REFLECTIONS ON THE FILM
The first time I met him, Peter Coonradt told me he planned to die with a camera in his hands. Indeed, for more than five decades he has continually produced scores of films on a wide array of topics. Each is a mirror to the man and epitomizes the independent filmmaker as artist, essayist and provocateur.
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His films promise the viewer a distinctly unique ride. They are passionate, quirky, personal and moving. As a filmmaker myself, I know how difficult it is to do the latter, to combine just the right images, sounds, and music to make something that you don’t just watch, but feel. Coonradt’s latest series The Closer You Look, the More You See is full of those magical moments.
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Like Victorian Cabinets of Curiosity, the drawers and jars of the Museum of Comparative Zoology are stuffed with intriguing birds, mammals, and insects. But it is the stories of the men and women behind the collections that captivate Coonradt. He dives into their world and invites us for the ride.
The old axiom that film is a collaborative art does not apply with Coonradt’s work. Single-handedly, he produces, directs, shoots, edits and distributes his own films. He is the sole visionary even as his films often convey the genius of others. In his new project, Coonradt found a rare mentor and star in Andrew Berry, an eloquent and deeply knowledgeable teacher of evolutionary biology.
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The segments are structured around Berry’s Evolutionary Genetics course at Harvard. It’s a glimpse into that rarified Ivy League world, and a chance to learn about the giants of evolutionary science, past and present. Berry’s energy and enthusiasm make him the perfect narrator and guide for the series. And, what a voice! If he hadn’t become a scholar of evolution and the history of evolutionary thought, he could have had a career doing voice-over work. His reading of a poem by Nabokov - combined with Coonradt’s imagery and music - brought me to tears. Coonradt's career follows whatever subject piques his intelligence and curiosity. "The Closer You Look, The More You See" left me wanting to learn and feel more, the stamp of very good filmmaking.