![Cameraperson](https://www.criticker.com/img/films/posters/legacy/Cameraperson.jpg?1460922207)
Cameraperson
2016
Documentary
1h 42m
A collection of mesmerizing moments of recorded reality from Johnson's 25-year career as a documentary cinematographer.
Directed by:
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Cameraperson
2016
Documentary
1h 42m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 65.7% from 191 total ratings
Ratings & Reviews
(191)
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Rated 17 Apr 2016
90
92nd
Great documentaries tend to have one or two magical moments in them where a decisive moment in reality is captured just right. This is pretty much a 90-minute collection of such moments from one person's perspective shot all over the world. It's an incredible watch.
Rated 17 Apr 2016
Rated 28 Apr 2016
88
87th
Portrait of the Artist as a Technician. More fruitfully, Cameraperson is a film that sort of unlocks the black box of the documentary form, to reveal the moments of serendipity and filmmaking choices that inform these films' construction -- and of the moments and choices that don't, because they're perhaps too "authentic," because they subvert the illusion of narrative cohesion and disembodied objectivity.
Rated 28 Apr 2016
Rated 24 Sep 2017
97
94th
Riveting, quietly profound documentary assembles 25 years worth of off-cuts from Johnson's archives - the pieces and moments initially don't seem to fit together, but gradually a thoughtful, extraordinarily moving narrative emerges -- in revealing these snatches of seemingly unimportant scenes, Johnson crafts an empathetic view of lives being lived, both on-screen and behind the camera, leading to a devastating sequence involving Johnson's own mother. A unique and unforgettable experience.
Rated 24 Sep 2017
Rated 11 Feb 2017
84
75th
Filled with sharp, beautiful images of landscapes but especially people from around the world, the film on its surface looks like little more than a pastiche of edited together footage. But its overall impact is something much greater, pointing us toward empathy and understanding of the other, even as it remains a deeply personal record of Johnson's work over the years.
Rated 11 Feb 2017
Rated 19 Jul 2020
85
93rd
In making this film, Johnson has created a very personal and compelling audio-visual tapestry that not only captures what one imagines to be the essence of doing cinematography, but which also acts as a powerful historical record of the way in which some things change (for good or bad) and other things stay the same (for good or bad). This applies as much to the personal as to the public.
Rated 19 Jul 2020
Rated 26 Nov 2019
5
91st
The moving image as memoir. Our investment in Johnson and the people and places she chooses to capture is inseparable from her decision to share them with us; by seeing through her eyes, we're forced to consider what an endless ocean of feelings and memories another person is. These images will have to suffice instead.
Rated 26 Nov 2019
Rated 12 Nov 2018
4
55th
its conflicted ontology is cinema's, right there in the title, and johnson's awareness of such is demonstrated by her chosen derrida quote, said offhand as they cross the road together: "she sees everything and she's totally blind, like the philosopher who falls in the well while looking at the stars". i love that the defining piece on this was penned by michael almereyda, who places it in the lineage of marker and vertov.
Rated 12 Nov 2018
Rated 14 Feb 2017
84
87th
Intensely personal, oft times uncomfortably so. Documentary as much as it is essayist, Johnson deftly interrogates human connection, voyeurism, the cinematic apparatus, reality, and narrative with a tremendously humanist eye for the world. Much of fascination and emotion can be found in the "banal" of the world, indeed.
Rated 14 Feb 2017
Rated 16 Jun 2023
85
81st
Johnson does a wonderful job of establishing herself/her camera as the protagonist of this film although we never see them. It's a masterclass in documentary film making and reminding the presence of the camera in every footage. It also turns into an essay about looking, remembrance, life, death, and love; although that feeling is fleeting and is not as present in every moment of the film.
Rated 16 Jun 2023
Rated 06 May 2023
90
87th
As Johnson shoots footage of her mother slipping away into dementia, and footage of her own children, the status of these clips as Johnson's memories start to become clearer. The fragmentary nature of the film mirrors the fragmentary nature of memory. A truly beautiful and profound film.
Rated 06 May 2023
Rated 17 Jan 2023
98
99th
It made me wonder, it made me cry, made me realise that there is so much more to this life. Unveiled, raw, a 10/10.
Rated 17 Jan 2023
Rated 18 Jan 2022
90
94th
Organic patterns and trends emerge from otherwise unrelated footage being collaged together and grown with the passage of time. Capturing the uncapturable.
Rated 18 Jan 2022
Rated 03 Nov 2020
85
90th
johnson is just an incredible observer. I can imagine myself tuning out probably 10 minutes into in any other documentary of this type but every footage manages to create some sense of curiosity throughout cameraperson. it manages to be very personal yet very accessible as johnson is so expressive without uttering a single word. immensely evocative.
Rated 03 Nov 2020
Rated 11 Dec 2019
47
5th
The challenge, then, is not only in the pacing and editing but also in selecting compelling footage. On this first point, Cameraperson largely succeeds. What hobbles Cameraperson is that most of the footage, both in isolation and in context, isn't very compelling.
Rated 11 Dec 2019
Rated 13 Apr 2018
78
83rd
Mesmerizing and somehow both sprawling & intimate.
Rated 13 Apr 2018
Rated 25 Jun 2019
80
59th
An interesting collection of unique experiences but not necessarily one with a broader message or theme, much like life itself.
Rated 25 Jun 2019
Rated 17 Oct 2016
24
78th
Staggering. On a basic level, all the leftover footage it already make for compelling mini-narratives on their own (esp. the breech birth sequence), but then you see how all these chunks of narrative have been edited together and how it represents the documentarian & their relationship to their subject, their influences (one sequence functions as a mini-Night & Fog), modern geopolitics, what's filmed & what is allowed to be filmed, etc. A heady documentary that needs to be picked at.
Rated 17 Oct 2016
Rated 24 Dec 2016
80
37th
Viewed December 19, 2016.
Rated 24 Dec 2016
Rated 29 Oct 2017
6
43rd
It is what it claims to be a collection of moving, life affirming, sometimes terrifying moments caught on camera.
Rated 29 Oct 2017
Rated 26 Apr 2017
50
77th
That's some memories! The film takes some patience to behold, it works nicely as a ambiance piece for relaxing, and once in a while something special comes up, like the moments with her mother dealing with Alzheimers and that baby gasping for air. I'm not a major fan of these random montage pieces, but Kirsten Johnson's experiences as a camerawoman kept my attention.
Rated 26 Apr 2017
Rated 10 Feb 2017
40
23rd
I'm sure there's a good film in here somewhere but it's not for me, it seems symptomatic of a style of documentary making that demands that you the viewer fill in the gaps - it's like jazz, you've got to listen to the notes not being played
Rated 10 Feb 2017
Rated 12 Feb 2023
55
14th
This wasn't anything more than a few nice shots and capturing human suffering, but I found almost nothing captivating. It is a good concept but very very poor execution(feels quite pretentious too) and cannot really go beyond "a bunch of deleted scenes". I'm generally not a big fan of "compilation" style documentaries anyway but things like Baraka, Samsara can be quite fascinating. This wasn't.
Rated 12 Feb 2023
Rated 19 Jan 2017
60
6th
Not my cup of tea. I can see why a person would put random B-roll footage together to justify its existence and document their career in some way, but I can't see any meaning in combining this footage or in releasing it to the world. Some of the scenes give us an insight into who's behind the camera, in a way that is absent in traditional features and documentaries, which is mildly interesting but hardly intimate. I'd know more about camera operating if I went out with my own for an hour or two.
Rated 19 Jan 2017
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