Black and White Magic

"Black and white? I'm not watching a black and white movie!"

Incredibly to reasonable folks like you and me, there are still people who think like this and I'm not sure why. There seems to be some feeling that black and white means old and that old means it isn't as good as modern films. At least I think that's what it is, as I certainly haven't been able to come up with any other reason.

Of course the standard response is to point out SCHINDLER'S LIST, usually evoking the usual "oh, that's different" reply. Or if you want to go really up to date, George Clooney is currently receiving plenty of plaudits (and award nominations) for his latest directorial outing GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK despite having the cheek to film it with a lack of colour. (Incidentally, Clooney also starred in and was an executive producer on the TV remake of FAIL SAFE - again a monochrome effort.)

Aside from age and artistic reasons there's also just the fact that it's very often cheaper and, accordingly, many directors have turned in black and white films first (or at least early) in their careers which have established their talent and allowed them to go on to bigger and better things.

Take a look back at the recent past - George Romero gave us the wonderful NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in the 60s; the 70s brought us Peter Bogdanovich's paean to the end of a cinematic era in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW; the 80s gave us LE DERNIER COMBAT from Luc Besson; and the 90s brought us a pair of bad-taste comedy cult classics in Belvaux's and Bonzel's hilarious Belgian movie C'EST ARRIVÉ PRÈS DE CHEZ VOUS (you probably know it as MAN BITES DOG) and Kevin Smith's franchise-spawning CLERKS.

If all this has suddenly made you decide you've been too harsh on our two-colour friends, get yourself down to the local independent cinema as soon as you can and you might be able to catch the latest black and white wonder, 13 [TZAMETI].

This French film concerns a young man who accidentally becomes involved in a big-money variation of Russian roulette. It takes a very simple concept and wrings so much tension out of it that by the end of the hour and a half you're probably sweating as much as the contestants.

Then again, since it's French (or rather a French-Georgian production) there might be some extra convincing required for some people.

"Subtitles? I'm not watching a subtitled movie!"