OVP: Best Cinematography (2000)
The Nominees Were...
Peter Pau, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
John Mathieson, Gladiator
Lajos Koltai, Malena
Roger Deakins, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Caleb Deschanel, The Patriot
My Thoughts: We are moving today into Best Cinematography, and with it, yet another round of Deschanel & Deakins. Writing all of these My Ballot articles (I've written almost 500 of them on the blog at this point), I am struck by how each branch has their favorites, and these are two of the Cinematography Branch's biggest ones. The Cinematography Branch, similar to the Music Branch, is famous for sending the same names over-and-over again in part because the Academy itself keeps turning them down. While the Music Branch has Thomas Newman & Diane Warren, here we for much of the past couple of decades had Deakins & Deschanel. Deakins finally won an Oscar in 2017 for Blade Runner 2049, but Deschanel is still fighting for his statue. Hopefully when he's the frontrunner the Academy will have the good sense to have one of his actress daughters present to him.
The nice thing about both Deschanel & Deakins is they're very talented DP's, so this is usually a pleasure to watch their works. That stands up in The Patriot, which features gorgeous looks from Deschanel. Deschanel has worked with Mel Gibson a few times, most notably in their best collaboration (based solely on the cinematography), The Passion of the Christ, and you can see some of what made that movie look so good here. The battle scenes capture a lot of golden hour light, and are framed in a way that recalls a Revolutionary War oil painting, giving us an up-close look at the battlefield while also remaining very much in that sort of patriotic sweet-spot visually. Given the goals of the movie, this is the right choice, and underlines Roland Emmerich's vision.
If you've read this blog for a while, you know that I'm a Roger Deakins fanboy, and there are certainly moments in O Brother Where Art Thou that look spectacular. The way that he frames the film in a golden light throughout gives us a storybook feel, like we're in a suspended dream. But the problem is that it also limits some of Deakins' creativity, giving us a monotone after a while. The movie looks good, but it isn't as expressive as some of its competition, and there aren't as many great shots that we usually associate with Deakins. This is judging on a curve (both Oscar & Deakins set high bars), but I'd be in the middle on this one in terms of his long list of nominations.
Malena is a good example of a movie that plays with that golden light in a number of different scenes, but also is willing to go with other colors. Monica Bellucci is about as beautiful as a human being can get, and cinematographer Lajos Koltai knows how to center her in every shot to make sure we see her as something ethereal, like the way our young protagonist Renato views her, as a goddess walking on earth. The plays on the madonna-and-whore trope are really intriguing, and in some ways recall how actresses like Sophia Loren & Gina Lollobrigida were framed in similar 1960's erotic comedies. Overall, I was a fan of this.
The same can be said for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (in that I'm a fan...this one is less erotic). The biggest triumph of this movie is the battle sequences, which are exquisitely framed, making sure you understand the athleticism and power of the martial arts on-display, without ever needing to feel too indulgent or aggressive, so it feels like a dance in the trees just as much as a fight in the trees. The movie also uses light wonderfully, frequently playing with the soft palette glow of cloud cover, which is hard to do in movies (usually it comes out too dark). Like so many of the technical aspects of this movie, it just works, and looks amazing.
Which brings us to Gladiator. I swear, I will not hate all of Gladiator's nominations (we're even going to hit one next that will mirror my own nominations), but this one isn't for me. The problem with the cinematography for me is that the battle scenes are so poorly-constructed. Whereas each one in Crouching Tiger feels like we're exploring something new, the framing in Gladiator feels like it's the same fight over-and-over again. Only those in the colosseum stand out, but that's not as big of a part of the movie as you'd probably remember, and instead we get too much of the same idea in other aspects of the film.
Other Precursor Contenders: The American Society of Cinematographers chose The Patriot as their winner, sitting atop Crouching Tiger, Gladiator, O Brother Where Art Hou, & The Perfect Storm, while BAFTA gave their statue to Gladiator against Billy Elliot, Chocolat, Crouching Tiger, and O Brother Where Art Thou. In terms of sixth place...you got me? Before dismissing The Perfect Storm, keep in mind it's John Seale and visual effects-driven cinematography wasn't the conversation piece that it is now. It could've been that, though Chocolat or Traffic are both distinctive enough Best Picture nominees that either could've been an option for the Academy.
Films I Would Have Nominated: If you want to just pick based on Cinematography, and not throw in whether the movie itself is any good, you'd be hard-pressed to find a film lovelier than All the Pretty Horses, a gorgeous romantic western starring Penelope Cruz & Matt Damon that flopped badly (this was during the "is Penelope Cruz ever going to happen in Hollywood?" period). The movie is not good (Damon is not a cowboy), but it looks splendid.
Oscar's Choice: A battle royale between the two Best Picture nominees, the Academy correctly went with Crouching Tiger atop Gladiator.
Oscar's Choice: A battle royale between the two Best Picture nominees, the Academy correctly went with Crouching Tiger atop Gladiator.
My Choice: I'm also going to pick Crouching Tiger, though in this case atop The Patriot, as this is a year where Deschanel > Deakins. Behind these two films would be Malena, O Brother, and Gladiator in the back.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Does everyone agree that Crouching Tiger deserved this one, or do you want to make a case for other four (I think this is a win that aged well)? Do we think that Caleb Deschanel is ever going to win an Academy Award? And was Chocolat, The Perfect Storm, or Traffic in sixth place? Share your thoughts below!
No comments:
Post a Comment