Hi,
This is a very tough area.
Of special note regarding the folks already mentioned. It is my thought that Roman Polanski will be better remembered by the camera shots he came up with for many films. 1) In R'sB one of the most famous shots in cinematography land is the one where you only see the foot of the bed from your point of view, and the story is (it's in "Visions of Light" a must see film about cinematography for all of you!!!! It defines directors better than we think!) that in the movie theater every head in the auditorium moved to their right to try and see what was inside that room that you could not see! 2) The famous shot in his film about vampires when they are all dancing towards the end, and all of a sudden, the camera shows us ... a very large mirror that shows nothing and all the vampires immediately look at him! 3) In Tess, the biggest stunner is the camera in Tess's rape ... it's like the camera is doing the raping and it is scary, suffocating and insane. It is even more amazing that it came off so well done. It redefined the "role" of a camera for a long time, and how in Hong Kong (specially Christopher Doyle and Wong Kaw-wai) eventually did similar things with a camera in the hand, instead of a tripod! 4) This style was also visible in earlier films by Polanski.
"Nashville" is a totally different ball game, and the main story in the whole film is that more than half of it was filmed during "rehearsals" and not in moments that were scripted which eventually upset some actors who thought that good work went to waste, but the freshness of it all came through. And Mr. Altman, was crazy and made sure that the visual was always playing some tricks on the actors to try and get some reactions that otherwise would be very difficult to get by explanation! You can read a lot about this on "Altman on Altman" and he explains a lot of it ...
This is the area of film that we don't exactly think about. If you EVER see "Visions of Light" you will understand, how Sven Nykvist "made" Ingmar Bergman, and likely defined and devised more than half the shots about all the actors and their work. And then it's really hard to not see how some of these folks did not make Bernardo Bertolucci look better, and in many ways Nicolas Roeg's films, who was a cinematographer before his time as director, and a lot of his work is designed and based on the literacy and quality of the shots and how they were implemented, starting right off with "Performance" even though his "directing" is also shared with Don Cammell ... this film, in and by itself, is a cinematographer's dream in terms of its design and ability, and helped create a lot of things, including what should be considered the first MTV piece with Mick Jagger! Even MTV wouldn't play that because of the rights of the film, but when you see it in the film, you find out how Mick Jagger changed his approach to music, and became the Mick Jagger that we know from the next 5 to 6 and some years.
The other one, for me, actually two of them and they are very similar in their shooting style is David Lean and Akira Kurosawa, who insisted on a "painting" for every shot, so to speak. This helped make their films really strong, and one thing they did not cheat on was how much time was needed for a shot ... they both were able to extend things, and no one complained about it!
Stanley Kubrick is an interesting mention here, as he was specially known for his visual style, although I think that in the end, he might have suffered because a lot of his films had what is considered poor, or incomplete stories that made things difficult to evaluate, but we can always mention several shots, and the special ones are always the improvised ones that we find strewn all over his films, going back to allowing Peter Sellers to do so much in "Dr. Strangelove", as he was already, by that time, well known for his bits and pieces and ability to continue/improvise a scene, or add a joke which was so evident in The Goons, even though it was radio theater ... it was still very alive and clear, and were it not for the talent, and voices that Peter used in those shows (an average of 5 or 6 of them for each show!!!!!), I am not sure that their comedy would not have been as good, and it is mostly clear in Bluebottle, who always thinks out loud, and this is something that is tied to the situation, and I am not sure that Spike Milligan could have worded things so well many times, as Peter made them! .... (fall down little kilt ... you can not stand up to my mental power and he gets wacked!) ... the gad might have been there but the wording used was more important to the gag than the gag itself! And the acting, of course!
Probably a lot of films have really turned up my mind and imagination ... The Double Life of Veronique is definitely one (why 2 dolls? Because they are fragile and sometimes one breaks ... guess what the film is about?) ... Queen Margot as in insane film, whose historical this and that was hidden, but all of a sudden comes alive as a film, regardless of how true it was, but it certainly was plausible.
IF, there is one film that "woke me up" more than any other, it was actually a play that I read first and finally saw the film, which is not as good as the bits and pieces that Guy Guden has used from my LP's on his show to (at times) bring up material that is pointed, or simply crazy. The lines in that play, delivered by Ian Richardson and Patrick Magee are so well done and strong as to really shake your noodles ... even if this play (and film) are more for LISTENERS, than they are for folks that like "action". The design of the play itself is crazy, but its directing and implementation of it, is amazing and probably one of the best directed things I have ever seen for theater, or film. I'm not sure that the film, taken from a live performance, is as good as what you hear from the LP's, but when you see the Marquis tell Charlotte her instructions, including "not now Charlotte Corday!", it's hard to not pay attention to the incredible sensitivity and work involved in all of these actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company ... and this is the first group that went on to do things with Ken Russell a few years later!
I wish I could be less glib about all this, but over the years so many things came and went ... and it feels like ... tears in the rain ... for me ... I remember them fondly, and will never forget them, but mentioning them is tough and sad, sometimes.
One more ... "The Island on Bird Street" was shown here as a "child's film" and it was grossly misrepresented and the audience had too many kids and the parents left with them before half the film was over ... and that film was one of the memories that last me forever ... but no one will consider that a mouse was the hero until he was accidentally squished towards the end ... something that hardly fits a child's story, but the film itself is gentle, generous and totally amazing ... and no one I have known has ever seen it, and I thank the Songapore (sp.) Film Festival for quoting my review of it on their liner notes on the film.
It was, and is, for me, one for the special moments!
------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
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