What Ang Lee and James Cameron are doing to advance cinema

Ang Lee’s new movie “Gemini Man” was shot in 120fps/4k/3D format. The High Frame Rate is said to be the “most pristine and immersive format” in movies. It was attempted by Lee (“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk”) and Peter Jackson (“The Hobbit”) in the past, but the technology has gotten better, to the point where the writer-director is convinced that he’s on to something very special here. At CinemaCon last week, presenting footage from “Gemini Man,” Lee urged other filmmakers to follow in his steps and explore new tech advances with the camera.

"This is the beginning of something new in the cinema," Lee told a crowd. "It's so exciting. There seems to be a new world in movie land." "I think [advances in] physical production will allow us to see that world," he continued, saying, "I don't just want to see [movie images]; I want to experience them. That’s a dream I’ve been pursuing since “Life of Pi.” It's been eight years."

Lee acknowledged that Hollywood was just starting to understand the potential of digital cinema. “I want other filmmakers to participate and help [show this potential to audiences]," Lee said. "It's a different mindset and you have to create something new for it. I won’t teach anybody because I’m a novice myself, but I promise I will share whatever the pain or any experience that I’ve been through. Anything I know, I want people to use it. I want to share it."

Lee has all but given up on the subtle cinema that he used to make in Mandarin and English back in the ‘90s and ‘00s. After all, the writer-director has probably done enough for the movie world to warrant this path to more tech-heavy filmmaking. He’s made landmarks such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Brokeback Mountain.” He’d rather now focus on advancing the medium in more visually-minded ways. Fair enough. That seems to be the same path James Cameron has been going into with his “Avatar” sequels, which are said to be in 3D but without the need to put on glasses.