Best cinematography

An incredible metaphysical and religious sci-fi masterpiece. One of the most visually stunning films, right up there with The Conformist and Days of Heaven in the use of color and nature.

The Conformist is an interesting character study of a man who is plagued by this past and upbringings, and as a result seeks to conform to society as well as the Fascist movement in pre-WWII Italy. The beautiful art direction and locations takes the viewer back to the 30's. The amazing use of color and lighting as well as the detailed compositions and complex camera movements make The Conformist the most visually stunning color film I have ever seen. Vittorio Storaro truly lives up to his reputation as one of the greatest cinematographers ever. The narrative is multilayered and hard to follow unless you pay careful attention.

Absolutely amazing. Probably my favorite of the trilogy (slightly above L'Avventura) although I haven't seen La Notte yet. Such a beautiful film, every frame is like a modern art photograph. The ending is one of most amazing and haunting ever. Monica Vitti is a goddess.

A fascinating film with many layers of meaning. It is both a philosophical and political film, mired in its deeply symbolic voice overs. The dazzling camera work is some of most amazing I've ever seen. Combined with the Last Year at Marienbad-like voice over it creates a hypnotic atmosphere. However this is also a detriment to the film because non-German speaking viewers like myself have to divert attention away from the beautiful images to the hard to decifer philosophical musings presented in subtitle form. Also the ending between the trapeze artist and the angel Damiel (which is clearly set in the mortal realm) is so mired in the director's own pretentiousness that it looses whatever emotional impact and believability it might have had.

It is a film that deals with psychological and metaphysical ideas of transfer of identity and even personalities. Bergman uses some really interesting concepts such as starting the film with the invention of the motion picture and then moving toward the start the story. Overall a very experimental and difficult film.

Stranger - We met a year ago.


Woman - No, we didn't.


Stranger - Yes we did.


Woman - Go Away, you're insane.


The End


On a more serious note, this may be the most bizarre yet poetic and hypnotic movie I've ever seen. Resnais takes the seamless transitions between past, present, and future he introduced in Hiroshima Mon Amour to a whole new level. In this film temporal and spacial relationships are completely shattered. There is no sense of which scenes are set in the present and which are set in another time. As a result the film feels like a dream, or rather a nightmare. This has some of the most interesting cinematography I've ever seen. There is this one shot where there are people in this garden.


The people cast shadows, but the triangular trees that align the garden have none. I have no idea how Resnais shot this. The plot is simple: A man meets a woman in a salon and claims that they had a romantic affair a year ago. The woman denies that they have ever met. The man tries to convince her that they did by recalling his memories/imagination of their encounter. I can't say I understood this film and I don't think that there is a solution to this puzzle.

In a small village in Spain after the Spanish Civil War, a young girl sees the 1931 film Frankenstein for the first time. After beeing told by her mischevious older sister that the monster is a spirit that inhabits near their village. Her fascination with the monster's actions causes her to seek out the spirit. Since the story is told mostly from the perspective of the girl, the viewer is forced to see the world through the eyes of a child. The film is rich with oblique symbolism. It is both a study of childhood innocence and fascination with death and a subtle allegory of the devastating effects of the Spanish Civil War and Francoist fascist regime. Ana Torrent give the best performance I've ever seen by a child. It's impossible to tell that she was acting at all. There is minimal dialogue in a story told most through images. I like how one critic describes this film as more of a painting than a motion picture. They are incredibly beautiful and haunting paintings. The tiny figures of our protagonists amid the golden, empty plains make up some of the most unforgettable images in cinema. The Spirit of the Beehive is a film that haunts you long after you see it.

An unbelievably beautiful and poetic film that moves at a perfect meditative pace. Every impressionistic shot seems like it's from a museum painting or from a dream. The visual style was inspired by the paintings Caspar David Friedrich. One of the pillow-shot-like scenes showing a ship on the ocean fooled me as a real painting at first. I loved Sokurov's handling of the soundtrack of the film, and like the flattened images it seems as if the film is the subjective consciousness of the son. Especially in one scene where he walks through the woods, collapses, yet the sound of the footsteps is still heard. A sublime experience.

Happy Together is powerful film about the process of letting go of a doomed relationship as well as loniness and dislocation. The way Wong portrays the deterioriating relationship between the male leads allows their relationship to transcend all gender. This isn't a "gay movie" as people tend to label such movies dealing with such subjects often tend to, but simply a film about the relationship between two individuals who happen to be gay. This is how such subject matters should be portrayed, not like some lame coming out story or in anyway that focuses on the sexuality instead of the relationship itself. Stylistically it is close to that of CE and FA but also hints at his later films. Chris Doyle's experimental cinematography uses black and white film stock, oversaturation of color, wide angle lenses incredibly to make one of the most visually stunning pictures ever. The lighting and editing are so impressive. The eclectic soundtrack mixes music from il maestro Astor Piazzolla, Caetano Veloso, and Frank Zappa to generate such a haunting mood. Tony Leung's performance might be his best that I've seen of him, and that really says a lot about such a world class actor. When I first saw it, I liked it but felt it was not among his best works, recently I realized how honestly and sincerely it portrays a deteriorating relationship. This is Wong's most mature film, yet it is able to retain the brashness and youth of his earlier films, something that In the Mood for Love does not have.

Probably the most beautiful compositions I've ever seen. The incredible landscapes convey the emotions and interiors of the characters. The film is similar to that of La Dolce Vita in its portrayal of the amoral upper class. Antonioni, like all of the other masters of Italian neorealism, moves into his own niche of internal realism.

Basically a remake of Late Spring except that this is a comedy instead of a tragedy. Of course this is no match compared to Late Spring, but it's still a delightful drama. This time Setsuko Hara plays the widow marrying off her daughter. This is a gorgeous film, probably the most visually beautiful Ozu film, though I've yet to seen Floating Weeds.

It's awfully hard to decide whether this film, or the Decalogue, or Red is Kieslowski's best work, but this is definitely his most mysterious and abstract film. In an otherworldly performance that earned her the Best Actress award at Cannes, Irene Jacob (who learned to speak Polish fluently just for this film) plays the dual role of a pair of doppelhangers, both of whom are gifted with beautiful voices. When one dies, the other senses it and avoids making the same mistake that led to the other's death, even though they have never known each other's existence. Kieslowski here is suggesting a mystical and spiritual connection between their souls. This is one of the most metaphysical films I've ever experienced. To say that it is a minimalistic film due to the lack of dialogue does not do the film justice. It is an unique visual and audio experience. The soul-shattering score is completely diegetic - its source is within the narrative. Likewise, the use of motifs such as reflections and strings suggests the character's duality and their connection. The Double Life of Veronique is a film that does not provide an explanination for anything, rather it's a film that make its audience ponder the mysteries of the human soul and its desire for connection.

ps. Amelie fans should will notice that Jeunet pays homage to the sequence involving Veronique and the audio cassette in Amelie, which pales in comparison to that of Veronique.

The most romantic film ever. Wong's most subtle, mature, complex, profound... I can go on and on... work. The film can be very disorientating as many of the scene plays with you expectations and assumptions. For example, subsequent shots of Leung and Cheung together in the same set seems to be parts of the same scene, until you realizes that Cheung is wearing a different dress. Even more important and interesting is the dialogue between the two cuckolded spouses as they pretend to be each other's spouse. This raises a lot of ambiguity in their words. This further raises the complex question regarding whether our own words are confined by our social environment, just like Leung and Cheung's characters are confined by theirs. Wong has perfected his eliptical narrative and introduced a new claustrophobic aesthetic that suits the film perfectly. One thing particularly was the blocking of film which gives the viewer a voyeuristic perspective of the characters. Also, the camera often stays on a character's torso or back instead of the face, and often lingers on a single character during a dialogue. Both are used so that the viewer never gets to see the cheating spouses' faces. The ending elevates the film to a level of profoundity above all of his other films. It's almost like Wong took a page out of Antonioni's book. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the film is the last intertitle of the film, which offers a new interpretation of the whole film:

He remembers those vanished years.
As though looking through a dusty window pane,
the past is something he could see, but not touch.
And everything he sees it blurred and indistinct.

The most beautiful melodrama I've ever seen. The Red Shoes is a classic story of the conflict between an artist's devotion to her art and to her personal life. The long ballet sequence proves why Techinicolor should still be used. The ending is very suspect, but the film is so beautiful that I'm willing to forgive its faults.

One question though: Since when did happily married couples sleep in separate beds?

Kekexili is an astonishing environmentalist western shot in the nearly uninhabitable Hoh Kil region between China and Tibet at the height of 5 km above sea level. The majestic and harsh landscapes of this film almost dwarfs this compelling and morally ambiguious drama (based on a true story) about a group of volunteers who risk their lives to protect an endangered species from poachers. Employing mostly nonprofessional actors and shot in a documentary-like fashion, director Chuan Lu gives his western a powerful sense of realism and honesty that is not found in the works of Sergio Leone. The film is never preachy about its subject. There are neither glorified heros nor despicable villains in the film, but rather ordinary people struggling for survival in their bleak surroundings. The stunning cinematography full captures the breathtaking scenery. This is easily my favorite western.

Rock Hudson delivers the acting goods in this subversive and nightmarish thriller about second chances in life. Way ahead of its time, this film is even more relevant with today's youth culture. Really gets under your skin with its aura of paranoia. James Wong Howe makes excellent uses of fish eye lenses, jarring camera angles, and deep focus to give the film a expressionistic, even hallucinatory feel.

Fallen Angels was originally intended to be the third story in Chungking Express, but WKW decided to keep them separate due to the difference in the tone of the film. Whereas CE is energetic and light, FA is dark and moody. Both share the same sets and locations and the same themes of identity, alienation, and memory. There are many references to CE in FA. However, in some ways FA is better. The lives of these lonely characters, the choices they make, and their growth all make FA more realistic and heartfelt than CE. The editing and Doyle's camera works incrediblely as he uses fisheye lens, handheld camera, and other cool techniques to capture the urban atmosphere of Hong Kong nights. WKW combines the wackiness and violence of HK cinema with the boundless energy of the films of Goddard. The scenes which the killer mows down his target is simply jaw-dropping in style and kineticism. It's like John Woo shootouts on acid and steroids. While at times the viewer might be confused at the anti-narrative, in the end you can't help but feel the loneliness and disconnection of these characters who are in essence fallen angels. WKW is not concerned with telling a coherent story as much as conveying the alienation and existential angst of his characters.

At the apex of his career, Federico Fellini crafted one of the most influential films of all time. This is truly an incredible film- so called a recursive film because Fellini had a writer's block when he made this film about a director who has run out of ideas for his next movie. Constantly pestered by his producers, actors, mistress, and his wife, the director takes solace in his childhood memories and his utterly bizarre dreams and fantasies. Marcello Mastroianni is brilliant as Fellini's alter ego Guido. The rest of the cast is equally excellent. Claudia Cardinale is simply gorgeous. The harem scene is one of my favorite scenes of all time. Of all the movies I've seen, 8 1/2 may be the most complex film of them all. One notable aspect of the film that makes this film recursive is that the film that Guido is struggling to make is the movie that we are watching. It is literally made as we are watching it.

A supernatural masterpiece. It's one of the most beautifully shot black and white films I've seen. Mizoguchi's aesthetic is the opposite of that of Ozu, favoring long takes, high camera level, and fluid camera movement. His "scroll shots" pans slows horizontally so that the picture appears to unfold like a scroll painting. Mizoguchi weaves reality and subjective perception so well to create a haunting and melancholic atmosphere. Mizoguchi made Ugetsu as a response to the critical acclaim of Kurosawa's Rashomon, using the same cinematographer and two main cast members of Rashomon. The moral at the center of the film: the resigned acceptance of the way things are rather than an insistence on change and resistance to the status quo, sharply contrasts with Kurosawa's beliefs as shown in such films as Ikiru. The main character both exist in the material world and is unknowingly aware of the spiritual world. This serves as a counterpoint to the theme of the subjective nature of truth at the heart of Rashomon. On another level it's an indictment on the destructive effects of war borne from the reckless ambition and greed of men.

I think I finally fully understand this enigma. It is about leaving a state of mind, a symbolic place known as 2046. This is about dealing with one's past and realizing that it cannot be recaptured. This is the culmination of themes in all of WKW's previous films in the aftermath of Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love. Li Gong and Zhang Ziyi were amazing. The score is one of the best I have ever heard. Every shot is so beautiful and exotic. In my opinion this is WKW's magnum opus.
Live for the future, long for the past.

Worth seeing just to see Jean Renoir in a bear suit.

A strange mix of neorealism and surrealist expressionism. It includes some of the most stunning imagery this side of Herzog. Tony Leung never fails to impress.

This is no doubt one of the most perfect films I've seen. Yet it was almost lost forever when the original print was lost in a fire. Miraculously a duplicate was found 50 years later at a mental institution.

It's easy to see why Falconetti's performance as Joan is often hailed as the greatest ever, She is not portrayed as a proud warrior or a defiant heroine, but an earthy, uneducated girl who is terrified of her situation but refuse to betray her faith and conviction that she is God's instrument. The whole process is filmed in such a realistic manner that Jean Cocteau said that the film "seems like an historical document from an era in which the cinema didn?t exist". The wonderful score "Voices of Light" composed by Richard Einhorn in the 80's fits the film perfectly, further magnifying the emotional power of the film.

Robert Mitchum is incredible as the bone-chilling, psychotic, and often funny reverend. Many considers this a film noir, but it's too surreal to be one and more like its root in expressionism.

Very poetic and lyrical film about the summer of several kids in a poor southern town (similar to Gummo). The use of voice overs and the dreamy tone of the film is reminiscent of Terrance Malick. At times the film is too absurd to take it seriously. The second half overall feels pretentious. If it weren't for these anomalies this film would be perfect.

Reygadas tells his story of a guilt-ridden man who cheats on his wife due to his love for another woman with gorgeous painterly images and a patient eye toward the daily lives of this religious community of Mennonites. Stylistically the film is reminiscent of Dreyer and Tarkovsky. While I have no problems with the film's style and basic story arc, the Ordet-like ending failed to move me, which is weird because the ending of Ordet had me in tears. Whereas in Ordet the miracle is founded in a man's love for his wife, here it is based on the love of the adulteress for the man. I can only attribute this to the lack of empathy I feel for the relationship between the man and his wife nor between him and the other woman. The film doesn't give the sense that he loves her despite his outpour of tears near the end.

Hou perhaps reached his aesthetic extreme with the one take per scene approach here, which I loved. The opening scene is simply breathtaking. The film almost feels like a play with the entire running time taking place inside. Almost all the major action in the film takes place offscreen such as when a character is merely discussed in one scene but revealed much later in the film to have died. The film is almost too subtle in that every fade in/out carries some meaning and what happened between is oblique, so I probably missed some important details. All the actors were great, especially the arrogant Michelle Monique Reis, who only adds to the film's beautiful sets and sepia colored cinematography.

The greatest silent film I have ever seen. Such poetic and dreamy images, graceful camera movements, and bold montages distill the film with its archetypal characters into a purely emotional experience. 3epkano's (Zerkalo in Russian) score adds an otherworldly aura to the film. It feels classical yet modern at the same time. Hands down the most amazing movie going experience I've ever had.