List by Travis Lytle
The Cinematographers' 25: The five best-shot films from my five favorite cinematographers
As part two in a series celebrating filmmakers, here are, in my estimation, the five best-shot films from my five favorite Directors of Photography/cinematographers. The films are ranked (within their respective rows); the DPs are not.
Honorable mention: Khondji, Lesnie, Lubeski, Rousselot, Wolski.
Roger Deakins is the man.
Agreed, Aaron. It was tough to pick a top five for him.
Needs some Lubezki and Delli Colli, and Conrad L. Hall, and Gordon "Prince of Darkness" Willis, and Janusz Kaminski.
PS: don't forget John Toll did The Thin Red Line.
I found out while watching the commentary for Fargo (done by Deakins) that The Man Who Wasn't There is his favorite. Makes sense, visually stunning. Have you not seen it?
Definitely need some Gordon Willis. Love Delli Colli. Especially the films he shot with Sergio Leone.
Ryan, I struggled with not putting up "The Thin Red Line" for Toll. It needs a rewatch. I wanted to post Chivo up for "The Tree of Life" and "Sleepy Hollow."
Julie, I have not seen "The Man Who Wasn't There," but I'm going to have to now!
EJ, Willis does deserve recognition. Maybe I'll have to expand this list.
Some good films and also good some good photography. But none of these are films I think of when I think of great cinematography. But that's what's fun with personal taste.
But I like many of the films a LOT. Don't get me wrong :)
Staffan, to each their own, I guess. I can't think of great cinematography without some of these titles; not just the films here that have won the Academy Award or have been recognized by guilds, but those that, to me, are ideal combinations of light, landscape, and texture.
I think this is a very good list Travis!
Appreciation of Cinematography brings out many differences of definition.
In addition to your list; When I think of my interpretation of great cinematography from more modern films; I think of films like: Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Sin City, Blackhawk Down, There Will Be Blood, The Dark Knight, Zodiak, (and/or Fight Club, Assassination of Jesse James, Kill Bills etc.
I like "Inception" and "True Grit" from your list as great recent examples of outstanding cinematography. As always: JMHO
Thanks, ShowBill. You cite excellent examples as well, some of which were shot by the cinematographers I've listed. It was tough picking only five exemplars from some of these DPs when almost all of their work is so accomplished.
I love the looks of Lesnie's Lord of the Rings movies (and am going to add him to my honorable mentions).
I'm not going to make a big list, but I just wanted to tell you what I think of when I think of my favorite cinematography.
One cinematographer I think of is Christopher Doyle with films like "In The Mood For Love" and "Happy Together".
Terrence Malick have always had great cinematography in his movies and the one that sticks out for me is first of all "Days of Heaven" but also "Badlands". He is a master of filming nature and finding great views.
Staffan, I'm not too familiar with Doyle's work; but I have seen "Lady in the Water," which despite its flaws was very good looking.
You're right about Malick. He works with some great cinematographers, and gets uniform excellence. The Texas summerscapes in "The Tree of Life" were beautiful.