Which films have the best photography?

Baluardo

Baluardo

Well-known member
I'm not talking of big film competition awards (oscar etc..) here, but real life.

Which films impressed you the most for the quality of photography?
I'd like to have your suggestions so I can learn more watching the ones i don't know already.

One of the best i can think ok is the KILL BILL saga (even though i didnt like them as films as a whole, which is weird as a Tarantino fan).
Another one I loved from the photography point of view was 'AMELIE' (successful 2001 french film)

contribute to my list!
:) Andrea
 
Personally Saving private Ryan is still my favourite. Amazing cinematography that REALLY adds to the mood and atmosphere! People don't even really notice it during the film. No one comes out and says "that was a good shoot" which IMO is a bad thing because it means people were watching the photography not the story.
 
not just amelie, anything by jeunet: delicatessen, very long engagement, city of lost children. excellent photography. by Bruno on most of them i think.

I just watched a movie called A Simple Plan and it was F-ing beautiful. directed by Raimi. and an amazing performance from Billy Bob.

Check out anything shot by Roger Deakins. He's the man. especially Barton Fink. He's got a new one coming out soon too called Jarhead, directed by sam mendes and cut by The Man: walter murch. huge cast too. Looking forward to that.
 
Man With a Movie Camera(1929) - trust me, it may be in the days when film was just a fade, but stick with it and at the end you will be new filmmaker

Happiness( i think I like it more for the use of colors, but a fuked up movie that won my heart non-the-less)

On the Water Front (the one with brando)

Black Hawk Down

I could keep going, but I'm sure you will realistically only look into one, if even, but good luck on your search

-Matt-
 
sorry, almost forgot - one of my favorite shot films, I can't beleive I forgot, an absolute for any filmmaker - Giulietta Degli Spiriti(Federico Fellini - 1965) - Incredible flick
 
One answer two parts.


1) the films that you don't even notice the photography..
2) The films were you are meant to notice the photography (very few of these)
 
Neil Jordan's "The Good Thief." Just gorgeous, all around, and a marvelous film in most other ways, too.
 
Some significant DPs: Bill Richardson, Conrad Hall, Bill Pope, Gregg Toland/Orson Welles, Janusz Something-or-other (Spielberg's DP).

Bill Richardson did Kill Bill and The Aviator. Both are very good looking movies. Conrad Hall is considered by a lot of people to be the best ever. He did American Beauty and a lot of other stuff. Bill Pope may be my favorite. Check out The Matrix and Spiderman 2 for some amazing cinematography. Citizen Kane is Toland/Welles' best movie and I'd argue that it's most significant for its cinematography (even more than its story) so definitely don't miss that. I thought War of the Worlds had amazing cinematography, and I really like what Michael Bay has been doing with deeply saturated colors and high-contrast imagery. Not sure who his DP is. Anything with Christopher Doyle involved is going to be pretty. I'd check out Chunking Express and Hero as great examples of how versitile and talented he is. I loved the photography in City of God. Not sure who did that. Caleb Deschanel is pretty good, too, I guess. Passion of the Christ (no matter what you think of the movie itself) looked pretty, and he was responsible.
 
Requiem for a Dream. The time lapse scene was incredible (the camera slowly and smoothly pans while the time lapse takes place)....best shot of all time in my opinion...The rest of the film was executed well too.

I'd have to say that every shot in "Last Life in the Universe" was great. It was shot on DV. Everything about the movie was great. It was a drama with dark humor without seeming watered down in any aspect. I highly reccommend this movie for it's story telling, emotional impact, cinematography...The director made a seemingly boring script with plotholes work amazingly well. I simply cannot express the greatness of this movie. Best ending ever.

Noi Albinoi (Noi the Albino) had excellent cinematography too. The whole movie takes place in an extremely bleak setting. Also has a great ending.
 
I am quite fond of the photography from Hitchcock. It might just be the DVDs and the transfer from film, but I really enjoy the saturation of the colors from his films. The look of Rear Window and The Birds come to mind, to name two. So good times.
 
My favorite of all time is Roger Deakins work on Michael Radford's version of George Orwell's 1984. It is not glamorous, it just works perfectly for the story. He also uses bleach bypass process for some shoots, I think that he was one of the first to do that. I love the look of the film.

Some others,
Three Kings.
Fight Club.
Seven.
The Man Who Wasn't There. Best B&W I have ever seen on the big screen, even though was shot on color negative.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Touch of Evil.
Fat City.
Godfather and Godfather Part 2.
Jaws.
Shawshank Redemption.
Appocalypse Now.
Dick Tracy.
The Conformist.

on and on....
 
You should check out a documentary called "Visions of Lights." It focuses on cinematography pre 1990s. It is my favorite documentary of all time. Incredible!

The documentary touches on the history of cinematography, advent of sound, advent of color, Studio look, Europe movements, and genre looks. It highlights all the significant classics and prominent cinematographers.

Director - Terence Malick #1 on my list
Badlands
Days of Heaven - best cinematography ever yet the story is slow
Thin Red Line
The New World (2005) (check out the trailer)

Director - Orsen Welles
Citizen Kane (well you know, it THE classic)

Director of Photography - Conrad Hall
Road to Perdition (2002)
American Beauty (1999)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
In Cold Blood (1967)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Director - Stanley Kubrick
Barry Lyndon (1975) - Boring film but shot with candles
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Director - David Lean (best epic filmmaker)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Director - Kar Wai Wong (some Chinese dude who makes pretty pictures)

Director - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (French guys who films become high art)
Amelie and all the other titles mentioned

Quick List of Directors of Photography
Michael Chapman (Raging Bull)
Janusz Kaminski (Speilberg current guy)
Caleb Deschanel (The Right Stuff)
Néstor Almendros (Days of Heaven)
Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)

Films
Conformist
Last Emperor
Kundan
Hero
Blade Runner
Appocalypse Now
to be continued
 
Laugh if you will, but Harold and Maude is still one of the only movies that, imo, is shot so beautifully that I can watch it with the sound off.
 
I have to second the motion, that if you liked "Amelie" to check out "A Very Long Engagement". Just saw that last week and thought the shots were phenomenal.

"Hero" also stood out as an amazing film because they have several scenes that are repeated from different character points of view. For each repeat they changed the color scheme of everything in the scene. There is a scene where two guys fight on a still-water lake and it is really an amazing scene with the mountains in the background. Listening to the commentary, they said that the lake water was only still from 10-12 in the morning, so they were there for 2-3 weeks shooting for 2 hours every day (after a 5 hour set-up).
 
I think everyone is missing the shot in the original 12 Angry Men
It goes on for 12 minutes, long dolly, weaving in and out of all the characters... Best shot of all time in my opinion...
 
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