Alun Bollinger.
Culture
Old man river
by Nancy Cawley
Legendary cinematographer Alun Bollinger has shot such landmark New Zealand films as Goodbye Pork Pie and Vigil, Heavenly Creatures and River Queen. Yet he rarely gives interviews and prefers to spend at least half the year away from the film business, at home in Blacks Point near Reefton. “If I can’t relate to a script,” he says, “I don’t get involved.”
Years ago, the houses at Blacks Point, near Reefton, had verandahs with prams and drooping washing, old cars and overgrown gardens – a hippie kingdom with an air of blissful neglect. I used to drive past and feel envious. These days, all is sleekly well cared for. The handful of houses are trimly painted, gardens are luxuriant but orderly, only the background is unchanged – hillsides of native bush shimmering in the sun. A little slice of Kiwi paradise. I feel envious all over again.
Cinematographer Alun Bollinger and his wife Helen moved from Hawke’s Bay to Blacks Point in the 1970s. Their knocked-through kitchen/living-room is all bright, strong colours and full of books, paintings, pottery and a piano-top covered with awards. And Bollinger, with his longish hair, beard and earring, fits perfectly into the once-were-hippies scene. Negotiations about an interview had been spread over several months, and were along the lines of yes/no/maybe/no/yes. But in the end I was welcomed with genuine warmth and generous co-operation. As the cameraman explained, he is “a bit averse to personal publicity”.
Despite his near-legendary status in the film world – here and abroad – 58-year-old Bollinger regards himself as just one of the locals in Reefton. Currently, he is helping to establish a skate park. He laughs when I tell him that the barman at my hotel in Reefton said there were some “important people” living in the town and cited Bollinger as one of them. He says, “I think one of the beauties of New Zealand culture, especially rural culture, is that you can’t put yourself on a high horse, because you’ll either be ignored or pushed off. We have a Tall Blacks basketball player and a netball player who come from around here. Coasters are proud of people who do well, but they aren’t going to treat them any differently because of it.”
Several members of the Bollinger family live at Blacks Point or nearby, including, from time to time, the Bollingers’ four sons. There are 10 grandchildren, including “ring-ins from all the relationships”, who regard visiting their grandparents and tearing around the half-hectare block and beyond as their idea of holiday heaven.
In a way, this family commune replicates an earlier one. Before coming to the West Coast, the Bollingers were living in Waimarama, in Hawke’s Bay, in “a communal set-up with a film connection, with people like Bruno Lawrence, Martyn Sanderson, Geoff Murphy and their families … lots of kids”.
Because Bollinger has been associated with most significant New Zealand films over the past 30 years – from Roger Donaldson’s Sleeping Dogs in 1977, through to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Vincent Ward’s River Queen – it was a little surprising to hear that he is freelance. He says, “Most cinematographers, and a lot of other workers in the film industry, are freelance. A few have permanent jobs and a few have their own businesses – which makes them essentially freelance anyway … A director may need 20 to 100 people for a project, but he doesn’t need them in between projects. I think part of how I’ve kept my interest and enthusiasm for my work is by not doing it fulltime.”
The cameraman has his priorities firmly in place. He makes sure that half the year is spent at home. And he has become discriminating about scripts. “When I was younger, I wasn’t fussed, I took on most things. And there wasn’t so much work around, either. These days, if I can’t relate to a script – and I find now I have to really relate to it – I don’t get involved. Because it takes a serious commitment to leave home, it’s an upheaval. And y’know, we’ve produced enough crap on this planet without me contributing to it.”
In 1966, straight out of school, 18-year-old Bollinger was accepted for a job with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. “They were setting up an in-house cine-camera section – before the days when you could carry video cameras around – and wanted two trainees. The other guy they picked had done a bit of film work with the navy. So I learnt by doing. The second bit of film I ever put through the camera went to air – news footage of the Wellington motorway under construction. I’d been on the job two weeks.” By filming current affairs programmes and documentaries, the teenager began to hone his skills. Over the years, his role has varied from camera operator to DOP (director of photography) or sometimes a combination of both.
Most of his work has been in New Zealand, with a couple of stints in Australia (on For Love Alone and, recently, Oyster Farmer). He explains, “If I’ve worked offshore, it’s usually been on New Zealand-initiated films – like working in France on Larry Parr’s A Soldier’s Tale (1988). I’ve had a few offers from other parts of the world, but, um … If I don’t like the script, I just can’t … and another thing I find limiting is the idea of going halfway round the world for months on end.”
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