Janez Puhar's Missing Formula (2000)

The Radar read

A quieter title still finding its audience, though the rating rests on a thin sample, so treat it as provisional.

Synopsis

The documentary entitled 'Janez Puhar's Lost Formula' introduces the Slovenian inventor of glass-plate photography from the point of view of a foreign observer, that of Scotsman Robin Crichton, who wonders how and why we honour him, since he is virtually unknown in the Western world. Robin decides to single-handedly look into these Slovenian beliefs. Puhar claims that for the light-sensitive matter he used mercury, sulfur, iodine and possibly varnish, which he applied in the end to protect the emulsion. But his real formula has never been brought to light anywhere. Indeed, the whole world knows that no one has used Puhar's ingredients to make photographs, because the said three elements are not sensitive to light - neither separately nor together as a compound. Robin therefore arrives at the key question: are the four Puhar originals, which currently exist around the world, real or are they just a mistake made by Slovenian historians and museum specialists?

Synopsis and metadata sourced from The Movie Database (TMDB).

Radar blends quality, momentum and freshness into one “what to watch now” number — so a great older film can sit lower than a rising new release. The Quality signal above is the time-neutral rating, which is why an acclaimed classic keeps a high quality score even when its Radar number is lower. Radar outputs are editorial algorithmic recommendations, not objective facts, and may change as signals update. A Radar score is not the same as a TMDB, IMDb or critic rating. How scoring works (v3.0).