Directors Cinematography Draft (1 Viewer)

[Walter Kittel]

You're very magnanimous in victory.

Seriously though, thanks for the nice post. This has been one of the best drafts yet, with excellent lists from all participants. It has been a real pleasure. Looking forward to a post-finals discussion.

- Walter.

 

[SteveGon]

Agee wins 4 - 2.

And that brings us to our final.


Brook K

Aguirre: The Wrath of God - Thomas Mauch
Barry Lyndon - John Alcott
Do the Right Thing - Ernest Dickerson
A Hard Day's Night - Gilbert Taylor
High Noon - Floyd Crosby
M - Fritz Arno Wagner
The Night of the Hunter - Stanley Cortez
Ran - Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saito & Masaharu Ueda
Rebecca - George Barnes
Russian Ark - Tillman Buttner
Suspiria - Luciano Tovoli
Taxi Driver - Michael Chapman
West Side Story - Daniel L. Fapp
Woman In The Dunes - Hiroshi Segawa
Written on the Wind - Russell Metty


vs.


Agee Bassett

The Conformist - Vittorio Storaro
Day of Wrath - Carl Andersson
The Devil and Daniel Webster - Joseph August
Duel in the Sun - Lee Garmes, Harold Rosson, Ray Rennahan
Gone With the Wind - Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan, Lee Garmes
Lawrence of Arabia - Freddie Young
The Magnificent Ambersons - Stanley Cortez
Oliver Twist - Guy Green
The Passion of Joan of Arc - Rudolph Mate
Portrait of Jennie - Joseph August
The Scarlet Empress - Bert Glennon
The Seventh Seal - Gunnar Fischer
Touch of Evil - Russell Metty
2001: A Space Odyssey - Geoffrey Unsworth & John Alcott
Walkabout - Nicholas Roeg


Once again, I'll go with Agee, but it's also a close call.

 

[Lew Crippen]

0.5 for Agee

0.5 for Brook


Two great lists!

 

[ChuckDeLa]

Brook, by a nose hair

 

[Brook K]

I'll only vote if Agee does. Except for the 4 on his list I haven't seen, I could just as easily have picked any of Agee's except Gone with the Wind and Walkabout (which are very strong as well, I just don't hold them in quite the regard as the other films on either of our lists.) But several of his picks I like better than some of mine so I don't know how you guys are choosing.

 

[Agee Bassett]

You're very magnanimous in victory.

It's always been one of my most endearing qualities. :p)

That said, I vote for Agee. The sonofabitch just wants to win something besides a free soft drink for once.

(Brook definitely has a hell of a list, though. )

 

[Rain]

Brook K

Since we are on the topic of cinematography, let me recommend a film that I think sports superb photography, but that has not really been mentioned in any of these cinematography threads...

The 1997 version of Lolita.

Just watched it for the first time last night. Great stuff.

In fact, though I'm sure I'll draw some flame, I think it's far better than Kubrick's version overall.

Highly recommended.

 

[Brook K]

Agee forced my hand, Brook

I recently saw another great addition too, L'Atalante. The Cine's name escapes me and I'm too lazy too look it up, but he eventually came to America and shot On The Waterfront.

 

[Lew Crippen]

That would be Boris Kaufman, who also shot some things for Sidney Lument (12 Angry Men, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Pawnbroker).

 

[SteveGon]

I was considering L'Atalante as well.

 

[SteveGon]

I'll let this one run on until tomorrow morning.

Get those votes in, people!

 

[Angelo.M]

Brook.

Woman in the Dunes: great pick.

BTW: I recognized the technical achievement, but found Russian Ark to be somewhat boring. Is it just me?

 

[Brook K]

Just you Angelo Actually, I think the majority of people who've seen it in the "Movie" group probably agree with you.

However, I thought it was an amazing meditative experience, not just confined to looking at artwork or certain events in Russian history but about the nature of art itself as history, a focul point for man's creative spark throughout time. A way each generation can communicate with the next. And the museum serves as this spiritual Ark, just as Noah saved humanity and the animals to ensure our survival as a race, a museum serves to shepherd our artistic soul; inspiring even more great art and communicating man's greatest achievements.

On a 2nd level you have the historical events surrounding The Hermitage as a physical location within Russia and informing us of its proud history. Events that took place within it's walls or that shaped it's purpose to become such an artisitic repository or in a few cases, shaped the nation that serves as the stormy sea this Ark sails upon.

The 3rd level would be the cinematographic achievement, and an astounding one it is. But as you can read, I completely reject the notion the film is a cold, boring experiment in technique.

Thanks for your comments on Woman In The Dunes, great film but unfortunately the DVD doesn't do much justice to the cinematography; way, way too dark. There's a much better R2 Japanses disc that's too expensive for me.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I've pulled up this thread several times with the intention to vote, but I've left undecided everytime. I'm tempted to vote for Brook's list, which I believe shows a little more diversity, but using the rule that I've used in previous rounds ( which list has more films that I would have put in my list ) I have to go with...

Agee

- Walter.

 

[Zen Butler]

Agee

both very nice lists

 

[Angelo.M]

Brook: interesting analysis, and quite in-line with a very good review by Godfrey Cheshire that I read earlier today. I liked the film, but perhaps wasn't in the right mood when I went to see it. I agree w/ Godfrey: it demands multiple viewings, which I will allow it.

He made some interesting points about the film being anti-Eisenstein and such, and about how we don't edit our lived experiences in real-time but we do edit our memories (perhaps the oppostie of what happens in the film). Man, my head is spinning... I think I'll go and read some Beckett now...

 

[Brook K]

Thanks for leaving the poll open long enough for me to lose Steve.

Russian Ark definitely requires multiple viewings. There is so much going on I know I couldn't absorb everything. Plus I saw it in a tiny theater smushed over to one side. I'm definitely getting the DVD whenever Wellspring gets around to putting it out.

 

[Agee Bassett]

You going to vote, John?

(Love the new sig, btw, even though I don't know what it's from. )

 

[SteveGon]

Agee, that's from Secretary. It's got some nice....scenery.

 

[JohnRice]

I don't know, Agee. I've only seen 7 of Brook's and 9 of yours. Several of those I've only seen once each. what can I say?



BTW, why don't you log onto AIM once in a while?