Spike Jonze in Conversation at TIFF 2013

For several years now, TIFF has been taking film fans deeper into the creative minds who create the movies we adore. Both during the annual festival – and during the rest of the year at The Lightbox – TIFF’s “In Conversation” series has turned the spotlight on such varied artists as Bruce Springsteen, John  Waters, John Malkovich, Sarah Polley, and Jackie Chan to name but a few.

On Sunday afternoon, it was Spike Jonze in the hot seat. To make things a little more interesting, Spike’s friend and fellow filmmaker Kelly Reichardt was moderating the discussion.

The focus of the conversation was largely centred around HER – Spike’s next film due to premiere at the New York Film  Festival in a few weeks. The audience was given a glimpse at three complete scenes from the film, giving everyone on the room a very good idea at the wit, beauty, and tenderness in-store this December when the film about a man played by Joaquin Phoenix who falls in love with his computer’s OS. If the footage shown is any indicator, this is one movie that must not be missed.

It was a cute sight to see both Reichardt and Jonze sitting on steel chairs well over on stage-left like attentive students as the clips were shown.

As the Q&A went on, one thing became abundantly clear: Kelly Reichardt hadn’t done much prep. If she did, she didn’t feel like running with it. While it did give the event an unusual charm – the way seeing two nerds bond in study hall would be unusually charming – it felt like something of a missed opportunity. After all, here was an afternoon where one director would be interviewing another, and one that was her good friend to boot. To come at it with a shrug feels a tad disrespectful at least.

In the midst of it all, something strange happened…

When Spike was asked about working with a new cinematographer, he described his new DP Hoyte von Hoytema (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY) as producing imagery that was “very feminine”.

This point stirred a reaction in Reichardt, prompting her to ask for clarification. She’d never heard a cinematographer’s work described as “feminine” before (has anyone?), and needled Spike to explain. Spike’s answer got a little bit lost in the ruckus that his first comment caused, but it seemed as though the point he was trying to make was the fact that cinematography is increasingly turning into a macho art form, and that is showing up in the work. He believes that von Hoytema brings something un-macho to the look of a film, both in terms of the way he works and the end-result.

To a person, I’d wager that everybody in the room wanted Spike and Kelly to discuss the idea further…well almost to a person. One programmer who was lending a hand to Jonze and Reichardt as the Q&A portion of the discussion began pushed the activities to the next question. Thanks to this keener the discussion quickly scurried away from the point, so I have no further clarification on Spike’s idea of “feminine cinematography” and how it relates to von Hoytema.

Even with the shyness of the speakers on-stage, and the indelicate TIFF staffer, the event was time well-spent. Spike Jonze is a true original in modern filmmaking, and any chance he is given to discuss to crazy ideas that go on in that imaginative brain of his, one has to take the bait and listen in.