Side by Side (2012)

Director: Christopher Kenneally

Writer: Christopher Kenneally

Composers: Bill Ryan, Brendan Ryan

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Lars von Trier, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, Robert Rodriguez, Joel Schumacher, Dick Pope, John Malkovich, David Lynch, Dennis Muren, Wally Pfister, Christopher Nolan, George Lucas, Richard Linklater, Barry Levinson, David Fincher, James Cameron, Danny Boyle

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A documentary about the science, art, and impact of digital cinema

Plot: Investigates the history, process and work flow of both digital and photochemical film creation. It shows what artists and filmmakers have been able to accomplish with both film and digital and how their needs and innovations have helped push filmmaking in new directions. Interviews with directors, cinematographers, colorists, scientists, engineers and artists reveal their experiences and feelings about working with film and digital. Where we are now, how we got here and what the future may bring.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

The bad?  Keanu Reeves (also one of the film's producers) delivers the narration very slowly as if this film was being presented to children.  Really.  Other than that, it's great.  It's a wonderful presentation of how digital film making started and traces the progress over the past forty years.  It also compares what film has been able to accomplish and how the two have divided the industry.  There are loads of interviews of folks in many areas of film making - directors, cinematographers, editors, etc.  We get the pros and cons from both camps and we hear from folks who are die hard proponents on each side along with some who are on the fence and see the need for one or the other or both.  It's clear that digital is going to dominate but there is room for film; there always will be.  With technology developing at such a rapid pace, digital will be the medium for this century as photochemical film was for the last.  It's on Netflix streaming and it's definitely worth your 99 minutes.