Kodachrome the Movie 3

The screenplay for “Kodachrome” the movie illuminates several prominent contemporary
issues. It may be about a photographer as the centerpiece that is both
antagonist and or protagonist. But then again, it is also about the human
condition. Primarily, it takes on the impact technology has on all of us and
our lives. The screenplay examines the challenge of the new technology and how
we take and view our photographs and the social consequences of this change. It
embodies the rush to use the more current convenient tool to get to what we
want. The social dynamics of out with the old and in with new. I remember
conversations with those converting to digital and how it changed the way a
photo is captured (which was formerly exposed). The manipulation of these
images in the computer was beyond what one was able to perform in the darkroom.
There were many that did not consider a digital image as true photography. To
them, an image too susceptible to such manipulation did not represent the idea
or art of photography. Photography represented “an in the moment experience”
that we were all used to. I could see the pain and angst in the older
photographers. They were at a loss on how to deal with those using digital
cameras and software. It was changing the relevance of what they learned over
all their years. It was rendering the long hours they put in honing their craft
in the darkroom as pointless. It was a huge unknown to them, and it was scary.
I myself did not know where to begin, so I continued my work with a 70-year-old
4x5 camera. It could only take one photo at a time, so I was entirely in the
moment. It was what had become intuitive to me. It was what I was used to. It
would happen that I would change with a significant uphill learning curve. I
have no regrets about being in the moment. It was always a moment of Zen.
Photography, today, is still about catching that one moment in time that is
real and never repeated.

The writer and director placed in the story other social elements that are
contemporary with today’s changing technology. The world today and the current state
medical science, are allowing us to live longer. The result of this social
phenomenon greatly impacts the family. Family members are now tasked with job
of providing care for debilitated parent.  I hold the belief that in this day and age of
medicine that caring for the elderly family member allow us to grieve while
they are still with us. I have been through it and I know I am not alone. The
pain of someone leaving is less after they have left because we were able to
share a bit of ourselves with them. I lost my father suddenly and the grieving process
took years. My mother had a long illness and I got to understand her and myself
better. We grieved together. The story exposes this theme head on.

Ben is dying from liver cancer and has not much time left. Yet he is functioning at what
appears to be a high level. We first meet him in the movie whaling on a set of
drums as Matt, his son, sees him after a ten-year estrangement. Ben’s manager,
Larry, tells Matt that the medication is what keeps him alive and functioning.
Matt is that asked by Larry to take Ben on an odyssey to Parsons Kansas, and
help Ben fulfill one of his last wishes. To develop his last roles of
Kodachrome, that he has been hanging onto for years. Ben, we have to assume has
done well as a professional photographer artist. The word artist is important
for me and other photographers. The movie implies that Ben has attained his
success as a result of the critical thinking needed for an artist. That is how
to make the idea come to life.

He has a manager and a nurse, which says he has some means and an estate.
This supports his level of achievement. As a former accountant that specialized
in estate planning, I understand there is value in the work Ben is leaving
behind. Matt, as noted earlier, is estranged from his father. He himself is
going through difficult emotional times. He is not too distant from his own
divorce , and in a difficult profession as an A& R executive for a record
company. A and R jobs for the music industry means “artist and repertoire”.

The A & R exec is responsible for finding new artists for a record
company. It is an unpredictable profession, as you might imagine. There are
misses, and like any like any record, a few hits. It turns out that Matt’s job
is on the line because one of his biggest clients has left for another record
label. So he is in a bind to replace them. If he can, he will win favor with
his bosses and keep his job. Ben’s agent helped reward Matt to try to get him
to take this trip with his dad by a arranging a meeting with the new act. He
reluctantly accepts the offer.