). This film feels more aimless; but the individual scenes, on their own, are always interesting. It definitely does a good job of showing how a veteran cinematographer (like Johnson) gets to view the world; and now, thanks to her, so do we.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' review at: https://youtu.be/RO7ghqXHCCY

Raw Empathy Through A Camera Lens

[arated-96629 · 10/10 · 3 November 2022]

I was lucky enough to watch this on the big screen which may have given me a bias to my sheer adoration for this film.

I was moved. I feel this captured the sheer power of cinema to give insight into ways of life we have never seen or experienced. The wonderful eye of Kirsten Johnson guides us through her experiences. Her empathy bleeds through the screen and give you a truly breathtaking documentary.

It gives you a moment to detach yourself from the world. And look at it through someone else's eye.

A documentary that isnt worried about teaching you explicit facts, but more letting you empathise and wonder about this world and all of us who reside here.

I captivated from the very first shot to the end of the credits. I will watch this again.

The kaleidoscope of life

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 16 February 2021]

Stunning images and moving scenes from Kirsten Johnson's work as a filmmaker around the world, as well as some from her personal life, making it a memoir of sorts. It's certainly not a conventional one because the segments are spliced together in a way that seems almost random, and in any event, a method that was hit and miss with me. Aside from the creativity, it seems to model one's actual memories of life, which are a kaleidoscope of moments and not a linear march through time, which I thought was pretty interesting. On the other hand, it felt a little overly segmented at times.

There is a method to showing all of these facets of life - birth, family, war, faith, decline, and man's continual inhumanity to his fellow man - but some bits just don't seem to fit quite as well even in that very broad context. We go from a midwife in Nigeria struggling with a newborn who might die, to the man who broke into the FBI offices to reveal domestic spying in 1971, back to the midwife in Nigeria, then to behind the scenes of a boxer upset with the decision in the ring in Brooklyn, then driving past the site of a mass grave in Bosnia in one of the film's sequences. It's just a little too much, and I would have liked more depth on fewer things - but there are always the source documentaries to turn to I suppose.

Regardless of that there were moments that were simply brilliant: the tight shot on the dancers' faces in Nakisenyi, Uganda, the lawyers pulling out the long, heavy chain used by white supremacists to drag a black man to death in Jasper, Texas, the old ladies almost happily hacking away at a dead tree despite the cruelty they've endured in Zalingei, Darfur and just being at the sites where various atrocities took place were all memorable to me.

a little (human) treasure

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 4 May 2017]

The remarkable thing about Cameraperson, which I admired and felt connected to more and more as it went along, is that it is deceptive in a good way; at first things seem to not have much structure (except that, at least for the first half hour, Johnson is cutting generally from scenes she's shot in the United States to scenes that she captured in places like the Middle East or in Africa). But then in the second half of the film, things pay off that one didn't really expect to. Take the story of the nurse (or is she a doctor, she doesn't have a title exactly, perhaps simply midwife) in the hospital in Nigeria who helps deliver a beautiful baby (the beauty part isn't necessarily emphasized, it's simply there in Johnson's purely humanistic lens), and mentions that she's going to help deliver the twin that is still inside the mother.

Then Johnson cuts away and I thought that would be it, but instead she comes back to it about an hour into the documentary, where now the baby has been born but it's in danger of possibly dying - the nurse/midwife is able to keep the child at least breathing and awake, but they don't have oxygen at the hospital. Another case in point is a boxing match, where it seems early on to be footage of a middle-weight getting ready for a fight, and it cuts away and that's that. Again, an hour later, this pays off and we see that this fighter lost and leaves in a major huff (Johnson, breathlessly, moves so that she can get the shot in the hallway of him coming down), and he has a meltdown in the locker room, though a believable one, and in its approach its much rawer than anything that could be seen in a boxing movie in a thousand years.

What makes this special is that Johnson gets to fully embrace this unique "memoir" approach and is able to give us little moments that are little snapshots - think if it's like going through a scrapbook where you may only have one or two shots of Derrida or some sheep being flocked to and fro, but then a whole lot of pages of photos to the Bosnians, who make up probably the most of the run-time if I had to gauge a percentage - but there's storytelling woven in in that plant-pay-off sense. And the one constant that connects everything together is simple but a wonder to behold: Johnson is curious about people (or at least she is always there for her directors if she's not directly involved, which she usually is in some collaborative form), and we see their joys and pains and how much so many of these people have LIVED in these lifetimes where we take for granted what goes on.

Sure, one might want to criticize there are perhaps too many scenes of women crying or becoming upset - that is another constant, even including an outtake from a scene in Fahrenheit 9/11 with the soldier who feels not fully one way about not going back to war - yet that's what I liked about it, since it's not simply that. She doesn't suddenly cut in to someone crying or having a fit, there is build up and pay-off to these moments that she's captured so that, and I'm not the only one to point this out, it's also like each scrapbook page has a short story that tells gives us enough of a window so that we can feel more curious about their lives, which sometimes a documentary that's consumed in a narrative can't always do. And the juxtapositions are absorbing as well; she'll go from, say, showing a woman who has seen some horrors of rape and murder in a third world setting, to a... woman who has had it with her memories and throws all of her possessions across a room (this is one of the more memorable bits to me, especially at the end when they all break into laughter at the insanity they've just been a part of).

It goes without saying that this is all personal for her, and it can't not be that. Why, one might ask, does she include footage of her children and her father, for example, though with all the rest of this footage from these numerous documentaries she's photographed? Well, for starters, because she *can*, it's her movie, it's her memoir, but I think it also ties in with the rest of the film because she's lived as much genuinely and passionately with her kids going to pick up a dead bird in the backyard as she's had in that African hospital or in Darfur or anywhere else. And the title carries emphasis as well; we never really say 'Camera-Woman', and yet 'Camera Person' sounds like something we usually wouldn't say or categorize. But maybe it's two different words, not necessarily about herself: she is the camera, and everyone else is the person, vulnerable and alive and in the moment, whether it's the kid with the bad eye who witnessed his brother being tortured/abused, or Jacques Derrida crossing a Manhattan street.

A unique documentary

[proud_luddite · 7/10 · 29 March 2018]

Kirsten Johnson, an American cinematographer, directs this documentary using footage she has collected during the past thirty years.

This film's most praiseworthy attribute is its uniqueness. In snippets that last only a few minutes, each little story (over twenty of them, many of them revisited during the film) say so much in such a short amount of time.

The subjects vary as well: the effects of ethnic cleansing and gang rapes in Bosnia, the troubles relating to Al-Qaeda, a heinous crime in small-town, Texas. Johnson also focuses on troublesome domestic situations in her home country including her mother's fading health and mind.

While there seem to be many stories, they all seem to relate to a common theme of tragedy whether it be at the worldly or the personal level. Johnson has the great skill of giving the viewer just enough information to feel empathy but without being overwhelmed and numbed. In other words, she brings the viewer to her own deep level of humanity.

Philosophical and Adventurous, yet very personal

[marcoliodls · 8/10 · 23 December 2022]

Cameraperson (2016) by documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson expertly crafts an emotional and psychological journey through the literal lens of her past work. The entire movie is comprised of a wide range of clips filmed throughout her career, creating a "quilt" of different stories; each story is engaging on its own, but together they combine to create a nuanced memoir that is existential, while remaining highly personal.

One sequence that I found particularly captivating was the montage of clips taken overlooking former sites of mass killings. Each shot demonstrated how unassuming, and sometimes beautiful, and normal these locations become in the everyday - disconnected from the deep pain associated with those same locations.

Overall I thought the film was excellent, it was insightful while remaining personal and familiar. My only critique would be that at times the music was a bit too direct. I would have preferred subtler to no music. 8/10.

What's this about? Who is this for?

[JustHavingALook · 3/10 · 19 October 2022]

Alright, so the above are the 2 questions that any sane producer would ask a writer and a director before embarking on the long and unpredictable voyage of putting together anything - short, feature, doc, film whatever - that eventually has to be sold, distributed, shown to people.

This unreasonably long "memoir" resembles the videos we used to shot as kids in the 90s with our camcorders. Composition, framing, lighting, camera movements and so on? We had no idea. Audio? Sucked. Story? Just go around and see what happens. Editing? Not available.

"Cameraperson" is pretty much the same thing.

A friend recommended it, and... well I was expecting a voice over narration to link the various scenes together, and maybe (maybe) to give us some hints about the challenges, the values, the conflicts and so on of the author. It didnt happen: there is no story, no journey to remember.

It is simply incomprehensible, hence boring.

To add insult to the injury some festivals decided it was a good idea to give this "memoir" awards such as best editing and best documentary. Awkward. It's kind of disrespectful towards all of those creative out there who are working consistently to bring stories well crafted to the audience.

Because of this I'll make an exception to my own review system: Cameraperson and its team deserve 3 stars.

A bunch of out takes and unused footage does not make a good film

[shaun_cullen · 3/10 · 25 March 2017]

Although the camera work itself was good the film itself lacked any real direction. Just a bunch of unused footage slapped together. Jumping from one scene to the next with no real explanation as to what the next piece is about (although it eventually becomes apparent what is going on in each scene after watching for a bit). To me it just had the feel of something thrown together to try and make a bit of coin for the director, i.e the "Cameraperson"

This is not a negative review .....

[matthijsalexander · 4/10 · 25 May 2017]

I guess I lack understanding of the subjects' background, the field, her works and such. I know the places where she went, I know the history of them and I can imagine that she has her own feeling and memories.

But that doesn't cut it for me as a consumer. I guess the average person will switch this off 5 minutes in. I lasted 10. I love documentaries, but this felt like a bunch of wildly undirected bunch of images randomly placed behind each-other. It lacked narration and context for me personally. It may be that I am wildly uneducated and completely ignorant on the subject matter.

Another reviewer stated one would be wise to watch her previous work first. Which I guess I'd have to advise people too.

Fascinating and revealing

[Red_Identity · 18 January 2017]

Much has been said about this film. It's not your typical documentary on a specific issue or topic. It's also not a completely straight-forward autobiography, but I do think it's some type of autobiography that, while unique, still very much reveals something about the subject. The subject in question here is Kirsten Johnson, and all of the images and footage chosen to be shown to us do tell us something about her. Despite not really talking about her own life or only appearing on camera for a few seconds, the images and her interactions with those around her do give us a glimpse as to who this person is. That is why in that respect it is an autobiography of some sort, the type that shows rather than tells. It's a fascinating picture through and through and highly recommended.

Trailers Park

[ThurstonHunger · 4/10 · 3 March 2020]

So many books are about the writing process, in a way this is a film about the documentary film process. Calling it memoir feels like a bit of a stretch, although she was literally there, so her life in a way flashes before our eyes. And it's more than just her working life, or is she always working when she holds a camera? Feels like the latter.

In a way it's surely an open window into many of the films she has worked on, most of which I suspect are hard to come across. And perhaps hard to make it through....the misery index here is high.

If you make a collage of trailers from the films involved, I think you could find some similar segues as put together here. So if this film were edited by another, perhaps other themes would emerge, pit the fighter who wants a battle, versus the battle-scarred who want only to see the peace.

And play with an axe. Even in the most joyous moment, there is a whiff of the cemetery it seems. Derrida gets a cameo for a walk-by stand-up piece of philo-comedy.

I can see why she returns to the Muslim family, not only is there warmth there...but the matriarch's ability to edit her own life/film is a skill that is likely in demand among the sheltered and the scattered.

Might be interesting to see this with (or after) watching "The War Photographer."