Identity is defined as the individual characteristics by which a person or thing is recognized. In the films Collateral and Miami Vice Michael Mann explores how identity is always fluctuating and that the “individual characteristics” by which we define ourselves are always changing, but our core selves remain the same. Almost like a computer, the software may be constantly changing but the hardware running it never does. Through the characters, story, and cinematography Mann exemplifies this.
In the mini documentary Miami Vice: Undercover from the Miami Vice DVD Michael Mann states “the best fabricated identity is yourself.” This idea that identity, though always changing, has a central core can be seen both in Collateral and Miami Vice. Mann’s main tool to portray this to the audience is through his characters. In the case of Max and Vincent, Mann shows us that even though they have the capability to take on each other’s personalities; their central selves remain the same. In the scene where Max plays Vincent in order to get Vincent’s hit list back, Max takes on the anti-hero role. While changing his attitude and confidence level, Max is simply using what he learned as a cab driver in a different circumstance. In the beginning of the film we see Max’s gift of observation when he immediately identifies Annie as a lawyer due to her appearance and actions. Later in the restaurant Max immediately knows that the body guard is reaching for his gun and warns him to put it away before he attacks him, Improvising to the set of his surroundings, his identity changes accordingly.
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In Miami Vice we follow the story of two cops who occupations forces them to constantly change their identities while maintaining their stability. We see this more in Rico than in Sonny because unlike Sonny who doesn’t exactly have a stable life, Rico has a relationship and is centered. So when he has to become a drug dealer who is supposed to have no emotion and looks at life as a way to the next job he has to hide that sense of feeling of love and emotion. But what’s interesting in the case of Rico is that Mann shows us how the core can be corrupted. When Rico’s girlfriend Trudy is critically injured in a rescue operation Rico loses this sense of feeling and restraint because he realizes the only way to defeat the people who hurt what he loves is to become them. Sonny on the other hand is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Every time he becomes someone for an assignment that becomes his identity until the next job, erasing any hint of a core. It’s as if he formats himself like a computer for each job. “There’s undercover and then there’s which way is up” according to Rico when he confronts Sonny. Even though Sonny says that he is in total control, it is impossible to have control when you don’t know what you’re in control of. Never the less we see that even though these two characters can manipulate their outer core, they can’t change who they are inside and they don’t know what the results or consequences of their manipulations will be. But Mann doesn’t only represent Identity in his characters, he also does it through his use of lighting and digital cinematography.
Digital cinematography originally began as a money saving tool. The standard cost today to rent a film camera is upwards of $250,000 for a four week shoot. However the cost today to buy instead of rent a high end digital video camera is $16,000. What’s interesting about this is that Mann took this idea, whose sole creation was for financial reasons, and turned it into an art tool. There are things that digital cameras can do that film cannot. Digital has the ability to capture light the way it reflects in night and day. It also makes thing crisper and clearer in moments when light is minimal. Mann is known for his use of lighting in most of his films but now instead of having to change the lighting in post production he can capture the light exactly the way it is in the initial shoot. Mann has a unique ability to tell a story not only with his characters but with his technology. Depending on the story the camera can either mirror or contradict the characters. Because of this Mann tells his audience that identity can work with you or against you and there is no way to absolutely control it.
The main setting of Collateral takes place completely at night. Mann wanted to mirror the story with the night. Throughout the film nothing is certain or clear, this is the way that many of us feel at night because literally we cannot see anything. The problem with film is that it makes things very matted and one dimensional. However digital, because of its shorter depth of field, or how far the cameras can shoot images in sharp focus, brings out every last detail or lack thereof. The visual clarity is so focused in Collateral and Miami Vice that Mann allows us to see that we can’t see. In Collateral the digital cinematography captures the changes in light better than if it was shot on film. If the club scene was shot on film the lighting changes caused by the strobe light would not have the same impact they do when shot through a digital camera. Because of this we are forced to look deeper into the varying light. This happens again during the train shootout when the light starts to flicker as Max and Vincent are firing at each other. Even though we would have seen it, it wouldn’t have had the same impact if it was shot on standard 35mm film.
What makes Miami Vice interesting is that unlike Collateral where only a few select sequences where shot digitally, most of the film is shot digitally. Now not only do we get this idea of night being unclear, but it is mirrored during the day because when the light makes things clear it becomes overwhelming. Much like the identity issues explored in Mann’s films, the clearness of the day caused through the high resolution digital cameras makes things confusing because we see everything, but we don’t. During the scene when Rico and Sonny are walking through town and Sonny asks “why does it feel like everyone knows we are coming 15 blocks out?” and Rico responds “because everyone known we are coming 15 blocks out.” This mirrors with the digital camera and the lighting because now that everything is clear they are opening themselves to new threats that even though they know are there, they can’t prepare for them. During the final gun battle we see the digital camera and the light help reflect the confusion being shown on screen. Every time we see a muzzle flash in the sequence it illuminates the screen for a brief moment. This is Mann’s way of representing to the audience that the only way of achieving clarity is through confusion. This would not have the same effect if shot on film.
Both these films use light and digital cameras to help get their respective views on identity across. But they both make similar claims in their own unique ways. Both Miami Vice and Collateral show us through light and digital that who we are at the very moment is not set in stone. That it is constantly changing and that we have the power to decide who our exterior changes into, but we do not have any control over our inner selves.
Through both his characters and his cinematography Mann shows that identity is not controllable. But it does have a static point and there are ways to manipulate it. No one can say they are in control of their identity but they are able to say they can manipulate it. Even though you can change your identity you don’t know what the result of that change will be. According to Mann, identity is not certain.
Mann‘s Public Enemies hits theaters July 1st.
Will this theme of identity be apparent in Public Enemies? Are you looking forward to the film?