I am a New Englander by adoption, not by birth. I've only been here for 32 years, which means I'm still a newcomer, though I have been (grudgingly) accepted by a few of the locals.
But I love it here. I love the look of the place. I love the grubby grungy streets of Providence, and the tired little villages with churches and liquor stores side by side, and the worn-looking train tracks, and the birds chattering on the telephone wires.
And I am fascinated by the light.
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so I thought I knew the sky pretty well. But New England was a whole new experience for me. There's a strange diffuse light that spreads across everything. Colors dampen and merge, like an overexposed Polaroid photograph. Bright red fades down into brick red. Bright green turns into a somber olive green.
Some moviemakers know this. I first noticed it in “Good Will Hunting”; Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, both local boys, got the look of Boston just right. There's a wonderful final scene of Matt driving west on the Mass Pike, filmed from far overhead: his car disappears into the endless washed-out green of the trees around the highway.
Affleck did it again recently in “The Town.” It's set mostly in Charlestown, and there's that same washed-out look: run-down tenements, rutted asphalt, smoky light.
Even Martin Scorsese – Mr. New York! - has begun paying attention. He got it right in “The Departed,” which has some great camerawork and cinematography, and captured the look of downtown Boston very nicely. He tried again in “Shutter Island,” which was maybe too lurid and Gothic for its prosaic Boston Harbor setting, and which was not a wonderful movie, but which has a few good moments. But – what can I say? - he's a New Yorker. And New York, as everyone knows, is black-and-white. Just ask Woody Allen.
Do I need to mention the Farrelly brothers? As cinematographers, they're not great. But they know New England, and they get the people right. Maybe not so much the light. But I forgive them. Special mention: “Outside Providence” and “Stuck On You.”
And now, “The Fighter.” Set in Lowell, Massachusetts, where it was filmed. If you've never been there, see the movie, and you won't need to go there. Trust me, that's the way it looks: shabby, worn-out, working-class.
And that light.
Some other time I will tell you about the light in the Pacific Northwest. But for now, study that New England light. It's very interesting.
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