Rian Johnson waxes thoughtful about 3-D

Rian Johnson, one of the great young technicians of cinema (see “Brick” and “The Brothers Bloom”) wrote a blog post today about 3-D that is particularly insightful, a respite from the usual black-and-white assessments of the now common technology.

You’ll have a hard time not reading on after this seemingly contradictory thesis:

One of the most provocative claims from the pro-3D camp is one I actually agree with, and I’ll sum it up in two closely related statements:

1.  3D is the future of cinema.

2.  The introduction of stereoscopic photography is analogous to the introduction of color.

I agree with both of these statements.

I will also never shoot stereoscopic.  I actively avoid seeing most stereoscopic movies.  Generally speaking, I don’t like stereoscopic photography.

To find out why Johnson doesn’t consider this statement to be a contradiction–plus a lot of illuminating, detailed thoughts about the future of the stereoscopic medium–read on, over at his Tumblr.

Johnson’s next film, the science-fiction head-scratcher Looper, comes out in glorious 2-D on September 28.