W Eugene Smith Portrayal by Jonny Depp

[Ken Abrahams]

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The film Minamata was an interesting insight into W Eugene Smith in the 1970's. Depp's portrayal shows a very troubled Smith who had seemingly come to the end of his career photographing for Life Magazine. That proved to be more than true with Eugene's death not long after his Minamata project. His psychological issues and heavy drinking portrayed in the movie were not unlike symptoms of PTSD from front line war experiences. I find it amazing that Documentary Photographers went to such great lengths to get their stories. I remember as a young teenager when I had a subscription to Life Magazine {much to the surprise of my parents) and waiting patiently for every issue to arrive. It was such a shame that times as they were (changing) this magazine stopped production.

The movie is worth viewing, its a great story and well acted by Depp. I remember seeing Smith's dramatic black and white images in Life Magazine but only realised the complete story after seeing the Minamata film. He was shooting with Minolta at the time according to the film but he stated at the beginning of the film that he had sold off most his equipmentI to pay debts.     

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[M.Hilo]

Thanks Ken, I can't wait to see this film.

His photograph Tomoko in her Bath was one of the reasons I was pulled into photography. There was no other any such single photograph that had this influence on me. I saw it first in 1974. Not long after that I got the book which I still have.

[Ken Abrahams]

It’s on Netflix 😀

[Guest]

For those in the UK, you can watch it on Amazon Prime.

Edited October 9, 2022 by OThomas

[RexGig0]

I saw this on Netflix. Very well-acted. Johnny Depp really did immerse himself in this role.

Let us not, however, mistake this movie for a documentary. Among other things, the leading actress’ role is very much a composite character. Composite characters, are necessary, of course, as movie audiences cannot follow a large number of significant characters.  

[pippy]

On 10/9/2022 at 1:14 PM, Al Brown said:

Good read:
https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/minamata/

It was a VERY good read. Thanks for posting the link, Al.

Philip.

[durangotang]

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I didn't see it mentioned here, but I recently read that Leica is re-housing their M lenses for cinema:

https://ascmag.com/articles/leitz-announces-hugo-primes

What's interesting is that this was done prior, in a less comprehensive manner, with the M 0.8 re-housing of M lenses.  Apparently, there was sufficient demand to warrant a proper job.  You can read more about the older M 0.8 re-housing here:

https://www.leitz-cine.com/product/m-08

I decided to browse the "Shot with Leitz" section to see what movies, if any, were shot with Leica M lenses.  There are quite a few.  You can specify the lens line as "M 0.8" under "Products" and search for them on the following page:

https://www.leitz-cine.com/productions

That's where I learned about Minamata.  Apparently, it was shot entirely with re-housed M lenses on a Sony Venice camera.  I thought you guys might find that interesting.  I certainly did.

Leica has also redeveloped their medium format S lenses specifically for cinema as well, widening the image circle to 60mm (among other changes), to work with everything from the Arri Alexa 65 all the way down.  That line is called the Thalia, and the results are absolutely gorgeous.

https://www.fdtimes.com/2017/03/28/leica-thalia/
https://www.leitz-cine.com/product/thalia

Edited October 14, 2022 by durangotang