2007 Oscar Noms for Cinematography

[Evan Winter]

Well the nominations are in and I did a quick search to see if this topic had already been brought up but couldn't find anything. So, I thought I might as well present the field of nominees for the 2007 Oscar for Best Achievement in Cinematography:

 

The Black Dahlia: Vilmos Zsigmond

 

Children of Men: Emmanuel Lubezki

 

The Illusionist: Dick Pope

 

Laberinto del Fauno, El: Guillermo Navarro

 

The Prestige: Wally Pfister

 

 

I haven't seen 'The Black Dahlia' but out of the rest my favorite would have to be Wally P's 'The Prestige'. Although this is an incredibly hard choice to make because of the power, daring (like darkness much Navarro?), and aplomb of Guillermo's 'Labyrinth' and the raw emotion and genius-with-natural-light vision of Lubezki's ever searching camera in 'Children of Men'.

 

Two of these films blew me away on all levels (Children & Labyrinth) and I enjoyed 'The Prestige' (strange that despite liking it the least as a film, out of my top 3, it still won out 'cinematographically' - I often find it's hard to separate individual elements of filmmaking and one aspect or another always ends up influencing my perception of other aspects).

 

'The Illusionist' is, for me, the low point out of the 4 nominated films that I've seen. It felt overdone and perhaps even a touch garish in its visual interpretation (the faux vignetting annoyed the bejeezus out of me). But then again I am merely one person and Dick Pope is the DICK POPE.

 

Alas, when working in commercial art one of the by-blows is that everyone gets to be a critic.

 

Evan

[Daniel Carruthers]

Well the nominations are in and I did a quick search to see if this topic had already been brought up but couldn't find anything. So, I thought I might as well present the field of nominees for the 2007 Oscar for Best Achievement in Cinematography:

 

The Black Dahlia: Vilmos Zsigmond

 

Children of Men: Emmanuel Lubezki

 

The Illusionist: Dick Pope

 

Laberinto del Fauno, El: Guillermo Navarro

 

The Prestige: Wally Pfister

I haven't seen 'The Black Dahlia' but out of the rest my favorite would have to be Wally P's 'The Prestige'. Although this is an incredibly hard choice to make because of the power, daring (like darkness much Navarro?), and aplomb of Guillermo's 'Labyrinth' and the raw emotion and genius-with-natural-light vision of Lubezki's ever searching camera in 'Children of Men'.

 

Two of these films blew me away on all levels (Children & Labyrinth) and I enjoyed 'The Prestige' (strange that despite liking it the least as a film, out of my top 3, it still won out 'cinematographically' - I often find it's hard to separate individual elements of filmmaking and one aspect or another always ends up influencing my perception of other aspects).

 

'The Illusionist' is, for me, the low point out of the 4 nominated films that I've seen. It felt overdone and perhaps even a touch garish in its visual interpretation (the faux vignetting annoyed the bejeezus out of me). But then again I am merely one person and Dick Pope is the DICK POPE.

 

Alas, when working in commercial art one of the by-blows is that everyone gets to be a critic.

 

Evan

I dident care much for the illusionist myself, but dick pope sure knows how to make actors look good.

My pick would have to be children of men no doubt emanual lubezki will win.

Im a bit dissapointed The good sheperd or marie antionette was not picked. I would of left out the illusionist in place for one of those choices,but thats my opinion.

[Charles M. Scharfman]

Yep. Dick Pope's the man.

 

I agree. Robert Richardson should have been nominated for "The Good Shepherd."

 

I also was very impressed by Matthew Libatique's work in "The Fountain." Some beautiful shots in that flick, and I was very impressed by the the playing with Gold and Red in the movie.

 

I thought that Navarro was AWESOME in Pan's. Great movie that looks great too. But I also tend to like shadows.

 

As it stands, I'd give the award to Children of Men.

[Evan Winter]

Hmmm,

 

I'm waffling now...'Children of Men' is excellent and when one considers that cinematography is not only the art of painting with light but also of composition and camera movement...ack, 'Children of Men' may indeed be my favorite. Is it too late to change my vote?

 

:)

 

evan

[K Borowski]

While I don't consider myself qualified to judge the cinematographic merits of these films having not seen all of them, I think 2006 is probably the lowpoint for cinema, surpassing 2005 in mediocrity. We continue to see bad digital intermediates, with no improvements in sight, the "shakey-'til-my-head-aches-cam", loads of seemingly uninspired, unmotivated movie photography, and poor storylines. As with any year, there were a couple of good films that rose above this sea of mediocrity, but movies overall, worstened for me.

 

Regards,

 

~Karl Borowski

[stephen lamb]

Karl,

I am curious to know some of the films that you did like that came out this year, and more specifally why them?

To the rest, i think children of men was absoluetly amazing, i haven't seen all of the films, but so far i would give it to Children.

 

Steve

[Evan Winter]

Hi Karl,

 

I personally enjoyed a lot of what 2006 had to offer from both a cinematography and story point of view.

 

Perhaps take a look at (in no particular order):

The Departed (interesting remake and well acted)

Children of Men (great storytelling and some cinematography genius)

The Prestige (subtle and spellbinding lighting and all sans DI)

United 93 (shaky hand-held cam the way shaky hand-held cam was meant to be done)

Pan's Labyrinth (sublime storytelling and daringly dark cinematogrpahy)

The Queen (brilliant acting and attractive looks at the British countryside)

Apocalypto (National Geographic feeling digital docu-photography on the Genesis)

Blood Diamond (heartfelt acting, a worthwhile and socially important story)

The Good Shepherd (tightly lit and tightly told)

Casino Royale (sumptuously rich photography and a rollicking good time - wasn't overly keen on the ending 20 mins though)

Little Miss Sunshine (Not my cup of tea but I laughed a lot and was entertained and if this is your type of movie you'll have a marvelous 2 hours of staring up at the 'silver screen')

The Inside Man (a return to top form for Spike Lee, a scene chewer for Denzel, and some very bold cinematography work in the interrogation scenes)

Superman Returns (some will hate this one but I enjoyed it and it was a real look at some of the awesome strengths and illustrative weaknesses of the Genesis camera system)

 

 

Honorable Mentions:

The Devil Wears Prada

Miami Vice

The Descent (great lil' low budget horror)

The Illusionist

The Fountain

Little Children

Notes on a Scandal

Babel (stellar acting but was more several short stories than one true feature)

The Last King of Scotland

 

Admittedly the above are a very Hollywood bunch but those end up being the movies I see.... *sheepish smile*

Edited January 26, 2007 by Evan Winter

[Kenny N Suleimanagich]

The Black Dahlia, hands down. After reading the AC article on it, I really respect Zsigmond's attempt (and sucess) at shooting a beautiful modern production of a noir.

[Nick Evert]

I too am a little dissapointed that 'The Good Shepherd' was not nominated. My pick for sure would have to be 'Children of Men'. I think Lubezki was wrongfully passed over for 'The New World'.