Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
KNOWING
June 30th 2009 11:57
© 2008 Summit Entertainment N.V. All rights reserved
'Knowing'
A professor of astrophysics, John Koestler (Nicholas Cage) discovers that a bizarre item his son Caleb (Chandler Canterbury) brings home from school has a terrifying significance, not only for his family, but for the rest of humanity.
Caleb's school was celebrating its 50th anniversary, the climax of the celebrations was to open the time capsule, embedded in the school grounds. Inside the capsule were letters to the future, that the students of the 1950s had written, for today's kids to read. Most letters contained colourful drawings, of space ships and a happy colourful future, yet one did not.
The letter Caleb opened was not a drawing, but a sheet of paper completely filled with numbers, created (as we see at the start of the film) by a disturbed school girl 50 years ago. As Caleb stared at the nonsensical numbers, another world subtly begins to make its presence known to him. Instead of handing the opened letter back to the teachers, as all the others did, Caleb takes his strange note home with him.
Later, Caleb's father notices the odd list poking out of his son's school bag and investigates. It is not long before his mathematical mind discovers something that perturbs him.
As the disastrous action mounts, Koestler, the estranged atheist son of a preacher and single dad, battles his own scientific reality based mind-set, in order to understand what the bizarre list of seemingly random number sequences mean, then, through a series of horrifying ordeals, Koestler realizes he is on a countdown and needs to find answers, and find them quickly.
Nicholas cage as Professor Koestler in ‘Knowing’.
(photo credit Vince Valitutti) © 2008 Summit Entertainment N.V. All rights reserved.
This film begins as a spooky, supernatural thriller, that soon becomes a maelstrom of major disasters that Koestler keeps associating with the enigmatic list. This bizarre list of numbers, written by an even more bizarre little girl 50 years ago, is starting to unnerve Koestler; the disturbing effect on him worries his university colleague and friend Phil Beckman (Ben Mendlesohn) who suggests that, maybe, Koestler is finally having a breakdown, after the death of his much loved wife.
But Koestler continues to explore the number sets and how they relate to dates of disasters, all of which had occurred in the previous 50 years. But there are a few dates still unattributed at the end of the list. In attempts to discover their meaning, Koestler meets the daughter of the list’s creator, Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne) who now must reluctantly face her torturous past, in order to help solve the riddle of the numbers.
Rose Byrne as Diana Wayland with Nicholas cage as Prof. John Koestler.
(photo credit © 2008 Summit Entertainment N.V. All rights reserved.)
As the hunt for meaning continues its relentless and disastrous course, Koestler’s son Caleb and Wayland’s daughter Abby (Lara Robinson) become aware of a supernatural force at work, but no one knows if ‘they’ are benevolent, or, a danger to their children and perhaps the real cause of the disasters.
The subtextural themes of what this film touches upon will be debated by many audience members, as various standpoints may be taken, depending on the individual's belief system and psychological nature. The film certainly rears many mental spectres that haunt people today; the supernatural, our collective existence and its end, even the debate regarding the nature of alien life, may be pondered.
Chandler Canterbury as Caleb Koestler in ‘Knowing’
(photo credit © 2008 Summit Entertainment N.V. All rights reserved.)
KNOWING is one of the first feature films to be shot with the "Red One Camera", a lightweight camera using high resolution digital technology. The great advantage of the "Red One Camera", over the film motion camera, is its ability to allow the director to immediately review what he has just shot, on set, then re-shoot if necessary.
With the film motion cameras, you must wait till the next day for the film reel's developing to see what you shot the previous day, then wait yet again for another arduous process, the colourization of each scene by man operated technology, and the inclusion of any special effects, often done bya process called "Blue Screen".
As producer Jason Blumenthal noted, “It (Red One Camera) made things move very quickly. We were able to do so much more on set than when we used to have to wait to do it in post, like tweaking colour.”
The Director of Photography (DOP), Simon Duggan, stated that “With the Red One Camera, we didn’t have to wait overnight just to see if a lighting scheme worked out. It’s all immediate, and we ended up having more confidence in pushing the limits of what we were doing.”
'Knowing' air crash site
(photo credit © 2008 Summit Entertainment N.V. All rights reserved.)
This technology is the future of picture making today and unlike other technological innovations of the past, is here to stay. The special effects in this film are both fantastic and yet realistic. It wasn’t till I checked the credits that I realized this film was made in Melbourne, Australia, for the most part, which is a credit to our battling film industry and its talented technicians.
Nicholas Cage as John Koestler in ‘Knowing’.
(photo credit: © 2008 Summit Entertainment N.V. All rights reserved.)
The DOP, award winning Simon Duggan, creates a balanced view that doesn’t impose itself upon the audience's consciousness, allowing the atmosphere created to seamlessly flow between the big disaster shots and the more intimate moments, leaving the viewing audience to marvel and immerse themselves in the film.
While some slight criticism could be considered, regarding some of Cage’s reactions, they are but fleeting and do not derail the momentum of the film. Well art directed, edited and shot, this is a mixed bag of roller coaster treats for the movie goer, sure to deliver satisfaction on the ticket price!
KNOWING
Run: 121mins
Production: Summit Entertainment;
Escape Artists Productions in association with Mystery Clock Cinema
Director: Alex Proyas
Australian/New Zealand Distributor: ICON Film Distribution
Stars: Nicholas cage, Rose Byrne, Ben Mendleson, Chandler Canterbury
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Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
interesting info about the new "red one" camera
Comment by Mountain Fog
yes "Red One" is amazing, and its name quite odd.. it's the first I had heard of it, but then again, I have been out of the film industry for quite a few years now, more is the pity...ho hum...
cheers
fog
Comment by Mountain Fog
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
Comment by Mountain Fog
I couldn't solve the problem, so I deleted my remarks about it.
Oh yes, Rose Byrne, first time I have seen her, and she did a great job actually, I forgot to cover her in the review, and the junior lead, Chandler Canterbury, who was excellent for being so natural in his performance. I got too caught up in giving an overall view of the film, trying to capture the feeling of it.
cheers
fog
Comment by Mountain Fog
Two more comments have been MYSTERIOUSLY deleted from this blog, comments from Marley and one from Matt Shea have been removed since they posted here between midnight last night, to today.
So what is going on here eh???
Any Orblers had this happen on their blog?
fog
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Nice write-up, although I didn't think much of the film - to me it got far too ridiculous in its second half.
Regarding Red, it is the way forward, particularly for young, low-budget filmmakers in Aus trying to make high quality short films and music vids on the cheap that still look choice - this is a great Melbourne-made example!
Comment by Mountain Fog
at last your comment stuck, but for how long this time...
Yeah, I agree, the second half lost some ground, and it wasn't helped by Cage's almost histrionic facial expressions, and the dropping to his knees at the end...oh dear...
by the way, do you know anymore about "red one", when and where it was developed, and why was it called "red one". I can imagine it is a suitably unimaginative reason, going by some of the techs I knew in the business years ago..hehe!
cheers and thanks for dropping back to re-comment, I appreciate it.
fog
And, if MARLEY is reading this, I did not delete your comment, a 'phantom', for want a a more deserving low brow moniker, has hacked this site and removed it, feel free to comment again, and cheers anyway.
fog
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
I know a chap who's part of a syndicate that hires out the cameras to filmmakers.
As I understand it, it has a modular design which makes it significantly cheaper to purchase. Also, that whole thing of being able to manipulate things digitally on set - ie digitising the front end of the process - speeds up the shooting of a film significantly.
Not sure where Red the company is actually from, however...
Comment by Mountain Fog
actually, you stimulated me to check up on a system that was becoming the 'next best thing' after Blue screen, a system developed by Introvison.
I worked with the guys for a year as we set up to shoot Total Recall, (the eventually failed Sydney attempt by De Laurentis), and it had a similar advantage, that being, the view finder saw all, so rushes nest day had the finished product, so still down to film, but it allowed all sorts of tricks like crossing the dividing line, and objects appeared real, as they cut away when the actor walked in front of them.
A complex process, however, I only learned tonight, after checking out where they were at these days, that with the advent of digital, it disappeared over night!
Anyway, I should post about my days in film, sometime, if I can drag myself back through the sludge of old memories and egrets I didn;t stick it out, like some of my pals, who have Oscars to their names today...
too depressing to think about...going to sign off now...
fog
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
What a fine review you've written. I hadn't really thought of seeing this one, but I'm interested now. I had no idea it was filmed in Aust.
Byee
Comment by Mountain Fog
tanx for the comp!
We have had numerous American, and other, films made here, due to our studio space and the comparative cheap rates for labour and technicians, who are at world's best level.
Last film I worked on was American, Salute of the Jugger, I should do a review of that sometime, just as an insider's view, the film fell way short of decent, even though David Peoples directed it, he wrote the shooting script for Blade Runner.
cheers
fog