Great Performers: L.A. Noir (2016)

An unusual video project accompanies this year’s Great Performers photo portfolio. These nine black-and-white films, written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (with two by Ami Canaan Mann), let the viewer inhabit a scene opposite some of Hollywood’s greatest actors, all in a series of classic film-noir scenarios. The action takes place in a dimly lit bar — an enveloping, 360-degree set, with all wiring and lights cleverly built into the scene. And in each short drama, the V.R. camera plays the role of a major character: The stars were instructed to play their scenes with the camera, speaking to it, singing to it, walking around it in circles, firing a gun at it.
The result is strange and thrilling, a new sort of moviegoing experience that puts you right inside the frame. This was each actor’s first time performing in V.R., and it took some getting used to. But there was one advantage over traditional filmmaking. Unlike a typical film set, which is full of crew members and equipment and other distractions, the V.R. set, once the scene began, became a closed, immersive fantasy: just a bar, a few actors and the single camera rig standing in for one last character — which is to say, you.
–JAKE SILVERSTEIN