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Fri 14 Feb, 2003 02:25 pm
Who are your favorite cinematographers, past or present?
My favorite living one is Vittorio Storaro. Among past masters I admire Freddie Francis (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA), Gregg Toland (CITIZEN KANE), and James Wong Howe (BODY AND SOUL).
Who do you admire behind the camera?
Asakazu Nakai, rarely mentioned but part of the Kurosawa braintrust.
Tim, what Kurosawa films did Nakai shoot?
Littlek Kurosawa was a DIRECTOR not a cinematographer
I know he did Seven Samurai and Ran, but I recall reading that he shot most of his films. Off to IMDB....
Tim, I just saw 7 Samurai again the other night. One of the best photographed films ever! The use of the slow motion, the telephoto shots, the lyrical scenes in the forest for the romantic interlude, the final battle in the rain--all superb.
Tomorrow night I am seeing THRONE OF BLOOD and THE HIDDEN FORTRESS on a double feature, on a big screen. I can't wait!
Wow...where at, if you don't mind me asking? Since the demise of the TLA as a retro film house years ago, I didn't know there were any venues that would host such a twin bill?
My favorite is the late Nestor Almendros who did most if not all of Eric Rohmer's films. My favorite of the Rohmer films from a cinematographic standpoint was "The Marqise of O" in which many frames were worthy of being hung on an Art Museum wall. The same can be said, I believe, of "Days of Heaven".
Tim, the Kurosawa/Mifune retrospective is being shown at the Prince music Theater where Film At The Prince is hosting it until the end of February or so.
Flyboy, have you read Almendros' memoirs? They are very revealing about how he got his effects and how he worked with directors like Rohmer and Truffaut.
Larry R, thanks for the tip on Almendros' Memoirs. Haven't read it, but it is now on my "to read" list.
Flyboy, the Almendros book is called THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA--I am sure it is out of print by now but maybe The Strand can dig you up a dusty old copy, since I see you live in Nueva York...
Two more personal favorites: Gordon Willis and Chris Menges. Willis is probably the most influential shooter of the last quarter of the 20th century.
I always expected Menges to develop into one of the great ones, but he disappeared for the better of the 90s.
Tim, Willis is a favorite of mine too. I just saw the first 2 GODFATHER movies again and was amazed at his contribution. He did wonders for Woody Allen (ANNIE HALL and MANHATTAN) and made ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN what it was. Willis is a genius. Look at the flashback sequences in GODFATHER 2 to Little Italy and you will see where half the cinematographers on earth have been stealing their ideas ever since--the golden brown tones, the way the shots are backlit and sidelit.
Larry R- Thanks for the title on the Almendros book. I'll check at the Strand next time I am at one of my frequently visited dingy art houses, the Quad and Cinema Village, which are a five minute walk away. The Angelica, Sunshine, and Film Forum (other village art houses) are only a fifteen minute walk away. Thank Heaven for Greenwich Village.
You can have Greenwich Village. I'll take the Upper West Side in the days when I went to Columbia Film School, the mid-80s, when we had the Thalia, the Metro, the Olympia, and the Regency all showing revival films. Heaven!
That was then; this is now. To the best of my knowledge all that remains on the Upper West Side is the excellent programming of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater. I could never get use to the perpetually sticky floor of the Thalia in spite of the great films.
Which theaters in the Village actually show revivals as opposed to art movies? By revivals I mean old movies, foreign/art/silent?
The theater that always has a vintage film in at least one of it's four screens is Film Forum (Houston & 6th). It often has retrospectives of directors or actors. There is also Two Boots Pioneer Theater on East 3rd Street which I must admit to never having attended. It is currently showing "Breathless".
It is a shame how all the revival houses in Manhattan have pretty much folded. You wonder how young people are going to learn about film culture with just VCR and videotape. It will be an impoverished film education, that's for sure.
Another problem with video: there are some really bad prints out there. Colorized or otherwised edited by the studio behind the director's back -- or in front of him. It's tough to know sometimes if you're seeing what the original audience saw.
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