OVP: Best Cinematography (2022)
The Nominees Were...
James Friend, All Quiet on the Western Front
Darius Khondji, Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Mandy Walker, Elvis
Roger Deakins, Empire of Light
Florian Hoffmeister, Tar
My Thoughts: I've talked about this a lot on this blog, but the direction of modern cinematography has to be one of the Top 5 most depressing aspects of modern filmmaking (there are worse, this is still my top pet peeve). Movies function without light, the move to digital means that we don't get a flood of light, and while moody movies can & do have their place...so often it just reads like we're watching Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, struggling with cataracts as we fumble with our remotes to better see the screens. Particularly for movies that are largely seen at home (where it's harder to control for the outside light), this can be a struggle.
Thankfully none of these films really get to that, and the closest we probably get is certain scenes in All Quiet on the Western Front, which largely eschews this, but there are moments when the movie (seen by most in their living rooms, including me, the only 2022 Best Picture nominee I didn't catch in a movie theater), where it's clear that we should be moving closer to the screens. My bigger problem with this cinematography is how flat it feels. It's pretty, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't really engage with the viewer, and it feels so formulaic. There's nothing adventurous, nothing exemplary.
All Quiet's biggest competition at the Oscars was Elvis, which also had some scenes that might've been too dark, but I saw it in a movie theater so they didn't register that way. There are scenes in this (like the early scene where Colonel Tom understands just how much of a spell a young Presley can have on women) where the camera gets the joke, knows that this movie is meant to be a little silly, and the framing of women basically having collective orgasms feels in-line with that. But that playfulness falls apart when we get somber, and Walker doesn't know how to capture the same sort of intrigue late in the picture.
Like the Academy, I adore Roger Deakins, who basically got a default nomination here (at least that's how it reads given this is the film's only nomination). You can have a solid caveat about how this is shot on digital in a movie that's about the romance of film (I would knock a star off for that, personally), but otherwise I've got nothing. Once again, Deakins finds something so grand in the way he shoots every frame, particularly during Toby Jones' monologues about the dusty world of a film projector, bringing us along for the magic. The movie isn't great, but Deakins makes it look splendid.
The same can be said for Tar, which doesn't quite have the obvious beauty of Empire of Light (which plays a lot more with different settings, including introducing some sunlight to the festivities), but knows how to capture the smoky, vacant haze of our protagonist Lydia Tar. Think of the way certain key scenes are filmed, like the famed sequence with the student where we wander around an auditorium or Lydia rushing the concert stage, us only understanding the true horror of the moment through the camera. It's a marvelous piece-of-work, even if it doesn't put the same level of care in every scene throughout.
Our final nominated film, like Empire of Light, is the only time we'll mention this movie in our 2022 write-ups. Overall, Bardo looks good. Khondji is clearly borrowing from the Lubezki playbook (Lubezki won an Oscar for an Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu film, in fact, but I'm talking more his work with Terrence Malick). It looks beautiful, every frame has a purpose. But I have to point out-the entire sequence where our main character has his head floating on the body of a shorter teenager...what was the point of that? In an otherwise beautiful movie, this looks hideous, and I think should've precluded it from an Oscar nomination as a result.
Other Precursor Contenders: The American Society of Cinematographers picked Elvis, making Mandy Walker the first woman to win the prize, beating out Empire of Light, The Batman, Bardo, and Top Gun: Maverick, while BAFTA gave the statue to All Quiet on the Western Front, here atop The Batman, Elvis, Empire of Light, and Top Gun: Maverick. In sixth place, I'll be honest-my predictions were bad here (I didn't call All Quiet and Elvis, who would end up the Oscar frontrunners by the time the ceremony hit), and instead predicted Top Gun (which, to be fair, most people thought would win until it wasn't nominated), The Fabelmans, and Avatar for nominations. Top Gun was probably sixth place, but honestly...I was so wrong here I can't even hazard a guess.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I don't think this is a good lineup. None of these are flawless, and if any of them make it for me, it won't be in a medal position. I honestly would've had time for Best Picture nominees Avatar and The Fabelmans (both solid pictures), but the biggest snub was surely the world-class western homage that Hoyte von Hoytema was doing in Nope.
Oscar's Choice: This would've been an awesome opportunity to follow suit with the ASC and give the first trophy to a female DP, but the All Quiet on the Western Front train stops for no one.
Oscar's Choice: This would've been an awesome opportunity to follow suit with the ASC and give the first trophy to a female DP, but the All Quiet on the Western Front train stops for no one.
My Choice: In a tight race between Empire of Light and Tar, I'm going to be super contrarian and give this trophy to Deakins. I think the way that it incorporates cinematography draws me to it, even if I think Tar is the better movie overall. Behind them I'll do Bardo, All Quiet, and Elvis.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? I'm guessing I'm probably on my own here, but does anyone want to join me with Empire of Light, or do most want to stick to the trenches of France? Or more likely, is there a consensus favorite among the remaining three? And how did so many major contenders miss the boat here? Share your thoughts below!
No comments:
Post a Comment