{"id":11682,"date":"2026-09-01T05:03:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/09\/01\/zach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T05:03:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:03:58","slug":"zach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/09\/01\/zach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Snyder\u2019s new movie is about drugs, violence and photography"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section class=\"alignfull wp-block-gearpatrol-article-header has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-gearpatrol-article-header-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-gearpatrol-dek\">\n\tIt seems cameras will play a staring role in The Last Photograph.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp?w=1920\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail not-transparent wp-post-image has-focal-point\" alt=\"A bedraggled man raises a camera with a flash mounted to his eye intently.\" style=\"--dominant-color: #362511;object-fit:cover;object-position: 50% 50%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp 2400w, https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp?resize=650,366 650w, https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp?resize=768,432 768w, https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp?resize=1920,1080 1920w, https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp?resize=1536,864 1536w, https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp?resize=2048,1152 2048w, https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-095920-16x9-Lead-1-jpg.webp?resize=1200,675 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" data-dominant-color=\"362511\"><span class=\"wp-block-image__credit\">Zack Snyder, via TIFF<\/span><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"alignfull wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content-is-layout-constrained is-article-intro\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zack Snyder has directed movies about a lot of things: superheroes, space, ancient Greeks, owls, you name it. With his next film, it seems like we can add photography to that list.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"alignfull wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"ad-section--sidebar wp-block-gearpatrol-ad-slot\">\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the synopsis, the movie, called <em style=\"color: var(--black);\">The Last Photograph<\/em>, is about a former DEA agent teaming up with a \u201cwashed-up junkie war photographer\u201d to try and find his niece and nephew after their parents were murdered. The trailer (and the title) imply that photography will play some role in the story. There are scenes showing a darkroom, photos being taken at a crime scene, a slow-motion shot of a camera exploding, and several moody frames of someone raising a rangefinder to their eye, presumably witnessing horrors off-screen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking of: we\u2019ll put the trailer below, but heed the warning in the first few seconds. It\u2019s graphic in pretty much every way it can be, including an exceptional amount of violence. Even if you\u2019re fine with that, it\u2019s probably not something to watch at work.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH Trailer | TIFF 2026\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S3I5M0HyvYo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, being a camera site, we were interested in what cameras the characters were using on-screen, especially since Zack Snyder is a known photography buff (he\u2019s reportedly the cinematographer for the movie, too, as he was on 2021\u2019s Army of the Dead, which he <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=31959X1726082&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fymcinema.com%2F2021%2F05%2F28%2Fzack-snyder-shot-the-entire-army-of-the-dead-on-wide-open-aperture-f0-95%2F&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dpreview.com%2Fnews%2Fzach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography%2F&amp;xcust=%5Bcontent_id%7C%5Brefdomain%7Cwww.dpreview.com%2Ffeeds%2Fnews.xml%5Bcontent_product_id%7C%5Bproduct_retailer_id%7C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">shot almost entirely at F0.95<\/a> using rehoused vintage optics<mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-blue-500-color\">*<\/mark>). From what we can tell, the photographer character uses Yashica rangefinder \u2013 probably an <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=31959X1726082&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcamera-wiki.org%2Fwiki%2FYashica_Electro_35_CC&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dpreview.com%2Fnews%2Fzach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography%2F&amp;xcust=%5Bcontent_id%7C%5Brefdomain%7Cwww.dpreview.com%2Ffeeds%2Fnews.xml%5Bcontent_product_id%7C%5Bproduct_retailer_id%7C\">Electro 35CC<\/a> from the early 70s, based on the markings \u2013 and what looks like a Leica M10 Monochrom, a camera Snyder is <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=31959X1726082&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.digitalcameraworld.com%2Fphotography%2Fthese-black-and-white-portraits-of-batman-and-superman-taken-by-zack-snyder-on-a-monochrome-camera-are-causing-a-stir-online&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dpreview.com%2Fnews%2Fzach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography%2F&amp;xcust=%5Bcontent_id%7C%5Brefdomain%7Cwww.dpreview.com%2Ffeeds%2Fnews.xml%5Bcontent_product_id%7C%5Bproduct_retailer_id%7C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">demonstrably familiar with<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Yashica isn\u2019t a stranger to the silver screen, either; Andrew Garfield used one in 2012\u2019s <em>The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em> (back when Spider-Man movies featured the version of Peter Parker who works as a photographer). While the brand wasn\u2019t really known as a go-to for photojournalists, it also wouldn\u2019t be that surprising to hear of a war photographer using a film rangefinder with a fixed 35mm F1.8 lens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"alignfull wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"ad-section--sidebar wp-block-gearpatrol-ad-slot\">\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We don\u2019t see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/articles\/1957761240\/from-kodachrome-to-war-photographer-your-favorite-shows-and-movies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a ton of movies about photography<\/a>, so it\u2019s interesting to be getting a movie from a big-name director that seems to at least feature the art form as an important part of the story. The last film we got like that was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aDyQxtg0V2w\">Alex Garland\u2019s <em>Civil War<\/em><\/a>, which focused <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kGd8d5CZXYU\">mostly on the role of reporting and war photography<\/a> (much to people\u2019s surprise, given that it was released during a contentious US election and was set against the backdrop of a fictional second civil war in the country).<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-09.59.20.png?original\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-dominant-color=\"1e1512\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #1e1512;\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3456\" height=\"1848\" data-destinationlink=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-09.59.20.png?original\" data-event=\"clickable_image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-09.59.20.png?original\" alt=\"Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-09.59.20\" class=\"wp-image-672296 not-transparent\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">What looks to me like a Leica M10 Monochrom (based on the lack of branding) and the Yashica Electro 35CC in a darkroom. Of course, you\u2019d only need to develop film from the later, as the M10 is a digital camera.<\/figcaption><span class=\"wp-block-image__credit\">Zack Snyder, via TIFF<\/span><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, it may be a while before we get to see <em>The Last Photograph<\/em>. It\u2019s set to premiere on September 13 at TIFF (the Toronto International Film Festival), but no one has bought distribution rights to it yet. The film is apparently a passion project for Snyder, who has been kicking the idea around since the mid-2000s. While it certainly seems like it\u2019ll be an intense watch, I\u2019m excited for whenever I do get to see it. In part because of the photography aspect, but also because the cinematography in it looks gorgeous, and it\u2019s always interesting to see a Hollywood director take a big artistic swing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-blue-500-color\">* The effect is\u2026 strange. At times it works and provides a unique aesthetic, at others it borders on distracting. I actually didn\u2019t know about the creative choice when I started watching the movie, but pretty early into it I turned to a friend and said something along the lines of \u201cwhat is going <em>on<\/em>\u00a0with this cinematography?\u201d<\/mark><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author-biography\"><span class=\"wp-block-post-author-biography__label\">About the Author: <\/span>Mitchell started taking pictures at 10 and hasn\u2019t stopped since. It\u2019s been a wide-ranging adventure, spanning a wide variety of genres and locales, and occasionally dipping into fascinations with video and filmmaking. They honed their technical knowledge doing documentation, programing and QA, writing for The Verge, and just generally messing around on the computer to see what breaks.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"alignfull wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"ad-section--sidebar wp-block-gearpatrol-ad-slot\">\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-gearpatrol-article-content has-global-padding is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d2a20ee2 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;border-radius:10px;margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--m);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--m);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--xs);padding-right:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--xs);padding-left:0\">\n<p class=\"is-style-caption-1 wp-block-paragraph\">Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases?\u00a0Add DPReview as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium is-resized has-custom-border\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--xs);margin-left:0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\"><img data-dominant-color=\"1b1c1a\" data-has-transparency=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"338\" height=\"107\" data-destinationlink=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\" data-event=\"clickable_image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark_en.avif?w=300\" alt=\"add as a preferred source on google\" class=\"wp-image-542587 has-transparency\" style=\"--dominant-color: #1b1c1a; border-style:none;border-width:0px;width:170px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark_en.avif 338w, https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark_en.avif?resize=300,95 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity\" id=\"comments\" data-embed-url=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/forums\/threads\/zach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography.4865948\/?embedded=1&amp;theme=auto\" data-embed-title=\"Forum discussion\" data-thread-id=\"4865948\" data-open=\"0\">\n\t<button type=\"button\" class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__toggle view-comments\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"wayfinder-xf-embed-672299\"><br \/>\n\t\tView 6 comments\t<\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__embed-wrap\" id=\"wayfinder-xf-embed-672299\" hidden>\n<div class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__header\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__title\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__forum-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/forums\/threads\/zach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography.4865948\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tForum View\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__embed-container\">\n<div class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__loading\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__spinner\"><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wayfinder-xf-forum-activity__loading-text\">Loading comments\u2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p>Author: Mitchell Clark<br \/>\nThis article comes from <i>DP Review<\/i> and can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/news\/zach-snyders-new-movie-is-about-drugs-violence-and-photography\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b>read on the original site.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It seems cameras will play a staring role in The Last Photograph. Zack Snyder, via TIFF Zack Snyder has directed movies about a lot of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_customify_content_layout":"","_customify_sidebar":"","_customify_page_header_display":"","_customify_disable_header":"","_customify_disable_header_top":"","_customify_disable_header_main":"","_customify_disable_header_bottom":"","_customify_disable_page_title":"","_customify_disable_content_vertical_padding":"","_customify_disable_footer_top":"","_customify_disable_footer_main":"","_customify_disable_footer_bottom":"","_customify_breadcrumb_display":"","_customify_header_transparent_display":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[51,50,49,39,52],"class_list":["post-11682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-camera-review-and-news","tag-camcorder","tag-camera","tag-dp-review","tag-news","tag-review"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Brokenmount","author_link":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/author\/sysop\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/category\/camera-review-and-news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Camera Reviews and News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"It seems cameras will play a staring role in The Last Photograph. Zack Snyder, via TIFF Zack Snyder has directed movies about a lot of&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}