For more than 20 years Chuck Workman was editor for the Oscars. He was responsible for the various montages celebrating the medium of film. So in those years he has seen a lot of imagery and with this documentary he has created a visual essay in which he takes a look at the history of film, the development it has gone through while various directors are interviewed, like Alfred Hitchcock/Robert Altman (archival footage), David Lynch and Michael Moore, who tell what it means to them. All the while you are shown footage from maybe hundreds of movies.
It is a documentary which isn’t looking for answers, but by doing interviews and showing imagery makes you want to think what film is and could be. Still, after watching it all, you don’t get the feeling that you’ve gained much insight. The only feeling it gave me with seeing so many movies shown that there were some I would like to check out. What is Cinema? can be best compared to those montages at the Oscars, a moment to stop and look back at this form of art and entertainment but which never leaves a lasting impression.
