“Tenet” Physicist thoroughly examines! What was this “retrograde” world? *Spoiler alert [CINEMORE ACADEMY Vol.9]

What is Nolan's desire for authenticity?

Yamazaki: Nolan is often said to hate CG, but I think that's not the case; he just likes realistic things. That's why in Interstellar , black holes and wormholes are recreated using CG based on mathematical formulas. But I guess the reason we go out of our way to use models is because we sometimes violate the laws of physics without even realizing it. With current CG, it is impossible to express complete reality, and the audience will notice something unnatural at some point.

Oguchi: By the way, the black hole called "Gargantua" that appeared in "Interstellar" expressed the distortion caused by the gravitational lens effect . In fact, in the NHK special ``Galaxy and Space The Martian'' (1990), in which I also participated in the CG production, I visualized black holes using gravitational lens effects. However, the black holes that appeared in subsequent science programs were always described as having a black sphere at the center of a red accretion disk , and no one ever depicted the gravitational lensing effect. But after ``Interstellar,'' everyone was able to emulate that depiction (lol).

Yamazaki: It's true that there has been a sudden increase in the number of videos imitating ``Interstellar'' on recent science programs.

Editorial Department: In this case of ``Tenet'', where will the scenes where you actually tried making it happen?

Yamazaki: Well, I think everyone knows this, but it's a famous story about a real jumbo jet crashing into the rear of a plane. But when I saw that scene for the first time, I thought, ``It's surprisingly plain.'' I was imagining a more spectacular explosion. However, seeing the ceiling made of thin metal like corrugated iron roll over was strangely realistic, and on the contrary, I felt a sense of fear.

Also, the fact that they actually played the character of the person who goes backwards instead of using CG made me think, ``They were so particular about it.'' However, if I took two shots in forward motion and then played one in reverse and composited them together, I think it would look too beautiful. To be honest, the movement of people walking backwards is unnatural, but it gives the impression that at least this shooting is actually taking place, so I think that's a plus. .

Oguchi: Actually, most of the mob scenes in movies these days are created using crowd simulation software like Massive . After ` `The Lord of the Rings '' (2001), they no longer hired large numbers of extras to film battle scenes. But as a result, no matter how many thousands of warriors appear on screen, no one in the audience is surprised. But when there's something unnatural like in this film, you get the feeling of, ``Oh, these people are seriously filming!''

Yamazaki: That's right. Just like Jumbo Jet, Starsk 12 also gave me a surprisingly small impression. I thought that maybe it was because I watched the ``Avengers'' series, where there were so many fake, flashy battle scenes. But when I saw that this was actually filmed, I suddenly felt like I was on a battlefield, and it reminded me a little of Dunkirk (17).

Oguchi: The scene in Starsk 12 where a building is destroyed from above and below seems to involve some kind of digital technology.

Yamazaki: That's right. You can do it by building two identical buildings, blowing them up, shooting one in forward motion and one in reverse, and connecting them with a transition. Actually, the explosion of that building was the scene that interested me the most in the whole movie. Most of the scenes in this movie are in one of three scenes: only forward motion, only backward motion, or a mixture of forward motion and retrograde motion that is difficult to understand. But the scene with Bill is a Feynman diagram...it's called a second-order diagram, and it's the only scene where the forward and backward directions are clearly connected for just that moment. It was a scene that really hit home for me as a scientist.

Oguchi: I thought maybe I should let the students (who are studying film) experiment with it (lol). However, Nolan avoids CG not because CG itself is bad, but because technology quickly becomes obsolete. I think it's the same reason why he hates digital photography.

Yamazaki: Classical music never gets old, but new songs also get old for the same reason. Anything that incorporates the latest trends will quickly become obsolete. For example, movies like ` `2001: A Space Odyssey '' (68) don't feel old even when you watch them now.

Oguchi: By the way, when I was a student, I saw ``2001: A Space Odyssey'' 33 times at Theater Tokyo's Cinerama, and I heard that you also watched ``Interstellar'' over and over again.

Yamazaki: Yes, I've watched it 50 times (lol). But I've only seen it in theaters about 15 times. The other day, after watching ``Tenet,'' I saw ``Interstellar'' being re-screened at Osaka Expo City for the first time in a while, and even that movie had a lower budget than ``Tenet.'' I thought so. You'll be in space all the time. On the other hand, ``Tenet'' was shot on location in seven countries around the world.

Oguchi: I think ``Tenet'' is intentionally designed to make you watch it over and over again (lol).

Yamazaki: It's true that it's impossible to fully understand a movie by watching it just once (lol).

What is Neil's true identity?