Has anyone seen...

Has anyone seen Tree of Life?

I saw it last night, and, without wanting to comment at this point on the film itself (believe me, you will have a strong opinion on it!), I think it's a film that every photographer should see. The cinematography is easily the best I've seen for years in a big budget film.

Any other recommended films for photographers?

Jonathan

Looks a very interesting film. The concept looks like a cross between Slaughterhouse5 and 2001!

Best cinematography I remember recently is The Straight Story. David Lynch's best movie imo - low key, beautiful and moving - in a gentle life affirming kind of way.

Loads but here's a few.

Coen Brothers films (Roger Deakins).

The two films of recent years whose cinematography stands out for me are

The Assassination Of Jesses James By The Coward Robert Ford and Control.

My top three all time best pieces of cinematography are:

1. Hud
2. Seven Samurai
3. Badlands

Das Boot is something of a classic. They built a full size U-boat interior for filming and, as a result, had to pioneer a fair number of techniques that are now universal in order to film in the cramped spaces.

The Untouchables should be up there with the cinema greats, it might have fiddled the history somewhat but the resulting film is superb.

Weirdly I would also rate Mad Max (the original). For an action film it's downright cerebral by modern standards, you don't even see Max's face for the first 10mins or so but they still manage to present him as a character.

Careful, you lot, the Pentax police will be after you for not discussing Pentax related items.

I haven't seen it, nor am I likely to, since I rarely watch films, certainly never in the cinema. However several friends in the US went to see it (independently of each other) and all of them hated it. In fact two of them walked out, and one fell asleep!

The only film I can re-watch is Cool Hand Luke.

Photographers can get lots of inspiration from cinematograhy, sometimes in unexpected or forgotten places.

I rather like the style of "The Avengers" (The TV series) where many scenes are actually set up like still images. A typical example is in the episode "All Done With Mirrors" where there's a terrific shot of a murder victim seen through the broken lens of his discarded glasses.

Scenes like that can give ideas for composition and that is very much something that Pentax users can gain from.

Thanks for reminding me about The Assassination Of Jesse James... I've only ever seen that on DVD, but I would have loved to have seen it in a cinema.

Jonathan

David Byrne invited William eggleston on to the set of True Stories, recognising the influence he was.

Sophia Coppola also cites Eggleston as an influence. have a look at Lost in Translation.

Yes of course, True Stories. I didn't know that about Egglestone, but I can see contemporary photography style all over that film. The obsession with highway interchanges, metal buildings, and flat ultra-drab agricultural landscapes reminds me of Gursky.

I've seen it in Orlando at Disney's animal kingdom, it really looked magnification.

Can't see that one making anyone walk out of the cinema