Kasim turns ‘Willy Wonka’ into a multi-sensory experience

We are at the beginning of the “experimental cinema” era.

At least that’s the pitch from entrepreneurs like Jeb Terry of Cosmic and James Dolan of Spire, who have embraced the idea of ​​reviving old movies to enhance their dome spaces with new technologies. Terry used the phrase Tuesday in introducing the 1971 revival of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” which opens this week at Inglewood’s Cosm with state-of-the-art, CGI animation, aimed at emphasizing Gene Wilder’s image of cuteness and childlike wonder.

“Wanka” is Cosm’s biggest attempt to redefine the filming experience — “The Matrix” got the Cosm treatment last summer and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” will follow next year. Watching a movie in what the space calls “shared reality” can be omnipresent and yet intimate as well as communal and, if all goes well, somewhat intellectual. An 87-foot-diameter spherical screen drapes above, below, and behind us, but the emphasis on sofa seating invites a collaborative environment. And guests are encouraged, for example, to take out their phones and capture and share the moment.

A spherical screen can give the illusion of dimension.

(Cosm)

It’s good fun, if you don’t take it too seriously, as an experiment, in the case of “Wanka”, which means that a film devoted to the power of imagination sometimes leaves a little to be desired. Clever and clear, Cosm’s approach to “Wonka,” a collaboration with veteran small cinema and visual effects house MakeMake, is to ensure that viewers are never surrounded by eye candy. The result is alternately charming and confrontational – why, I wonder, wasn’t the 1970s-style animation to complement the film better?

In turn, has the film’s new magic replaced its subtle mystery? Or is it the wrong question to ask at a screening to feel like a social event, complete with chocolate tarts filled with peanut butter mousse and sparkling red vodka drinks with gold glitter salt rims?

“Willy Wonka” is the second Hollywood film after “The Matrix” to run in Kasum.

(Cosm)

Because this is the maximum experience. The opening credits that appear in the movie with streams of chocolate are now combined with smoothed images that look a bit like “Super Mario Bros.” looks inspired by, as tubes and pipes place visitors in a milk chocolate dispensing factory. It’s beautiful, and you’ll find yourself diverting your attention from the movie-framed screen to take in the toy-like animated mechanisms. My only challenge here was that the edges of the filmed footage were sharpened by the clearly blurred animation.

Elsewhere, news reports on the film show us the entire cartoon-like studio, scenes of children galloping down the street to scoop chocolate under the included assembly lines and the film’s first big song-and-dance moment, “The Candy Man,” now surrounded by carnival-inspired visuals, with flower-like candelabras. And to sing softly, if not, at least mouth songs.

A moderate success when it was released, “Wonka” grew in stature over time as Sammy Davis Jr. turned “The Candy Man” into a hit on television and second screenings made it a must-see at home for generations to come. It’s an at-times, laugh-out-loud, family film with a quirky streak – maybe even a bit of a bad movie at times. And yet I went to Cosm’s “Wonka” premiere not as a film critic but as someone curious about the fast-paced movements in the dive industry, more interested in how Cosm could use its technology to find a way to shine a second film.

In Cosm, when Charlie discovers his golden ticket, digital fireworks erupt.

(Cosm)

Illustrating is a key word, as young Peter Ostrom as Charlie opens a candy bar with a golden ticket, moving images around the framed screen burst into flames. I remember watching this scene as a child and feeling a little nervous, afraid that the ticket might be taken away by the people who spend it. Yet Cosm aims to turn “wonka” into pure joy. Such a moment was a reminder of how much impact such extras can have on a film’s emotional tonality.

In this sense, Cosm’s immersive ambitions are different from previous experiences – the interactive dialogues in the 90s that recently came to life again on Netflix (see “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”), or the latest 4DX theaters with movable seats (see the effects of light, water and winds). Like the effects that led to, or when the animators tried to flesh out the Wonka factory.

An adorable scene featuring the Oompa Loompas.

(Cosm)

For example, when Wilders Wonka built a sheep building behind him, for example, which has now been demolished by green barns. Yet I was transfixed when near the end Wilder’s character was framed among blindingly fast lines of light, or when the supporting Oompa Loompa characters were shown outside the frame as colorful orbs that looked like strands of DNA.

I feel it is important to mention that I am over two decades removed from seeing the original “Wonka”. Fresh in my mind are recent cinematic explorations of material and characters. While I chose to review “The Matrix” before filming it on Kasim, I took a different approach with “Wonka,” and I believe that one’s likelihood of accepting what Kasim is trying to do will increase exponentially by connecting one to the source material. Having forgotten vast parts of the film, I found myself conflicted – watch the original film, or focus on Kasum’s terminology – while the material with “The Matrix” was fresh in mind and therefore I was more comfortable walking around and taking in the impressive screen of the dome.

And it’s really impressive. When Charlie walks into Wonka’s factory, Kasim raises a film frame, surrounded by bubbles. Soon, depending on your seat, you may find yourself looking straight up. Kasum’s visuals are so crisp that at times they can mimic movement and dimensionality, and we’re lost in wonder when characters get trapped in a seemingly doorless room.

Elsewhere, Cosm enjoys when Dennis Nickerson’s violet turns into a blueberry. Another clever moment: when Charlie’s wall of moving hands extends beyond the screen and starts waving at the audience.

It is in these situations when the film comes alive, and taking Cosm into the cinema of experience no longer feels like a novelty and becomes an experience.

Jane Wilder’s Willy Wonka and Julie Dan Cole in Veruca Salt’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” as presented by Kasum.

(Cosm)