The Real Beale

There’s one thing that annoys me more than anything else with modern, independent directors, and it’s the use of black and white film as opposed to colour. Before I start my rant, I’d like to point out some exceptions: Schindler’s List, Sin City, Memento, Eureka, Raging Bull, Manhattan, Pleasantville and Young Frankenstein, as well as others, all of which were made in the last 30 or so years. They have all justified their reasons and turned out to be great films. But most importantly, they aren’t independent films (Memento is but….come on! It’s genius!).

Usually, it’s independent filmmakers who use it for ‘dramatical effect’, although I see it as desperation for acceptance in the movie world. It’s not even acceptable when used in order to signify a flashback, when all they really could’ve done was, like in The Godfather Part II, use certain items from that time era, or let the audience know that this person is the protagonist by having another character call their name or react to their presence.

Right, to be fair, I can see the main use. To show loss of a character’s emotions etc (e.g. Memento), to bring out the contrast between the black and the white or colour would ruin the shots (e.g. Raging Bull was only in black and white due to the boxer’s gloves distracting from the main picture), but these HAVE to be shown and displayed CLEARLY, not metaphorically or anything, the audience have to know why the director chose to have it in black and white so it doesn’t simply become a gimmick. Even Christopher Nolan, who brilliantly used black and white in Memento, shamelessly used it all the way through his debut feature film Following.

I hope that in the future, directors will come to their senses and, instead of using black and white film, use other techniques to show the time era.