Niki N. Phaser

Everyone is buzzing about the new Johnny Depp movie, Public Enemies, either because it’s “the new Johnny Depp movie” or because it’s about bank robbers in a time when banks are not too popular , but we have to remember that this is also the new Michael Mann movie and, what some of us feared, happened. He went all the way with his experimental digital shooting and filmed Public Enemies in high-definition video. There were signs predicting this, like the exteriors from Collateral and also a lot of Miami Vice. Maybe he thinks this method adds to the movie’s realism or whatever and it didn’t hurt that much with the two films, previously mentioned, but Public Enemies is a period piece and this kind of photography makes it look some wannabe documentary from Discovery. With all the great actors and French beauties in it, you expect at any moment some male voice with a British accent to come in saying “John Herbert Dillinger was born… “. It’s just a shame. This kind of photography goes for indie movies about disfunctional families and whatnot and for documentaries, cases where you don’t have the money, but I doubt Mann couldn’t afford some 35 mm. What’s next: Braveheart on DV?