Beijing residents would have a rare opportunity to watch a movie by acclaimed Chinese director Ang Lee in high-definition ahead of “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’s” world premiere on Oct. 14 at the New York Film Festival.
The film about an Iraq war hero whose homecoming triggers memories of the trauma of losing a sergeant in a firefight will be exhibited at the Bon Cinema in U Town Mall at the Chaoyang District in eastern Beijing, reported China Entertainment News. For Beijing moviegoers to view the original high-definition film, the owner of Bona upgraded the cinema’s equipment.
The upgrade is necessary since the movie is the first full-length narrative film short in 4K, native 3D at the ultra-high rate of 120 frames per second. To screen the innovative feature in its intended format, it required the theater to be equipped with special technology such as 4K projector.
Since “Billy Lynn” used the technology with a higher frame rate, the images looked like real life. When the technology was demonstrated through the showing of an 11-minute clip from the movie at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas in April, Christopher Lawrence wrote in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the depth of field was staggering as if the screen’s back opened up and actors seem like emerging from the screen, hologram style.
Lee described the filming process as extremely painful since he and the crew had to deal with issues in unexpected areas with no precedents they could follow. Because of the technology, viewers are assaulted with “immersive, hyper-real battle footage unlike anything even depicted on screen,” pointed out Indiewire.
Cast in the lead role of Billy Lynn is Joe Alwyn. Other stars of the movie are Vin Diesel, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Steve Martin and Chris Tucker.