A few months back we had a look at what we thought were the Ten Best Modern Movie Composers (you can read all about that HERE), and now we’re going to follow that up with what we think are the Ten Best Modern Movie Cinematographers.
Basically, these are the folk who make the films you’re watch look beautiful and visually arresting, and without them it’d just be all quite drab and same-y. These are some of the more unappreciated folk, and it’s most likely because of them that some of your favorite movies look as pretty as they do. So let’s hear it for the cinematographers!
ROGER DEAKINS
Best Known For: working with The Coen Brothers a lot.
Career Highlights: The Shawshank Redemption, No Country For Old Men, Fargo, Skyfall.
Oscars: Nominated eleven times, is yet to win one. Sad face.
Up Next: the Angelina Jolie directed World War II survival story Unbroken, and reuniting with the director of Prisoners for Mexican drug drama Sicario.
Our Favorite: this little scene from The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.
CHRISTOPHER DOYLE
Best Known For: making kung fu look beautiful.
Career Highlights: In The Mood For Love, 2046, The Quiet American, The Lady In The Water.
Oscars: not even a single nomination. Sad face.
Up Next: working on the little-known-about Beijing, New York.
Our Favorite: it’s got to be Hero. Those fight scenes? Wow.
ROBERT ELSWIT
Best Known For: working with Paul Thomas Anderson a lot.
Career Highlights: Boogie Nights, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Magnolia, Tomorrow Never Dies.
Oscars: nominated for Good Night, And Good Luck, but won for There Will Be Blood.
Up Next: working with PTA’s on his latest film Inherent Vice, and then back working with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible 5.
Our Favorite: gotta agree with the Academy on this one, There Will Be Blood is gorgeous.
DARIUS KHONDJI
Best Known For: trying new visual styles almost every time he goes to work.
Career Highlights: Panic Room, Midnight In Paris, The Beach, Delicatessen.
Oscars: nominated for Evita, but didn’t win.
Up Next: reuniting with Woody Allen for his Emma Stone starring comedy, Magic In The Moonlight.
Our Favorite: that queasy, uneasy look he brought to Se7en has been unequalled.
JANUSZ KAMINSKI
Best Known For: working with Steven Spielberg a lot.
Career Highlights: Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, Munich.
Oscars: nominated six times, and won two of those, for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.
Up Next: working with the director of Wedding Crashers for his new film, The Judge, a murder drama with Robert Downey Jnr.
Our Favorite: it’s got to be Minority Report. No Spielberg had looked like it before, and none have looked like it since.
MATTHEW LIBATIQUE
Best Known For: working with Darren Aranofsky a lot.
Career Highlights: Requiem For A Dream, Iron Man, Phone Booth, Cowboys & Aliens.
Oscars: nominated for Black Swan, but didn’t win.
Up Next: biopic of perhaps the most famous soccer player of all time, Pele, and then the live action adaptation of The Jungle Book.
Our Favorite: the startling and overwhelmingly vivid images of The Fountain are still with us, all these years later.
EMMANUEL LUBEZKI
Best Known For: being the current Go-To, In-Demand cinematographer.
Career Highlights: Gravity, The Tree Of Life, Sleepy Hollow, The Birdcage.
Oscars: nominated six times, and one once, for Gravity.
Up Next: working with Terrence Malick on TWO of his upcoming projects, as well as teaming with the director of Babel and 21 Grams on his latest film. His cup runneth over!
Our Favorite: even though Gravity did blow us away, we still prefer his unprecedented work in Children Of Men.
RODRIGO PRIETO
Best Known For: being Martin Scorsese’s new favorite set of eyeballs.
Career Highlights: Brokeback Mountain, Argo, The Wolf Of Wall Street, 25th Hour.
Oscars: nominated for Brokeback Mountain, but didn’t win.
Up Next: working with Tommy Lee Jones on his latest western The Homesman, and then re-teaming with Marty for his 17th century Japanese drama, Silence.
Our Favorite: he managed to capture the manic, mad-cap spirit of The Wolf Of Wall Street better than anyone could’ve imagined, and for that, he deserves a lifetime of commendations.
ROBERT RICHARDSON
Best Known For: working with Tarantino a lot.
Career Highlights: JFK, Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill: Vol 1 & 2, Casino.
Oscars: nominated eight times, and won three, for JFK, Snow Falling On Cedars, and Hugo.
Up Next: nothing officially on the horizon, but we’re sure once Tarantino gets The Hateful Eight up and running, Richardson can expect a call.
Our Favorite: a bit of an odd choice considering how much quality is on display, but we loved his work on Shutter Island.
JOHN TOLL
Best Known For: being a chameleon.
Career Highlights: Braveheart, Iron Man 3, Gone Baby Gone, the pilot episode of Breaking Bad.
Oscars: nominated three times, and won twice, for Braveheart and Legends Of The Fall.
Up Next: working with the Wachowski’s on their massive sci-fi action thriller Jupiter Ascending.
Our Favorite: gonna split the vote between the beautiful The Thin Red Line and the multi-aesthetic feel to Cloud Atlas.
