Johnny Mnemonic in Black-and-White

I remember watching it in the theatre as a kid and was blown away by it. I find it interesting that it had Cronenberg's editor working on it as well. Aside from stuff like Robocop and a couple of other things this was a cyberpunk movie I really got into. Ice T, Keanu and a dolphin all in one movie. I can wait for it to get released internationally so I can see it in my region in black and white.

Not sure if this is still the case, but -- this film wasn't available anywhere to stream. I ended up buying a DVD player and the DVD version just to watch it.

Strange Days is fantastic. It worked particularly well at just that moment in time, with the LA riots fresh in mind and the millennium coming up. It's one of the best cyberpunk movies I know of, and horribly underrated.

I first saw it around 1998 I think, in my early teens, and it made the same impression on me. So many of the ideas were amazing! It was also around this time I saw Terminator 2, RoboCop and The Fifth Element for the first time also. And then another few years later when my english teacher in secondary school had us watch the Matrix on VHS. It wasn't until I watched it in my own time I appreciated it. So many good films, rose tinted glasses!

Strange Days is a movie I go back to every now and then. It's bleakly great.

Trivia: Angela Bassett saying "right here, right now" from this movie is the sample used by Fatboy Slim on the song of the same name.

Movie scene: https://youtu.be/JmL5uWrvUUM

Full song: https://youtu.be/ub747pprmJ8

If you think film as an art; it’s being colour or monochrome is become just a medium of choice and not improvement.

IMHO It’s even better now since RAW image information gives freedom to translate it in a monochromatic in a way director likes. Each monochromatic films has it’s rendition and contrast different, and you must use filters while filming if you want some different rendition than that (photographic) film intended.

Aside from that, I don’t know many examples films shot in colour film and reverted to monochromatic (schindler list maybe?). Instead saw more film shot in digital but converted into monochromatic (Eva, great polish film comes into my mind). Color grading has its effects so monochromatic conversion as well imho.

I don't mind monochrome; I haven't watched much that was filmed and color and converted to monochrome but watching old black and white movies doesn't bother me at all.

But what really does bother me is when modern movies have all the colors shifted to make everything look drab, or blue, or green. The blue-shifting is the worst. I've even seen it done to re-releases of old movies that didn't look like that originally, presumably to make it "feel HD" or something.

I agree in general, but there is one exception and that exception applies here: film noir. Johnny Mnemonic and cyberpunk in general derive a lot of its inspiration from film noir and film noir in color just isn't the same.

Well its you in that you have a preference for colour and that's fine.

Colour has an emotional response of its own - which is why set design, lighting temperatures and colourists are a thing. Colour theory is of course the basis of this. Monochrome takes away that response and values shape, form and light to invoke a visual response.

Different ways of telling a story. Just taking a colour film/video/photograph and removing colour may not work. Shooting in monochrome has deliberate intent.

Black and white can be great. For instance, in The Wizard of Oz, it serves as a differentiation between reality and fantasy worlds. Pleasantville uses it as well. There is a large volume of pretentious monochrome. There are some actual good works though. I prefer good art. Good art exists in both color and monochrome.

I had similar thoughts to yours until I read, "So, I got the hi-res footage from the studio, and we graded it into black-and-white. I worked with Cyrus Stowe, who was the colorist on this version. Basically, we went through it scene-by-scene, and he was really great."

They didn't just put a feather in their cap and call it macaroni. They spent the time to get each scene contrasted correctly.

I'm a photography hobbyist, definitely prefer monochrome to color. Nope, won't call it an improvement. And obviously we naturally see in color, so monochrome means deliberately deleting some informations.

But that's how I usually take photographs. I don't care about color, only some very basic elements like light, shadow, shapes, texture, patterns etc. In some (if not a lot) cases, monochrome amplifies those elements. Personally, it actually simplifies my workflow. As long as there's sufficient light and shadows, I can start taking pictures without thinking if the color pallete of the scene is overall interesting or boring. It's rarely my intention to capture the scene as objectively accurate as it is.

You may prefer to "see" in color. That's perfectly fine.

I like monochrome film and photography, but removing color from an already shot movie is troubling. Generally both mediums have their merit, but black and white scenes aren't usually shot in the same way as color ones. For example, go look for color photos by Ansel Adams, who was typically a B&W photographer - he often even used the same subjects and angles, but it's clear that he was shooting for a much more dramatic lighting for his monochrome works. He'd pick the weather and time of day to add as much shadows, contrast and texture, but would avoid all of that for his color scenes.

> The trend of removing colour from something and calling it an improvement. In photography, in film, everywhere.

I honestly prefer Greek statues without the (original) paint: https://i.imgur.com/hF5zzp4.jpg

Depends. I can't tell you why you don't like monochrome :).

For me it's situational (and I would never call it "automatic improvement").

Both as consumer and occasional photographer, there are times when B&W feels right and great - it showcases shapes and contrast, and eliminates distraction of colour.

E.g. Recently I dressed my kids for a fun old-school photoshoot at abandoned old gas station I found, and my wife thought I was crazy because nothing matched but went along with me because she loves me :D. Then she saw them finished in 1920's B&W style and they were great - stripes and blocks were obvious, random colours weren't distracting.

I think Ansel Adams is still great. Some street/city photography is great in bw. And some portraiture is awesome in bw. And there are so many decisions and choices and and ways one can turn colour photo into bw! There are a dozen radically different mono shots in a single colour photo. Decisions of contrast and brightness and colour blend can make completely different results, so both the original subject matter and the choice/process have massive impact on result. Which at the end will always be subject to personal preference and impact.

At the same time, I can see a photo on Instagram and it's obvious it's a photo of somebody's breakfast that they pushed the filter button thinking it'll make it more interesting. There's a usage of bw that's clearly with thought of making it "more artsy! More artsy! Dial up the artsy!", always, regardless of nature of photo, possibly with little regard on how to make it bw. I probably have very very similar reaction to it as you do. But I still think some bw stuff is great - e.g. Sin City, when it comes to movies:).

Do you like art?

When I evaluate one of my "arty" photos, I ask myself if the color adds anything to the composition, if not, make it B&W. Color is additional information and art is more elegant when extraneous elements are stripped out.

Black and white movies have a number of advantages over color. You immediately know you are in an artificial story, like introducing your film saying "Once upon a time…" :)

Similarly, why do animation? Why take away all the detail of reality? Again, animation highlights the artificiality of the story, which can be a huge advantage. Samurai Jack is incredibly beautiful, and unapologetically make strange choices to heighten the viewer's experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iBU_D36-AA

It's wonderful to have options!

I feel exactly the same way. We had a joke in my country 20 - 30 years ago which was something like "why are you using black-white [film], don't you have enough money for color?".

A lot of bad photos in color can be improved just by tone-mapping colors to shades of gray. RGB noise turns into grain (e.g.)

Also a lot of "Black and White" television would be better called, "Grey and White" since the television would wash out the true deep blacks, and reduce the total image contrast.

As an aside, a similar effect happened in theaters for a long time where the theater owners would drop the brightness of the projector bulb to get more life out of it. But details in the dark would be lost. It may still happen today, I just don't go to the theaters anymore.

A proper screening of Citizen Kane would be fun to see in a dark theater with a bright DLP projector.

Well, as he says in the interview, he originally planned to just put this version out on youtube... Then came the producer.

The entertainment industry is now about finding your most devout + hardcore fans and extracting what you can from their pocket with bonus editions/features/DLC/power ups.

Amazon is working on an adaptation of The Peripheral, but don't seem to have announced a release date. Hopefully they'll pick up the rest of the Jackpot trilogy as well.

> Could we look forward to a reboot perhaps? :-D

Well, Keanu Reeves has been revisiting some of his older films (Matrix, Bill & Ted), so there is a chance...

He did voice work for the game Cyberpunk 2077 which has somewhat similar plot device around information lodged in a neural implant proving fatal, maybe he was thinking of Johnny when he signed on for that

The article didn't go into too many details about why it worked better, but these excerpts gesture at why:

"dialing up Gibson’s cyberpunk paranoia"

"the three computer graphic sections become quite coherent in black-and-white"

"it has this kind of a dreamy, 16mm feel to it. It reminds me of Tetsuo and Eraserhead, and all these great, kind of dreamy, black-and-white movies."

"the color graphics now look all pretty retro, but in black-and-white, it has its own quality to it for sure."

"I take inspiration from films like Alphaville, La Jetée, things like that"

My impression is that the color version sets an expectations that Longo never meant. It was always intended as a B&W art film, and not as a summer block-buster. The colors and expense were a distraction.

So, if you haven't yet, check out the movies mentioned. Ironman: Tetsuo, Eraserhead, Alphaville and La Jetée. They are definitely not Hollywood blockbusters.

If you take a clip and run it through a desaturation filter it will look aweful. To properly turn an image or a clip into black-and-white, it needs to be done by hand.

Now you have to do this manually for the whole movie. Every scene has to be done separately. But also, it has to be done in a way that is self consistent throughout the movie.

OTOH, I can't imagine enjoying Casablanca in color. Or Citizen Kane, Thin Man, or African Queen. B&W is part of a film's atmosphere, it's different.

I'd never want to see Forbidden Planet in B&W ... and The Day the Earth Stood Still in color? criminal!

Probably due to the blueray release. Also it’s set in 2021, so there’s a recent anniversary of sorts.

Some of the better sci-fi movies aren't received well initially and take time to pick up a following. If they're lucky they go on to be 'sleeper hits' or 'cult classics'. Sure, re-releases help but a lot of it is there's a small group of people, like those commenting here, who remember a film/series and sing their praises long after the critics and mass audiences have forgotten about them.

Also, there are people like myself who are always scouring recommendations lists to see what we've overlooked. I find some very interesting movies that way.

I think it's a great movie, I've always enjoyed it.

Final movie was not what he wanted from the very beginning. So it kind of make sense. At least in this case.

Why weird? Musicians change songs in subsequent albums and live versions (done with different arrangements etc, not just being slightly different) all the time.

And they don't have as heavy external influence as film-makers do, where tens or hundreds of millions are at stake, to the point that they're often denied certain decisions, frequently denied final cut, have different scriptwriters brought in by the producer, and so on. So they often end up with an end result that it's not what they'd wanted (and that's aside from technical and other issues).

When you understand the relationship between directors, producers and studios it's not surprising at all.

Directors rarely see their version of the movie on the screen. Sometimes they don't even see the final product before it is on the screen.

It is easier afterwards to work on a directors cut/version since studios see that as an opportunity for an additional cash grab after the 1.0 is no longer generating money.

If you read the article and more about the backstory of the production, the director did not get to make the film he really wanted to make. From the very start the producers demanded he turn it into a summer blockbuster and changed all kinds of script and other sequences to be more cheesey action movie fluff.

It's actually pretty rare that a director has complete creative freedom on a film. Only huge names like Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, etc. once they gained acclaim could put any damn thing they wanted on film and know that no one would question or change a thing

Not quite:

So, I got the hi-res footage from the studio, and we graded it into black-and-white. I worked with Cyrus Stowe, who was the colorist on this version. Basically, we went through it scene-by-scene, and he was really great.

I understand there is more involved than running the whole movie through a black-and-white filter with the default settings.

It recently released on bluray

Get a copy of the original, turn down saturation and turn up film grain in VLC.

Sounds like it was a pet project of the director's and had a few small art-house film screenings. If we're lucky maybe they'll take it on the film festival circuit, drum up interest, and have a wider independent/art house film release. Who knows maybe it eventually gets out to more theaters, kind of like the Mad Max Fury Road chrome edition (black and white) some years back.