Cold Touch Versus Warm Touch Film-makers
Above: Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan; Below: Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky
Just a couple of days ago, I finally got around to watching Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan in the theater albeit not on IMAX (which was such a shame as it was shot on IMAX cameras and I have always preferred watching cinema on IMAX or on my home theater projector), and I was struck by differences that set great filmmakers apart from each other. Though there is no official way of distinguishing them as two distinct parties, my mind has already categorized them informally as Cold Touch and Warm Touch directors.
To me, directors like Stanley Kubrick and Christopher Nolan, are cold-touch directors. They focus on the macrocosm more which often leads to working with the surroundings extensively and they sometimes deliberately make the surroundings grand because it is easier that way to make an impact. Multiple, complex ideas are woven together, almost like a Hans Zimmer soundtrack that leaves the viewers awestruck. In other words, these directors choose to demonstrate the sublime through a careful collaboration of screenplay and cinematography. Their world is vastly exterior though they do have many moments that expose a character’s inner landscape.
But Andrei Tarkovsky approaches his shots from an interiority. The relation of the camera is one with or at least intimate with the character’s mind’s eye. In a sense, Tarkovsky superimposes human perception and psyche in his shots and this superimposition is melded so seamlessly that it becomes an inextricable part of the viewer’s visual experience. He picks on the ordinary and transforms them into poetry. Tarkovsky’s shots will make you cry while Nolan’s and Kubrick’s shots will leave you breathless as their films are more event-oriented whereas Tarkovsky’s are single event odyssey much like a symphony of beautiful visual notes artfully strung together. By now, it is obvious that I am biased towards my beloved Tarkovsky despite my great love and admiration for the other two aforementioned directors.
I’ve probably done a terrible job at differentiating and wording out the feel I get from these directors. But it is 3:52 am and I have been suffering from a stiff neck for over 16 hours, so my mental faculties are at their limit and I should be forgiven. Cold touch and warm touch are not limited to the superficialities of color tonalities or the approach of the directors towards their subject or goal. Truth be told, I don’t think that there are any words to describe the differences. These can only be felt as they are deep enough to be obvious to our sensory and cerebral perceptions and elusive enough to evade being captured by the limitations of vocabulary.
