Zodiac + Discussion
Dir. David Fincher, English, USA, 2007
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Sun 2 December 2012 // 19:30
/ Cinema
Elected 3rd film of 2007 by Sight & Sound magazine
“It is impossible not to enjoy Zodiac: if enjoy is the word for a picture so often scary and stomach-turning.” – THE GUARDIAN
PROJECTION ON 35MM!!
REVIEWS
“Encouraging the audience to draw their own conclusions, this moody masterpiece is up there with David Fincher's best.” – FILM 4
“Fincher's most mature work to date will earn respect over time. “ – TIME UK
“A film of flailing loose ends, an epic of frustration. The suspense lies not in when the murderer is going to be caught, but whether, and how.” – DAILY TELEGRAPH
THE PLOT
The true story behind the murders that many crime scholars believe to be the most perplexing series of unsolved crimes in modern history: the mysterious tale of the infamous Zodiac killer.
A relentless serial killer is stalking the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area, leaving citizens locked into a constant state of panic, and baffled authorities scrambling for clues. Though the killer sadistically mocks the detectives by leaving a series of perplexing ciphers and menacing letters at the crime scenes, the investigation quickly flatlines when none of the evidence yields any solid leads.
As two detectives remain steadfast in their devotion to bringing the elusive killer to justice, they soon find that the madman has control not only over their careers, but their very lives as well. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. star.
THE DIRECTOR INVESTIGATED HIMSELF
Fincher, screenwriter James Vanderbilt, and producer Brad Fischer spent 18 months conducting their own investigation and research into the Zodiac murders. Fincher employed the digital Thomson Viper Filmstream camera to photograph the film, however Zodiac was not shot entirely digitally; traditional high-speed film cameras were used for slow-motion murder sequences.
DIRECTOR DAVID FINCHER WAS BROUGHT UP WHERE THE ZODIAC KILLED PEOPLE
"Raised in Marin County, Mr. Fincher was only 7 when the area was seized with fear in 1969. “I remember coming home and saying the highway patrol had been following our school buses for a couple weeks now,” he recalled in December in an interview in New Orleans, where he was editing “Zodiac” while filming “Benjamin Button.” “And my dad, who worked from home, and who was very dry, not one to soft-pedal things, turned slowly in his chair and said: ‘Oh yeah. There’s a serial killer who has killed four or five people, who calls himself Zodiac, who’s threatened to take a high-powered rifle and shoot out the tires of a school bus, and then shoot the children as they come off the bus.’ ”
Great article in the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/movies/18halb.html?_r=0
PART OF OUR SERIES: SAN FRANCISCO ON FILM
San Francisco is one of the great American cities but its role in American cinema has often been overlooked by people who prefer to examine New York City or Chicago.
These 3 films, all set in the Golden Gate City, demonstrate how San Francisco plays a key role in the American cinematic imagination.
In Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the first remake of Don Siegel’s classic alien invasion movie), San Francisco is the home of alternative lifestyles, which makes it difficult to discern who is an alien pod and who remains human.
Point Blank sets up San Francisco as the scene of a double-cross which leads the film’s hero towards a shocking realisation about American crime.
The final film in the season, Zodiac, is closely based on real events, and depicts San Francisco as a menacing home to unfathomable criminals. This is not the San Francisco that you think you know!
+ DISCUSSION
All the films will be introduced by Dr Joe Street, senior lecturer in American History at Northumbria University, and the screenings will be followed by a discussion.