It's Time For My Annual "Disappointment/Frustration With The Academy" Session

Each year, as the seemingly-endless award season gets underway, I tell myself "THIS is the year Roger Deakins will win a little gold statue for Best Cinematography; this is finally the year." And then, each year, I am disappointed (sometimes bitterly so). This year, the suspense was short-lived. Deakins wasn't even nominated.

So I'm keeping myself busy by watching this mash-up of the nominees.

A showcase of the five films nominated for Best Cinematography at this year's Academy Awards. And the nominees are... ARRIVAL - Bradford Young LA LA LAND - Linus Sandgren LION - Greig Fraser MOONLIGHT - James Laxton SILENCE - Rodrigo Prieto Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Having seen only Moonlight—which was certainly cinematographically distinctive (though I couldn't escape the idea that its memorableness was due more to its art direction than to its cinematography—I have little-to-no opinion of who should win. Bradford Young's work on Arrival looks stunning, though. (Here's a Sed contra video essay from Kevin B. Lee, who things that the look of Arrival is more of a technical decision than a creative one. And let's finish this off with a great little video from Scout Tafoya on "The Greatest Cinematography of All Time.")

Attribution(s): The stunning Arrival image is the property of Paramount Pictures and other respective production studios and distributors.