THE STORY – Paul Thomas Anderson captures Brooklyn musician Cameron Winter’s minimalist performance in a striking concert film,
THE CAST – Cameron Winter
THE TEAM – Paul Thomas Anderson (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 75 Minutes
Last fall, during the awards campaign for “One Battle After Another,” videos surfaced online of Paul Thomas Anderson and collaborator Benny Safdie filming musician Cameron Winter’s sold-out Carnegie Hall performance. Many wondered if this was for some sort of promotional video, perhaps a music video, or what it ultimately turned out to be: a feature-length concert film directed by Anderson. The film was recently revealed not only to exist, but to screen in a very limited run later in November on a 35mm print; its first stop was its world premiere on October 1st at the New York Film Festival.
The film runs only seventy-five minutes and captures the night of this beloved performance. It starts by taking you into the iconic theater as if you were there in person. Exterior shots of the cozy December evening, followed by patrons collecting their tickets and getting scanned in, help us settle in. Soon after, it moves into the performance; there are no talking heads or unnecessary introductions to Cameron Winter. From the moment his fingers touch the piano keys, you are with him and his act until the final frame. This is perhaps the film’s greatest strength: its awareness of what it is and should be. Concert documentaries are a very simple conceit, yet so many overcomplicate it with excess material that distracts from why we’re there. People want to feel like they are at the concert the film is depicting, and for the most part this film wildly succeeds in recapturing what that experience must’ve been.
It seems pretty clear that the night of the performance is all the footage the filmmakers worked with in the edit. Other concert films merge clips from other nights’ performances or add pickups, but there is a feeling that this is one shot at getting it right, and it’s exciting to see some of these shots come together as you watch. Plenty of shots, however, feel thoughtfully planned. Many with reflections of Winter onto his piano, or his shadow onto the stage, are very striking and add extra life to the performances. The choices for how to shoot each song feel intentional, with some numbers more intimate and others quite distant from the performer. The film has a cozy aesthetic, with an orange-brown color palette that adds intimacy and warmth to every frame. The film projection certainly adds to that, and it’s so refreshing compared to other, more lifeless and overly polished concert footage.
There is the obvious make-or-break with a film like this: your interest in Cameron Winter’s music going into the viewing. If you don’t like his music or his performing style, this film most likely won’t change your mind. You may find something to appreciate in the filmmaking, but you should know how you feel about his work before watching this purely for the Paul Thomas Anderson name. However, for those who enjoy his music, this is perhaps the best capture of his live act that we will ever get without physically going to the concert. The music recording is pretty pitch-perfect, Winter’s voice sounds incredible, and the mix on the film perfectly highlights what it would sound like in the room at Carnegie Hall. There are also brief moments of theatrics Winter partakes in between songs, and keeping them in was a nice way to break up the performances and add extra life to our performer.
The film also has some peculiar choices in its construction, and it’s hard to tell whether they are intentional or just the best they could manage with such spontaneity. Several moving shots are incredibly shaky, or certain steady shots start moving as the operator seems to find the right frame. Now, this may work for some or be part of what they were going for, but in certain performances and moments, the amount of different coverage and its real-time discovery was quite distracting from the songs. It feels like a lot of these shots were them trying things out to get as much coverage as possible, but some of these attempts make it into the film whether fully successful or not. They aren’t enough to ruin entire numbers, but enough to certainly dip the momentum of certain key moments. Other technical nitpicks seem to stem from the last-minute nature of the production, but most can be waved away in favor of the awe of capturing it. It’s like watching a tape of a live performance after the fact, which perhaps isn’t what people expect when seeing a fully edited film ten months after it was shot, but it certainly lends itself to a kind of playful intimacy.
Does the way the film is shot totally work? Perhaps not; there are enough strange decisions and jumpy editing to bring down some personal enjoyment, but that obviously won’t be the case for everybody. It’s a very different type of film than people are probably expecting, not necessarily formally, but in how it feels to watch. There is something admirable about getting all of this captured in one night and keeping in any warts that come from its frantic production style. It adds a certain magic to the final product that really does feel like you’re experiencing something live, and perhaps a more polished edit would’ve removed some of that raw quality. Not everything needs to be intentional and intensely thought out to be of merit, but it would’ve been preferable if some of these sloppier choices hadn’t detracted from Cameron Winter’s work, which, at the end of the day, is what the film should focus on.
In conclusion, “Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall” is a fun, albeit messy, experiment, though the messiness may add to the fun. Anyone who gets a kick out of Winter’s solo career will certainly get a lot out of this. Still, if you’re going in for Paul Thomas Anderson and expecting another great work from a master, it’s best to lower your expectations. It’s a fascinating trial run he seems to be doing here, and it would be interesting to see him try more works of this nature, but as is, he captures something unique that is worth the time of anyone whose interest is piqued by these two artists’ names.
