🎬 #151 Twenty Eight Newsletters Later.
The trailer for 28 Years Later came out fairly recently and it inspired me to have a look back at the first and second films, which I hadn’t seen in a long time. So nice to see Boyle and Garland’s first collaboration with relatively fresh eyes.
Happy choosing, happy viewing
Bry
FILM ONE: 28 DAYS LATER
2002 Dir Danny Boyle
1 hr 53 mins
When 28 Days Later first came out, it taught me a lot of things. One of which was that a ‘big’ film could be shot on a camera that, as long as you had a couple thousand pounds, you could theoretically get your hands on. The technical aspects of filmmaking no longer seemed totally out of reach. That was super inspiring and the camera was the Canon XL - e.
The choice was inspired by - Boyle’s own experimental nature [he’s continued this by shooting 28 Years Later on the iPhone 15]. I love that he’s always playing with different forms and formats, but this was also a very practical decision. In order to get the empty London sequence in the bag, they had to be faster and nimbler than traditional camera making equipment would allow. As Anthony Dod Mantle, the film’s DOP said, instead of taking 4 days, we could do it in 4 hours. For the budget and for the permissions they’d gained, they had to be able to be in and out fast. They couldn’t keep some of the world’s most packed tourist areas closed off for too long.
What the film also taught me and what was even more clear from rewatching recently, is that equipment is way less important, even though it’s something the internet is obsessed with. The key things are a compelling idea executed in a great script. The methods and mediums by which you choose to capture that on don’t really matter as much as you might think. Case in point, this film’s resolution, other than the final sequence, is 720. Much less than even standard HD today. And yet after 1 minute of watching it, you forget how it looks. Cinematic isn’t a camera or even a lens choice - it’s the story and emotion you conjure up in front of the equipment that really matters, that’s what makes something cinematic. Just don’t forget to have great sound.
TL;DR: Danny Boyle’s film from Alex Garland’s script is still as great as it was when it first came out.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and UK.
Fact: The project came about because during the making of The Beach, based on Alex Garland’s novel, he mentioned to producer Andrew MacDonald, that he had this idea for a zombie film where the zombies move really fast. Andrew said, write the script, Garland hadn’t written a script before.
FILM TWO: 28 WEEKS LATER
2007 Dir Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
1 hr 40 mins
Five years later in real time and 28 Weeks Later in movie time - the sequel to the hit came out. Captured in the more traditional 16mm and 35mm formats - Fresnadillo’s follow-up still has that grungy look that made the first film so identifiable. In fact, he and his team really nail the ‘world.’ His use of the Boyle ‘tilt,’ John Murphy’s music and the frenetic camera movement during an attack - all feel like the same language established by the first. That’s not to say the director doesn’t handle things their own way.
The opening act in particular is relentless. Putting the idea of survival front and centre. Confronting us with the possibility that what we think we’d do and what we actually do - when the shit hits the fan - might be quite different. In fact, this opening is so strong that within 11 minutes you’re left breathlessly thinking where does it go from here.
Whereas the first film morphs into a road trip adventure, the second becomes a war film. Not just the infected are under attack, but anyone who moves. The double threat of the infected and the military heighten the stakes and take the tension to a new more pessimistic end.
TL;DR:The follow-up expands the world of the first film, giving us a glimpse into the brutal choices humans must make in survival situations.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and UK.
Fact: The farm featured at the start of the film is the same farm featured in Children of Men.