The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

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Youalwayzlooksocool

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Hi everyone, this might actually be my first thread started here.

One of my favourite films for some time now has been the Ben Stiller remake of the 1939 short story 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' by James Thurber. Something about the gorgeous cinematography and Mitty's journey from unfulfilled city worker to spontaneous traveller really stuck with me, and i'm sure the various nods to the old school way of photography with the old Kodachrome Nat Geo photographers and even an F3/T cameo helped!

Whilst it resonated with me, neither the internet nor quite a few of my friends seem to share my enthusiasm, and I wonder if it's the photographer in me that appreciates it more than anything.

If you haven't seen it, it's worth the few hours of your time, and then let me know what you thought.
 
I really enjoyed it. My wife brought the kids to see it and they came home with, "Dad, you really got to see this movie!" Glad I did. One that I will probably own on video, just for the nostalgic scenes and themes about LIFE magazine, a huge influence on my world view growing up in the 1960's.
 
This is such a wonderful film. All the people around me who saw it, really liked it and most of them have no relation to photography. We all agree that it's the only film with Ben Stiller that is far from being stupid. The grumpy face of Sean Penn and Shirley MacLaine, very nice. Nice landscapes in that film.
 
"unfulfilled city worker" ????????

I seem to remember his jobs is as a photo bureau librarian.

Youalwayzlooksocool said:
Hi everyone, this might actually be my first thread started here.

One of my favourite films for some time now has been the Ben Stiller remake of the 1939 short story 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' by James Thurber. Something about the gorgeous cinematography and Mitty's journey from unfulfilled city worker to spontaneous traveller really stuck with me, and i'm sure the various nods to the old school way of photography with the old Kodachrome Nat Geo photographers and even an F3/T cameo helped!

Whilst it resonated with me, neither the internet nor quite a few of my friends seem to share my enthusiasm, and I wonder if it's the photographer in me that appreciates it more than anything.

If you haven't seen it, it's worth the few hours of your time, and then let me know what you thought.
Click to expand...
 
filmtwit said:
"unfulfilled city worker" ????????

I seem to remember his jobs is as a photo bureau librarian.
Click to expand...

You are right, that was not his job in the movie.

He was the master keeper of the film negative archive and makes the jouney of his life to find THE negative.
 
I met the guy who did the still photography for the film earlier this year. In addition to shooting the behind the scenes stuff, he also shot the photos that were used as props in the film (it was his thumb!). He's a very talented and nice guy, Wilson Webb. He's been shooting the stills for all of Ben Stiller's movies. His work is here: http://www.wilsonwebb.com/ and here: https://www.instagram.com/wilsonwebb/.
 
Nice.
I watched it onflight bound to NYC from scandinavia. It was quite amusing to see Ben's character going the opposite way and loved the journey and the deeper meaning behind.
 
filmtwit said:
"unfulfilled city worker" ????????

I seem to remember his jobs is as a photo bureau librarian.
Click to expand...

Apologies for my lack of clarity- I didn't mean his job was unfulfilling, I was referring to the fact that he seemed personally lacking fulfilment, and happened to work in a city as a counterpoint to how he changes when he goes looking for the negative!
 
Loved the movie. I'm not a movie watcher, but this one was great. I assume the photography theme had me.

Would certainly recommend it.
 
Rented it, bought it, love it.

My kids, 14 and 11 have even developed the ritual of watching it (as a family) periodically. There is also a cameo appearance of Leica body when they atop the mountain just before the snow leopard appears and in a dream sequence I believe. My kids say that my Leica bodies are "my precious" and the call those scenes the "precious" scenes. They are serious too. They are already calling dibs on my cameras before I am even remotely close to kicking the bucket.
 
welcome to my world!
😎

I enjoyed the film as a whole, but I found the interactions with the Sean Penn character kind of stiff and not quite in tune with the rest of the film.

tom.w.bn said:
You are right, that was not his job in the movie.

He was the master keeper of the film negative archive and makes the jouney of his life to find THE negative.
Click to expand...
 
I loved the movie too and happened to stumble upon them filming a scene for it when I was out taking a walk in NYC in 2012. I was able to get the attached shot of Ben in the garbage truck. He seemed like a really nice guy and was interacting with fans on the street between takes.
 

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It's an entertaining movie and Stiller is good in anything he does generally but the connection to the original short story is pretty remote in my opinion. It's based on a concept I guess ... and then hollywood does the rest!
 
Stiller was interviewed in Australia by David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz on 10th December 2013 (around the time of the local release of the film). During the interview he commented (broadly, as part of a response to a question from Stratton about the choice of Stuart Dryburgh as cinematographer), that:
"...we shot the movie on film, it was really important for us to shoot it on film because it's about a guy who's, looking for a negative, uh, and right now you know film is kind of going away I mean, most movies now are not shot on film...I'm still...I have trouble accepting that."
​
Tri-X was the negative involved according to the edge coding visible in a few scenes.

The interview is available to watch here via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) website although I expect it might be geo-blocked for some members depending on location.
Cheers
Brett
 
helenhill said:
arghhhh....
tried to watch it tonight, excited about everyone's reviews here
but after a half hour I turned it off...bored to tears, not for me
Click to expand...

Helen, perhaps you'd prefer the 1963 film of the Billy Liar story with Tom Courtney. Similar in some ways in terms of a man struggling to come to terms with reality and having the strength to change his life but a little more typical of the kitchen sink dramas of 60's British cinema. Tom Courtney is usually worth a look 🙂
 
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