Thursday Movie Picks: Favorite Cinematography

 

In the 46th week of 2020 for Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We go into the subject of favorite cinematography based on a suggestion by Brittani of Rambling Thoughts. It’s a theme that is often a favorite discussion among film buffs as it often state what film has the best photography. Here are my three picks of my favorite cinematography from the 2010s:

1. Harris Savides-Somewhere

A film that polarized critics and audiences upon its release only to become a favorite among film buffs and with some critics, Sofia Coppola’s fourth feature film about a Hollywood movie star and his growing sense of ennui just as he is to be with his daughter for a week. Featuring career-defining work from Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning, it is the cinematography of the late Harris Savides that adds a beauty to Coppola’s film as it has a realism and something low-key that is often lacking in a lot of Hollywood films.

2. Benoit Debie-Spring Breakers

Harmony Korine’s most accessible film to date about four young women going to the south of Florida to attend spring break and get into some trouble where they meet a gangster who takes a liking to them. It’s a film that offers a lot more than its premise suggests while it also has some gorgeous visuals thanks in part to Benoit Debie whose work with Gaspar Noe definitely gave Korine ideas of how to use neon colors and colorful lighting as it does feature photography at its most pure.

3. James Laxton-Moonlight

The film that won the Oscar for Best Picture, despite its big mess-up at that ceremony in early 2017, is probably one of the most touching films of the 2010s so far. Its exploration about the life of a young man at three different stages in his life as he tries to find himself and his own sexuality is presented with a beauty that isn’t often seen in films LGBT films. Even as it is told with sensitivity by Barry Jenkins and the camerawork of James Laxton who adds these low-key colors and lighting for many of the scenes at night as well as some naturalism for the scenes in the day. It is already one of the great films of the 2010s and it would be a sin to not see this film.

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