Gordon Willis, the Man Who Plays Peekaboo

Image from Wikipedia Gordon Willis Showcase Harvard Film Archive (24 Quincy St, Cambridge) Pennies from Heaven, The Parallax View, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, The Landlord Through November 30 Last night, Bostonist had the pleasure of watching the Woody Allen classic Manhattan open up the HFA’s Gordon Willis series, featuring Willis live and in person. From dating a high schooler to dating his best friend’s mistress to quitting his job to write a book, Allen’s character (Isaac Davis) makes many missteps, but always offers sardonic insights along the way. The city, beautifully shot in long takes and low light by Willis, offers a subtle but vital backdrop to Davis’s neurotic wanderings through life and love, reduced to its essence in black and white. Whether it’s a mingler at the Met, early morning at the 59th street bridge, or shadow figures against the backdrop of the moon at the Hayden Planetarium, Manhattan gives its namesake a strong supporting role, welcoming even non-New Yorkers into the magic of the city. Willis’ masterful work in this film successfully hints at why he recently received Honorary Award from the Academy for his life’s work, but if you want even more proof, check out additional films in the HFA over the next week or so. For its showcase of Willis films, the Harvard Film Archive is billing him as The Man Who Shot the Godfather , and his proclivity for shooting in low light has earned him the name “The Prince of Darkness.” After listening to a Q and A session with Willis following the film, though, we might propose a new nickname: The Man Who Plays Peekaboo. Willis described a scene between Woody Allen and Diane

Keaton, where the characters not only occupy opposite ends of the screen but also are free to leave the frame and return, as a form of “peekaboo.” He discussed this scene several times alongside the tableau scene in Davis’s (early) apartment, where Muriel Hemingway reading on the couch is contrasted with an infamous, poorly lit spiral staircase. These and other scenes, notably one that places Allen and Keaton in a tiny corner of the screen, dwarfed by the 59th street bridge, show Willis’ tendency—particularly in Manhattan—to relegate the subjects of his shot to the corners. These asymmetrical, seemingly off-balance shots could be read (as one audience member suggested) as creating a visual counterpart to the off-kilter neuroses of the characters. Willis himself, however, vetoed that idea, separating his shooting techniques from the meaning of the movie. Throughout the question and answer session, Willis repeatedly discouraged viewers from “intellectualizing” his filming choices, noting that many scenes were more circumstantial or instinctual than minutely planned. He acknowledged his affection for the long take, and emphasized that editing is ultimately up to the director (though did note he attempts to give the director the tightest amount of material possible). Willis is often recognized as an autodidact, but we learned last night that he actually gained his first exposure to film as a documentarian in the Air Force, following his initial forays into still photography. We not only appreciated his filming expertise but also his no-nonsense style in the Q&A. We’re not sure you’ll get much out of him, but we do recommend attending some of the screenings if you want to learn more about this chronically underappreciated filmmaker.

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Gordon Willis, the Man Who Plays Peekaboo