On paper, Ang Lee‘s “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” looks like a very promising awards season drama, led by a newcomer (Joe Alwyn) who is surrounded by all star cast (Vin Diesel, Garrett Hedlund, Steve Martin, Chris Tucker, Kristen Stewart). But the film will have one more trick up its sleeve: a visual aesthetic enhanced by high frame rate photography. So what’s the big deal? Well, Stewart explained how it heightens the experience.
“An insanely high frame rate would give you like a slow motion effect, but if you put it in real time you’re just getting more information than we’re used to. But usually if you do that without whatever process he’s doing — which I have no idea — it makes it look like reality TV, it makes it crisp in a way that actually detaches you. [But] he messes with depth of field and makes this 3D situation where — usually the way a lens works, you control where the focal point is, [but] in this case everything’s in focus,” she told Collider. “So when you watch the movie you can decide, almost as if you’re there in person, what you want to look at, which has just never been seen before on film.”
We’ll see if Lee’s approach manages to make the film feel even more palpably real, because we’ve seen what happens when the process doesn’t work (looking at your “The Hobbit” movies, Peter Jackson). Here’s the official synopsis for ‘Billy Lynn’:
Director Ang Lee brings his extraordinary vision to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, based on the widely-acclaimed, bestselling novel. The film is told from the point of view of 19-year-old private Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) who, along with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad, becomes a hero after a harrowing Iraq battle and is brought home temporarily for a victory tour. Through flashbacks, culminating at the spectacular halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game, the film reveals what really happened to the squad – contrasting the realities of the war with America’s perceptions. The film also stars Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, with Vin Diesel, and Steve Martin. Lee used new technology, shooting at an ultra-high frame rate for the first time in film history, to create an immersive digital experience helping him dramatize war in a way never seen before.
“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” opens on November 11th.
