Was Amélie Really the Best-Shot Film of the Last Decade?
That's what 17,000 voters at American Cinematographer -- the house journal of the American Society of Cinematographers -- have expressed in a new poll, the results of which were slipped over Movieline's transom this morning. The dates considered are actually 1998-2008, which I guess means Avatar will have to wait for its peer-anointed glory. But back to the original question: Amélie? Really? Read on for the rest of the Top 10, a bucketful of runners-up, and to contribute your own choice.
The methodology is a little... hinky: "AC asked its international audience of subscribers to nominate 10 films released between 1998 and 2008 that they believed had the best cinematography," the release notes. "A final ballot listing the 50 most popular nominees was then posted on the ASC website, and the final vote was open to the public. More than 17,000 people around the world participated."
And somewhere -- and somehow -- along the line, Bruno Delbonnel's admittedly lovely work trumped Emmanuel Lubezki's watershed Children of Men. Chris Doyle's amazing shooting on In the Mood for Love isn't even in the Top 10:
1. Amélie: Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC (2001)
2. Children of Men: Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (2006)
3. Saving Private Ryan: Janusz Kaminski (1998)
4. There Will Be Blood: Robert Elswit, ASC (2007)
5. No Country for Old Men: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (2007)
6. Fight Club: Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (1999)
7. The Dark Knight: Wally Pfister, ASC (2008)
8. Road to Perdition: Conrad L. Hall, ASC (2002)
9. Cidade de Deus (City of God): César Charlone, ABC (2002)
10. American Beauty: Conrad L. Hall, ASC (1999)
The remaining selections are below. Biggest omission? Probably Peter Deming's contributions to Mulholland Drive, right? Only one Robert Elswit film seems a pretty grave oversight as well, considering Good Night and Good Luck, Magnolia and even the underrated Punch-Drunk Love. But then he also shot Gigli, so you tell me.
11. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Deakins)
12. Tie: In the Mood for Love (Christopher Doyle, HKSC, and Mark Li Ping-bin) and Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Navarro, ASC)
13. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Andrew Lesnie, ASC, ACS)
14. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Ellen Kuras, ASC)
15. Gladiator (John Mathieson, BSC)
16. The Matrix (Bill Pope, ASC)
17. The Thin Red Line (John Toll, ASC)
18. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (Kaminski)
19. Slumdog Millionaire (Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC, DFF)
20. Tie: Eyes Wide Shut (Larry Smith, BSC) and Requiem for a Dream (Matthew Libatique, ASC)
21. Kill Bill (Robert Richardson, ASC)
22. Moulin Rouge (Donald M. McAlpine, ASC, ACS)
23. The Pianist (Pawel Edelman, PSC)
24. Hero (Doyle)
25. Black Hawk Down (Slawomir Idziak, PSC)
26. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Deakins)
27. Babel (Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC)
28. Lost In Translation (Lance Acord, ASC)
29. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Peter Pau, HKSC)
30. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Claudio Miranda, ASC)
31. The Man Who Wasn't There (Deakins)
32. The New World (Lubezki)
33. Sin City (Robert Rodriguez)
34. Atonement (Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC)
35. Munich (Kaminski)
36. The Prestige (Pfister)
37. Memoirs of a Geisha (Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS)
38. The Aviator (Richardson)
39. Zodiac (Harris Savides, ASC)
40. The Insider (Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC)
41. Gangs of New York (Michael Ballhaus, ASC)
42. Tie: Brokeback Mountain (Prieto) and The Fountain (Libatique)
43. The Fall (Colin Watkinson)
44. The Passion of the Christ (Caleb Deschanel, ASC)
45. Snow Falling on Cedars (Richardson)
46. House of Flying Daggers (Xiaoding Zhao)
47. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Eric Adkins)
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Comments
The ommission of Mulholland Drive is really puzzling.
Elephant?...
Minority Report?...
Though I am glad that they chose No Country as Deakins' top work.
Sorry, in this humble man's opinion, any film that relies on cgi and chroma screens should not be on this list. The art of cinematography is composition of the complete scene through the lens, not on a team of geeks back in the post house.
Peter Deming for _Mulholland Drive_ really is a big omission.
Glad to see Harris Savides on the list for _Zodiac_ and agree with Edward Wilson that Roger Deakins work for _No Country for Old Men_ is the right choice.
Hm. Maybe Peter Suschitzky for _Eastern Promises_?
Yutaka Yamasaki for _Nobody Knows_?
Hear hear. For my money nothing exceeded Assassination of Jesse James, which was breathtaking precisely because of the risks it took in the can. Genius, inspiring stuff.
I'm somewhat out of my element when it comes to discuss cinematography, but I will say that Amelie was certainly one of my 10 favorites of the last decade, so I'm glad it's getting some love.
BTW, I'm as in awe of Children of Men's stunning long tracking shots as everyone else, but does the fact that they were digitally spliced together change anyone's opinion? (The most obvious example is the finale, when there's blood splatter on the lens, and then there isn't after it goes up the stairs.)
Absolutely, positively. And it NEVER looks as good as they think it does. The human imagination is timeless, but technology always changes; and so CGI instantly dates itself. In no time at all, it looks as quaint - and jarring - as bad rear-projection from the '30s.
I disagree, but only slightly. As the times, that line gets increasingly blurry. As someone mentioned, the Children of Men scenes, which were stunning, were the result of the teamwork of many different people, not solely the cinematographer, and that created a world of magic not available previously.
That being said, there is no way in hell Avatar should have won that award this year. Same with Titanic when it won, too, especially over the sumptuous LA Confidential that year.
(And yeah, Jesse James is my top pick for the prettiest pictures. Stunning work).
How in God's name is Gladiator on that list? Seriously.
Also, I would have liked to have seen Memento on the list.
So refreshing to see Christopher Doyle's work recognized by someone outside my living room.
Sin City? Fail..
S.T. Vanairsdale, your condescension borders on douchebaggery. Just because you don't agree with the list doesn't mean the voting process should be under fire. Considering that the public-at-large voted on this, there are some really great choices listed. So the list isn't perfect. When are they, really? I would put this as a far better list than some of the choices made by critics for the best films of the past decade.
I consider myself a film snob, but while reading Movieline lately, I feel like saying "Lighten up!" You guys are way snobbier than I will ever be.
I'm not really sure where I stand on how many computer effects are "acceptable" for a list like this. All I can think is photography is the manipulation of light via lenses, shutter speeds, etc. Throw in development processes and color timing for analog film that alters images even more. Yes, Avatar and its ilk are completely fabricated in a computer, but where's the line?
Put another way: does the fact that cameras aren't hand-cranked anymore mean that today's cinematographers are cheating?
Then someone needs to invent a new term because "cinematography" is currently all we have to describe the whole she-bang.
"Cinematography" is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. (Wikipedia) A virtual camera is still a camera and CG is still considered images for the cinema.
In "Assassination of Jesse James" the top half of Brad Pitt's left middle finger is painstakingly erased in every single scene it appears in with the help of computer graphics. (imdb) Should this take it out of the running? If they did that I imagine the look of the film was enhanced using digital processing...
I think "Wall-E" should be on the list (Roger Deakins was involved with the realistic look of this film), but I understand if you let one animated film in then others will demand to be recognized as well. Maybe they should do a separate list of animated, especially since stop motion like "Wallace & Gromit", "Corpse Bride", and "Coraline" involve actual lighting of a actual objects and sets.
Good thing you didn't say it.
Let The Right One In anyone? Cold, icy, beautiful.
Also I think Walle does deserve a mention, I mean those first 30 minutes. Just wow.
Maybe Inside Man aswell.
I'm sorry you feel that way.
Somebody must have forgotten (or not seen) Bela Tarr's "Werckmeister Harmonies" (2000) and Aleksandr Sokurov's "The Russian Ark" (2002). Beautiful films.
Duane Durante
Agreed on Werckmeister Harmonies. The list seems very centred on mainstream US cinema. There's a fondness there, too, for stately camera movement, tastefully balanced colours and pretty lighting, even when it's in the service of dodgy movies - Sky Captain? Memoirs of a Geisha? We need clearer criteria for a list like this.
I would totally agree.
Amelie, a cute movie, but I definitely did not walk away thinking about the cinematography (mostly the editing, way too long). Hell, the only thing that kept me awake in the "Assasination of Jesse James" was Casey Affleck and Deakins' cinematography. I would put this work above "No Country for Old Men" any day.
Wes Bashline
I thought Amelie had great cinematography. I'm not sure whether it deserves the number one spot but I certainly don't think its a terrible choice.
"There's a fondness there, too, for stately camera movement, tastefully balanced colours and pretty lighting, even when it's in the service of dodgy movies - Sky Captain? Memoirs of a Geisha? We need clearer criteria for a list like this. "
I'm fairly certain the main criteria was probably the quality of the cinematography not the quality of the movie. A movie can be crappy but still have great cinematography.
Why isn't Sweeney Todd on the list? I mean, I personally think it deserved a place in there. Or even HP3. I admit that I haven't seen the better part of the movies on that list, so I really ought to shut up, but I think that there are a lot of great movies missing. Maybe we could try and make it a 100 movies list or something...
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