Which films have the best photography?

-Dancer in the Dark - beautiful with many different looks/aesthetics

-Do the Right Thing - (good call, gonzoish) back when Spike Lee made good movies

-The more recent Matt Damon action flick - what's the name, damnit... OH Yeah!
Borne Identity or Supremacy (the more recent). Cheesey action flick - yes. Not a Matt Damon fan, but I loved how the camera work danced between gritty lo-fi handheld and super technical.

-Oh yeah, speaking of action, Team America: World Police. I could watch the "making of" section of that DVD once a week for the next year.
 
DMProductions said:
Band of Brothers - fantastic and gritty
The Crow - one of my all-time faves. also dark and gritty
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I have not seen the crow in so long... thanks for reminding me about it... I am going to have to go rent that now...
 
Just a number of phenomenal films which I think deserve to be mentioned in this thread because of their excellent photography.

Once upon a time in the West (Sergio Leone) - Tonino Delli Colli

Europa (Lars von Trier) - Henning Bendtsen, Edward Klosinski and Jean-Paul Meurisse

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg) - Douglas Slocombe

Triumph of the Will (Leni Riefenstahl) - Leni Riefenstahl
 
My definition of best photography is probably be a bit different.. but:

Run Lola Run
&
The Celebration (dogme)

have influenced/taught me personally more about DP/cinematography/directing than any other movies I can think of.

Dawn of the Dead (2004? remake) IMO is a huge underappreciated movie for good Hollywood camerawork.
 
I'd forgotten about Sergio Leone - a master in his own time for his gritty, hard light films (can ya tell I love drastic lighting?).

Tim Burton is another fave of mine - Big Fish had some stunning scenes. I'm counting the days until The Corpse Bride hits!
 
Some people have already mentioned director Wong Kar-Wai and cinematographer Chris Doyle. I believe they are some of the most talented people in movies today.
2046, In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, Days of being Wild are just great for their stories and visual style.

What I like about Wong Kar-Wai is that he doesn't really have a script but just goes out in search of a movie. In "Happy Together" he took his team from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires and kept them there for months till he had the film he wanted. Every time actos wanted and need to leave he convinced them to stay another ten days.
The final look of the film speaks for itself. It depicts the loneliness in modern big cities pretty well with eviscerating and gritty colours.

I was so lucky to participate in a three hour Master Class with Chris Doyle in Copenhagen three weeks ago and three days after I followed his advice about "Just do it" and bought the DVX100.

Chris Doyle also filmed "Hero" by Zhang Yimou and Pan-Ek R.'s LAST DAY OF THE UNIVERSE. Last Days of the Universe I saw just a few days ago and you got to admire the dogme-feel to this very simple yet human movie.
It really goes to show how much a location can add to the atmosphere too. Chris Doyle mentioned the house to the third character of the movie.

For those who haven't seen 2046 they should make sure they see it. Some dislike the pathos and the melodrama in the film, but IMHO it is the most beautifully filmed film ever..

D.
 
DMProductions said:
The Crow - one of my all-time faves. also dark and gritty
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Although, The Crow (1994) is not one my favorite movies, Dark City (1998), is. It's another film also directed (and in this case, co-written) by Alex Proyas. Both films also had the same director of photography, Dariusz Wolski. Again, as in Blade Runner, the exquisite production design on Dark City complements the cinematographer's work here quite nicely. I've always said, "90% of good lighting is dependent on good production design." If you like looking at Jennifer Connelly (and who doesn't), Dark City is highly recommended.
 
Some great choices here. God I wish that The Conformist was available on video...

For STARK noir look, I reccomend The Big Combo. The film iteslf is not that great, but the photography is great and the addage "It's not what you light, it's what you don't light that matters" is exemplified here.
 
A lot of the movies mentioned here rely more on color correction then on actual cinematography.
I like movies that have a 'saturated' natural look. Movies that combine awesome set design with cinematography.
To come to my mind immediately is a French produced Vietnamese film, its absolutely beautiful, its called "Cyclo". Beautifully colored walls, nice contrast, no crazy color correction a la "Amelie" or "Saving Private Ryan" which ultimately represent 'cheap trick cinematography'.

Also all of Won Kar Wai's films are a beauty to watch.

Set design is 50% of cinematography. Just look at a movie like "Hero" where its so crucial that set design and color schemes account for like 90 percent of the cinematography.
 
Fake Name said:
whatever happened to Jean Jaques Beniex, also creator of Diva, a visual fork in my life's road.
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Diva is just a masterpiece !

Jean Jacques Beineix is still in a creative process even if his last film wasn't a sucess in france : Mortel Transfert - 2001. An interesting film with a great photography (see picture below - Helene de Fougerolle)
Pfilm939518303502.jpg


This film has too gorgeous paintings from one of the most gifted french living painter : Pierre Peyrolle.
Here one of the painting showed in the movie :
pey.andromede.600x850.jpg


A complete article about Peyrolle's works (in english) : http://visionaryrevue.com/webtext3/visartfr11.html

The last project of Jean Jacques Beineix was too expensive so he did a comics with the screenplay : http://www.blog.laffairedusiecle.com/

-

To come back to photography, 2046 is magnificent but in my memory "Touch of Evil" remains the most impressive. And I don't talk about the opening shot. The most impressive plan sequence ever shot.
 
City of God... the photography in that film was amazing... nothing flash, nothing fake... that and anything shot by Roger Deakins...
 
Roger Deakins for sure, "The Village" even tho its an okay movie, has awesome cinematography.
 
The Passion of the Christ. Caleb Deschanel's finest hour.

The other one is 'Apocalypse Now' where again Caleb was the director of photography.

Both films are full of beautiful frames and haunting images.
 
The only one I can add, that hasn't been mentioned, would be Noboru Shinoda, Shunji Iwai's preferred cinematographer, who died early 2004 of liver failure. Shinoda and Iwai are known as the Japanese conterpart of Kar Wai and Doyle; Check out "All About Lily Chou Chou", "Crying out Love in the Center of the World" (Not Iwai), "Love Letter", "April Story" and their short film on the Japanese Jam Films collection "Arita".
 
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