Annie Leibovitz: Life Through A Lens (2006/Warner DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B Documentary: B
As the
visual media world goes directly digital too fast for its own good, I was
surprised to know that even swifter in still camera work than in motion
pictures. That may help when it comes to
uploading images to computers and printing them in not-often-excellent JPEGs
and secondary color and detail reproduction.
However, the best digital camera still cannot capture what the best
still 35mm cameras and plate portrait work can and as was always the case, it
takes a real great eye and amazing talent to bring the still photography world
to life. Annie Leibovitz is one of them.
Known for
her groundbreaking work for Rolling Stone and Vanity
Fair magazines, as well as other classic album and promo shots that
have made her one of the most important still photographers of all time! Now truer than ever in the digital era, Annie Leibovitz: Life Through A Lens
(2006, directed by her partner, Barbara Leibovitz) shows the woman behind the
camera, her motivations, life personality, ideas, approach, choices and other
items that have made her one of the greatest Auteurs in the history of
photography.
The
celebrity interview list is impressive, most of whom are friends and clients,
including (but not limited to) Demi Moore, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bette Midler,
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Keith Richards, Patti Smith, Keira Knightley, Roseanne
Cash, Yoko Ono and many notables in the publishing, fashion and photography
world. There is also her political work
and documentary work, like showing powerful political figures in ways no one
else can or even genocide.
Another
interesting insight is into her current family and her former relationship with
the late great writer/thinker Susan Sontag, her first life partner and it was a
truly great match. Sontag is ever
underrated and her moments are golden here, as she rightly shares the sunlight
with Leibovitz and it becomes another priceless moment in this impressive documentary. Anyone serious about any visual arts or
artists should mark this a must-see.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image actually has various aspect ratios including
bookended 1.33 X 1 and 1.78 X 1 oddly letterboxed in the 1.33 area. The result is as varied as any other
documentary, though the frames of her actual photography look especially goods
and should be more vivid when this comes out on Blu-ray. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no real
surrounds, but is nicely recorded throughout.
Extras include over an hour of extended interviews in five sections.
- Nicholas Sheffo
