Rachel Morrison, Oscar, and a Defense of Netflix Bias

Rachel Morrison on the set of Mudbound

Yesterday, history was made with the nominations by the American Society of Cinematographers. Arguably the classiest precursor (they usually pick really craft-specific nominees and rarely buy into some of the "nominate the Best Pictures!" mentality that AMPAS Cinematographers' branch latches onto), their nominations this year were once again films that it's hard to argue have Cinematography in mind for their nominations, and in fact many of them are the best featured cinematography of the year.  The nominees are: Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049), Hoyte von Hoytema (Dunkirk), Dan Laustsen (The Shape of Water), Bruno Delbonnel (Darkest Hour), and Rachel Morrison (Mudbound).  This is a cavalcade of Oscar favorites and newcomers to the Academy.  You have Roger Deakins battling it out for yet another contest (this would be his 14th Oscar nomination should it land, and he's yet to win...he's also my favorite working DP give-or-take Emmanuel Lubezki, so know that I will be rooting for him even if I haven't decided who my top pick for the year here is).  Von Hoytema has an achievement to be marveled at, filming this on celluloid in a world of digital (which is a wonder considering the beauty of Dunkirk).  But most newsworthy of all is Rachel Morrison's nomination.  With this citation, she is the first woman ever nominated by the ASC for Cinematography of a Film, and it's very possible that she carries this over to the Oscars, where she will be the first woman nominated in this category, the last of the non-gender-specified categories to break down that barrier.  Historically four out of five of these will be nominated for the Oscar, and while I want to in the year of #MeToo say that I'm rooting hard for Morrison, I can't and it bums me out to no avail not to be cheering for the (likely) first female nominee here.  Mudbound shouldn't be in contention here from a pragmatic standpoint, and it's partially because I subscribe a bit to the oft-maligned Netflix bias when it comes to the Oscars.

My antipathy for Morrison's work isn't because of her gender (the Oscars should have nominated a woman a long time ago, and the ASC should really do something about trying to promote more women into the DP's chair, as their gender ratios on this front are horrific), and everything to do with how and why I love the movies.  If you'll recall from my review of the film, I didn't particularly like the movie.  It plays like a picture with too much script, that would have functioned better as a miniseries, and got lost in its adaptation (it is a near-lock for an Adapted Screenplay nomination, much to my chagrin, but we'll get to that when we do the 2017 OVP).  But the cinematography has inexplicably been cited, and unless you're one of the very few people who watched this movie in a movie theater, I'm at a loss for what you're seeing.

It is foolish to assume that your film will always be seen the way you intended it to be.  After all, cinematographers must contend with the fact that their movie could be viewed for the first time on the big-screen, a giant TV, a laptop, or even a mobile phone.  But in a weird coincidence, I saw all of these movies at least how the production company intended for me to see them, with the first four listed above on a big-screen (in the case of Dunkirk, on an iMAX 65mm cut), and with Mudbound on a laptop, as is the purpose of Netflix.  Unlike Amazon, who has made a point of releasing its films on big-screens, not losing any of the filmic luster of pictures like Manchester by the Sea, Wonderstruck, and Wonder Wheel, Netflix only releases qualifiers.  Unless you're in the right neighborhood at the right time in LA (or want to shell out $15 at your local Landmark for something you can watch for free from your bed), your best bet to see a movie like Mudbound is on a laptop.

And the reality is that this isn't ideal, certainly not for what Morrison had in mind for the wide, grey-and-brown tinted shots of this picture.  Sure, all of the other nominees will be seen on a DVD or a streaming device at some point, but if you initially wanted to see them on a big-screen, that was the intention.  Mudbound's wide shots don't have as much impact when you're looking on a 13" laptop, and while performances still work the same in such a venue, technical categories like Visual Effects or Cinematography don't play the same way.  There is no comparing this movie's experience to the aerial shots of Dunkirk or the wide expanse of scanning Las Vegas in Blade Runner 2049, and it's not because Morrison doesn't have the talent to do so, she just doesn't have the venue.  No film that is seen primarily on a small-screen is going to be able to compare to one made for a larger one when it comes to Cinematography, and I hope that Oscar remembers that.

Because the reality is that when it comes to film, Netflix bias is okay.  We're taught that bias is a bad thing, but really here it's more placating to reality, and the reality is that an immersive movie experience, one that fully encapsulates the artist's vision, is best saved for the big-screen.  You don't have distractions around you, and you get to see a picture in giant, expansive color.  The spectacle of a movie, whether it's the aqua wonder of The Shape of Water or the stern, winding bunkers of Darkest Hour are more compelling on a big-screen than a small.  It's impossible to see every film, every time on the big-screen, but you should try to make it at least your first rendezvous because it's always going to be better (it's why even for non-spectacle films, I tend to prioritize seeing them at a movie house).  Catering to facility shouldn't be what AMPAS is trying to do, it should be about rewarding art.  And while it may be philistine to say that a new format to create art within isn't capable of achieving the same effects, Mudbound proves it isn't.  You have a talented DP with beautiful screening opportunities and a unique style, and it all becomes lost because the screen is shorter than my head.  AMPAS shouldn't stand for this, and for an artistic platform that turns the wonder of movies into the convenience of television.  So I hope Morrison eventually gets her nomination, and I hope that we start seeing some watershed moments for women within the Cinematographers' Branch...but I also hope that Oscar is wise enough to skip Mudbound for this category, as it's not worthy and would open a floodgate that doesn't need to be breached.