Cinecity: Gregory Crewdson – Brief Encounters

Contemporary American photographer Gregory Crewdson delves into the “submerged psychological drama” of suburban life in an American Beauty kind of way, crafting beautiful large-scale staged photographs. Director Ben Shapiro mentioned in the live q+a after the screening that he aimed to make a profile of an artist rather than an expose, which perhaps hindered the documentary’s narrative grip on the audience and explains the slighter, less probing feel to it. The film was an interesting and insightful look behind the scenes of some incredible photography however, and seeing the compositions on the big screen was occasionally breathtaking.

Duke of York’s Picturehouse, 26 November 2012

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