Civil War

Alex Garland’s film takes its form from its cameras. Cinematographer Rob Hardy ran a Sony Venice with Panavision H Series lenses, but about seventy per cent came from prototype DJI Ronin 4D bodies. Hardy likens holding one to gripping a chicken by the sides: you move, the head stays. Camera operator Chris DuMont says it finds the stillness a photojournalist finds inside chaos. The black and white stills are manufactured too. Hardy says he, Garland and the stills photographer all shot frames, and photographs credited to Cailee Spaeny’s character came off her Nikon; Kirsten Dunst’s character carries a digital Leica. The freezes are no simple hold: they were shot at very high frame rates on a Red V-Raptor at a 45 degree shutter angle, so the exact instant could be picked. The Washington finale was built on street sets in a Stone Mountain, Georgia car park; the military adviser was Ray Mendoza, an ex Navy SEAL. Garland says he left the sides semi opaque on purpose: being unclear in film terms is not neutrality, just leaving something unspecified. Worldwide takings were $127.3 million. A good fit if you can take the film stopping dead in mid action to become a photograph as the argument. Not for anyone wanting an explanation of why the Western Forces put Texas and California together.