Ten Movies Every Photographer Should See

Here then is my alphabetical list of Ten Movies Every Photographer Should See
soon to be followed by a list of Honourable Mentions.

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Baraka

Baraka (1992) - In a review written several years ago, the author declared that
this was his choice of a film for a desert island. If he had just one movie to
take along to an isolated refuge away from the human race, this would be it.
Certainly it would be one of my candidates as well. The movie has no plot but it's

anchored by a riveting stream of images shot over 14 months in 6 continents and

24 countries. A three-person crew, led by director and cinematographer Ron
Fricke, employed a $4 million (U.S.) budget to capture scenes of beauty, mystery
and destruction in the expensive TODD-AQ 70mm format. Throw in a hypnotic
soundtrack and you've got a 93-minute feast for the eyes and ears.

Baraka contains at least several dozen scenes any photographer would love to
have captured digitally or on film. One minute you're mesmerized by images of
the very human-like faces of Macaque monkeys immersed in hot springs in
snowy
Japanese mountains and sometime later you're watching burning-of-the-dead
ceremonies on the Ganges River or Whirling Dirvishes spin in what I believe is a
Syrian temple. It's all very captivating although the film is probably best
viewed in two or three viewings because there is almost too much to absorb in a
single viewing.

For movie-goers who insist on a beginning, middle and an end, Baraka might be
a
little bewildering because there is no narration or explanation and there is
often little context except, for example, that the viewer might know intuitively
that certain scenes were shot in, say, Asia or Australia.
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While nature and exotic location photography anchor this movie, Fricke
employed
a computer-controlled camera to record some wonderful time-lapse shots in
congested locations such as Manhattan at rush hour or Tokyo on the crowded
subway platforms. These are scenes that illustrate motion but they are also
reminders that still photographers can capture motion through the use of
time-lapse
exposures as well.

It's no surprise that this film was supplemented by a nicely-printed and

handsome coffee-table book. It compliments the movie and photographer Mark
Magidson describes the move-making process and shows the people and
equipment
that made the film along with a variety of images in both black and white and
colour.

If the film seems a little derivative to some, it's probably because it bears a
resemblance to Koyaanisqatsi, a 1983 movie that was the first film of the type
to dish up a well-constructed sequence of music-laced world scenes. Not
coincidentally, Koyaanisqatsi was filmed and edited by Ron Fricke.

Baraka is an ancient Sufi word which can be translated, in part, as "a blessing".
The film is just that, a gift to anyone who appreciates visual artistry. Prepare
to be inspired.

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Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon (1975) - Okay, who out there has an f 0.7 lens? Well, among still
photographers no one I know has such a treasure and even in the richly financed
movie industry, such an extraordinary piece of glass is very rare, possibly
limited to just one - the one director Stanley Kubrick used to film the
lingering candlelit scenes in Barry Lyndon. For these moments, Kubrick had a
50mm
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lens built for NASA by the Carl Zeiss Company modified with a Kollmorgen
adaptor
used in still cameras. No artificial lighting was used with all the illumination
coming from the candles. The warm light generated by the candles creates a
compelling painterly look that is reminiscent of Thomas Gainsborough and other
artists of the era in which this movie is set.

The movie focuses on the exploits of a scheming Irish rogue who wins the heart
(and
fortune) of a rich widow and makes a sideways entrance into 18th century
aristocracy. There are some powerful battle and dueling scenes but it is the
candlelit scenes and meticulous composition that hold visual sway for
photographers. The frame is often held and the action allowed to develop within
it. Often landscapes rather than people dominate the screen.

Barry Lyndon is played by Ryan O'Neal who was never a great actor in my view
but
who, nevertheless, manages to capture the rakish failings of a man who doesn't
have the moral compass to match his lofty ambitions. Barry Lyndon won several
awards including Academy Awards for Best Cinematography (the late John
Alcott)
and Best Art Direction & Set Direction and The Best Cinematography Award by
the
British Society of Cinematographers. The film runs 184 minutes. In those three
hours and a bit, I counted at least 22 scenes I would like to have recorded with
a still camera. It is impossible not to watch this movie and not want to indulge
in some portraiture of your own employing candles, perhaps employing a few
reflectors to spread the light.

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The Conformist

The Conformist (1970) - I saw this movie three times before I was able to fully
digest the complicated - some would say disjointed - plot that revolves around
the story of an ambitious professor in Italy in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
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It's a time when Mussolini has risen to power and the professor conveniently
declares himself a fascist. His commitment gets tested later, however, when he
gets involved with the secret police and is given as assignment to murder one of
his former university teachers who leads an anti-fascist resistance group.
Disturbing psychological themes and sexual undertones abound. Freud almost
deserves a credit on this film.

While director Bernardo Bertolucci didn't cater to viewers with a traditional

beginning, middle and an end (the movie jumps around, as I said), what makes
the
movie irresistible is the inspired and daring cinematography of Vittorio Storaro
and the vision of Bertolucci. The movie features some of the most dramatic use
of light and shadow I've seen. Often, unusual shooting angles or the use of
filters to tint colours heighten the visual tension. Many scenes from the movie
stay with me still such as the windshield wipers of a car sweeping across a
window or sunlight streaming through a forest or the daunting interior scenes of
Mussolini's art-deco headquarters. Some of these scenes manage to be both
beautiful and creepy and they are always powerful and often surreal. Still today,
35 years after it was released, this film is capable of inspiring a still
photographer to think outside the box - to create compositions that defy
convention.

The movie is arguably Bertolucci's most intriguingly photographed film although

some viewers might feel another Bertolucci movie, The Last Emperor (also on my

list), is a more elegant contender for that honour.

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Days of Heaven

Days of Heaven (1978) - Still Photographers are often reminded that the best
times to shoot are the "magic hours", the time around dawn and dusk. These are
the times when the light is warm, low and flattering to its subject. Movie
directors enjoy the magic hours too but they have significant constraints such
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as budget and plot and onerous schedules. It would cost a fortune to have
highly-paid
actors and crew waiting around just to shoot their scenes for one or two hours a
day when it might not advance the plot.

Nevertheless, back in 1978, shooting a film almost exclusively in the "magic

hours" is just what director Terence Malick did in a remarkable film called Days
of Heaven. Telling a story about a love triangle in the early 20th century,
Malick employed the talents of two of the greatest cinematographers at the time,
Nestor Almendros and, to a lesser extent, Haskell Wexler. For much of the film,
the decision was made to only shoot during the "magic hours" and it paid off:
Days of Heaven and Almendros won Best Cinematography at the 1978 Academy
Awards.

While the movie opens in a Chicago steel mill, the heart of the film ostensibly
takes place in Texas farm country when three of the main characters in the movie,

including a young Richard Gere and Brooke Adams, join a wave of itinerant
workers following the farm season. In reality, the sweeping farm scenes were
shot in the rolling plains of southern Alberta which has never looked more
evocative. Fields of wheat ripple sensuously in golden light, a grand farm house
often anchors simple, elegant compositions and trains packed with workers cut
ribbons through a dreamy agricultural landscape.

The beauty comes under siege though when swarms of locusts descend on the
landscape and fires started to control the plague get out of control. Almendros,
who started as a still photographer, builds visual tension with close-ups of the
grasshoppers intercut with tight shots of torches and he makes the scenes go
from warm and romantic to hot and dangerous. Tension is also heightened by the

plot which has Richard Gere's character getting trapped in a deception of his
own making when he pretends to be the brother of Brooke Adams rather than
her
lover. Adams moves in and gets cozy with the terminally-ill owner of the vast
farm where they find employment and while it starts out as a way for Gere and
Adams to inherit the farm, things don't go as planned. In all, the movie
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presents some low-key quirky acting but it's really the visuals that reward the
viewer. A bonus is the soundtrack of Ennio Morricone, one of my favourite
composers.

Here are a couple of relevant quotes from Nestor Almendros given not long after
the Days of Heaven was completed:

Terence Malick told me it would be a very visual movie, the story would be told
through visuals. Very few people really want to give that priority to image.
Usually the director gives priority to the actors and the story but here the
story was told through images. In this period there was no electricity, It was
before electricity was invented and consequently there was less light. Period
movies should have less light. In a period movie the light should come from the
windows because that is how people lived.

"Magic hour is a euphemism, because it's not an hour but around 25 minutes at
the most. It is the moment when the sun sets and after the sun sets and before
it is night, the sky has light but there is no actual sun. The light is very
soft and there is something magic about it. It limited us to around twenty
minutes a day but it did pay on the screen. It gave some kind of magic look, a
beauty and romanticism."

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Dreams

Dreams (1990) - It's a challenge to pick one film by Japanese director Akira
Kurosawa that ranks as my visual favourite. He was very prolific in his lifetime
and he displayed a knack for potent cinematography but, without a doubt,
Dreams
remains the most haunting of his films for me. In fact, Dreams is eight short
films, some quite melancholy and all born from his actual dreams and memories.
The surreal, ethereal visuals in each of them is quite breathtaking.

The mystical tone of the film is set in the first vignette when a boy witnesses
an eerie procession of fox spirits in a wedding procession. It's visual poetry.
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Another vignette involves a party of mountain climbers struggling through a
fierce blizzard. Another section includes a man, a former military leader, who
encounters the ghosts of Japanese soldiers he once commanded in a lonely
tunnel.
It's chilling to the bone. The same man is seen in the next vignette as he
wanders through a Van Gogh painting and encounters the famous artist (played
by
Martin Scorsese).

What this movie offers still photographers is imagination. I am guilty, as many

photographers are, of sometimes failing to wring the most out of my creative
instincts. Going beyond the tried and true is always a challenge. Commercial and

editorial mandates don't always allow a photographer to blend illusion or

fantasy or artistic licence into an image but it's my belief that we should
always try to pursue at least some personal work that displays creative flourish
and imagination. We need more images that mirror, more or less, what is
conceived in the mind's eye. Kurosawa did this with a far-ranging colour palette
that swings from the bland to the bold. He did it with purpose and the
discretion of a master but several of his films - this one especially -
illustrate the joys of constructive whimsy. For me, Dreams tells me to play in
the photographic sandbox a little more.

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The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor (1987) - Bernardo Bertolucci faced an enormous challenge

when
he decided to tackle the true story of Pu Yi, the last ruler of the 300 year old
Chinese Ching Dynasty. Spanning the years 1908 to 1967, Bertolucci was
successful in turning the story of Pu Yi into a compelling (and tragic)
historical epic.

One of the very effective cinematic tools in the movie is the use of colour.
Bertolucci and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro employed very specific colour
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palettes to symbolically reinforce and illustrate moods. Indeed, it's been said
the real star of the film Storaro's cinematography and certainly such deliberate
and brilliant use of colour is one of the reasons the movie won many Academy
Awards including Best Cinematography. The film also serves to remind any
visual
artist of the power of colour to influence the response of the viewer.

Scenes from Pu Yi's childhood, when his life was vibrant and literally colourful,
for example, are enhanced by bright warm colours such as orange and yellow.
Indeed, Pu Yi, wrote in his autobiography that as a boy he believed everything
was yellow because he saw so much of it. Scenes set in chilly Manchuria
incorporate lots of cool indigo while scenes of the emperor's imprisonment and
"re-education"
during the sterile Maoist era are almost devoid of colour. When his English
tutor arrives (played by Peter O'Toole), we see green for the first time. It's
the colour of knowledge. Scenes of Pu Yi in his latter years have a more
balanced spectrum of colours which reflect his life at the time as well as the
political and cultural climate. The first time red is seen in the film is when
blood fills a sink in a suicide scene.

The topic of colour in the film was the subject of an essay in the book,
Bertolucci's The Last Emperor: Multiple Takes (1998) in which Storaro explains
how he exercised the psychology of colour. In the DVD, Vision of Light (which is
reviewed below), Storaro also comments briefly on his use of colour in the movie.

Photographers can benefit from this movie by being reminded that colour is
rarely incidental in an image. It may be subtle or it may be bold but it can
engage the viewer (and photographer) in ways that often appeal to the
sub-conscious.
An additional benefit for those of us who have had the opportunity to visit or
photograph The Forbidden City in Beijing is the way in which the movie
recreates
part of the past of the venerable and hallowed structure. For those with stamina,
there is a director's cut of The Last Emperor available on DVD. It runs 219
minutes but I have heard at least once that the picture quality is less than
ideal in places.
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Raise the Red Lantern

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) - Like The Last Emperor reviewed above, Raise the
Red Lantern provides insight into China's not-so-distant history. The difference
is that The Last Emperor was directed by an outsider, Italian Bernardo
Bertolucci, with the cooperation and approval of the Chinese government, while
Raise the Red Lantern was directed by Zhang Yimou and never sanctioned by the

Chinese Government. Implicit in its story is a couched allegory about obsolete

old men and the harmful traditions governing China and it is a condemnation of
the feudal attitudes that still linger today. It's no surprise that the film was
financed by a Taiwanese distributor through a Hong Kong subsidiary.

What the two films, The Last Emperor and Raise the Red Lantern, have in
common
is the eye-popping use of colour. When I first saw Raise the Red Lantern, it was
the first Chinese movie that impressed me with its astonishing beauty. The plot,
which focuses on the experiences of a reluctant young concubine in the house of
a nobleman in the China of the 1920s, is a grim account of sexual or gender
politics. As the fourth wife, Songlian, the main character, must figure out how
to get along with the imperious master and husband and survive prickly
relationships with his other wives. Tensions are often thin as rice paper as the
hazards of polygamy are charted.

While the tale is psychologically grim, the vividness of the many colours used
in the film is stunning and heightens the emotional content of the story. The
most potent colour is red because wherever the master chooses to spend the night

is ritualistically lit up with opulent red lanterns (hence the title). The film
was shot in the classic three-strip Technicolor process which allows a richness
of reds and yellow that are no longer seen in American films. The vivid colours
give the movie a sensuous, vibrant quality, particularly in the use of fabrics.

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I like the film because, like The Last Emperor, it is a riveting movie made
better by the abundant but careful use of colour. Until this film, I always
avoided brilliant reds in my work because they seemed, well, coarse and over the

top. Raise the Red Lantern changed my mind and influenced my willingness to
occasionally search out or use more potent colours for maximum effect. With
Photoshop and digital photography, we have the option more than ever to
enhance
colours where the enhancements enhance the image.

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The Third Man

The Third Man (1949) - After writing elsewhere on this page about the glorious
use of colour in some films, it's comforting to be reminded that old-fashioned
black and white has just as much magic - it's just different magic. No film
better illustrates this in my view than The Third Man, a thriller which, in
addition to a great story, offers moody cinematography that won the film its
only Academy Award (though it was nominated for three).

I saw his movie recently for the fourth time, after not seeing it for many years,
and was pleased to discover that this classic hasn't lost an ounce of appeal. If
it's not my favourite black-and-white film, it's certainly a contender. (I'm not
alone: The British Film Institute voted it the number one British Film of the 20the
century.) It was the first movie I ever saw that had canted camera angles so
that unsettling tilted compositions heighten the suspense of some scenes.
Wide-angle
distortions and shallow depth of field also contribute to an unrelenting tension
and suspense but nothing grabs the viewer's attention more than the long
shadows
and the striking use of light and shade that give the film its compelling
visuals and slightly nightmarish intrigue.

Almost all of the movie was shot on location in post-war Vienna and it's based
on a story by British screenwriter and author, Graham Greene. Fellow Brit Carol
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Reed was the producer and director and Robert Krasker the cinematographer.
The
main character is American pulp-fiction writer Holly Martins played by Joseph
Cotten. Another lead character, even long before he makes his entrance, is Harry
Lime, played by Orson Welles. His presence - or lack of it in the first half of
the movie - is an inspired absence. Now some cinema buffs will note that both
Welles and Cotton, the former especially, anchored Citizen Kane, another great
and ominous black and white movie and they'll be wondering why I didn't
include
it in my top ten. Well, as great as it is, it doesn't possess the visual
intrigue of The Third Man.

Greene's story tosses the naive but principled Holly Martins character into
Vienna at a time when it's under the schizoid control of four Allied forces
including the British, French, French and Russians. The morality in the city is
ambiguous and there's all kind of illegal black-market activity and wheeling and
dealing. Martins has come to visit his old and favoured friend Harry Lime but
Lime doesn't show up to greet his arrival and so the mystery begins. The climax
of the film occurs in the Vienna's sewer system, a murky labyrinth of rushing
water and mysterious tunnels, and it's here that the film-noir cinematography
and lighting underline the strength of black and white. Criterion has done a
superb job of restoring this film and though the DVD is expensive, it's well
worth it. Watch it and you'll feel the urge to get to work on some black-and-white

images.

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Visions of Light

Visions of Light (1992) - Okay, technically this isn't a movie. It's a

documentary about movies, covering the history of cinematography and some of
the
movies mentioned on this page are illustrated or discussed. And yes, there are
lots of talking heads but almost all of them engage the viewer/listener and
offer genuine insight, the kind that makes you exclaim "Oh, wow!". We meet
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such
fascinating individuals as Nestor Almendros, the lead cinematographer of Days
of
Heaven (see above), who was interviewed shortly before his untimely death in
1992. Vittorio Storaro, the award-winning cinematographer who won awards for
The
last Emperor (see above) and Apocalypse Now, is another of the many wise men
of
the camera presented in Visions of Light.

In some instances, cinematographers acknowledge the vision and influence of

certain directors such as Roman Polanski. His role in determining the
composition of a scene in Rosemary's Baby is one of the many interview clips
worth waiting for. It reveals how an unlikely move just a few inches in one
direction made all the difference. The cinematographer on McCabe and Mrs.
Miller
discusses how colours were altered and muted in the film to instill the feeling
of the late 1800s. Anyone who works with Photoshop and has had to create the
look of another era will enjoy this section.

Another worthwhile interview is with Conrad Hall who photographed the

chilling
In Cold Blood back in 1967. Hall recounts how they were setting up a key prison
scene where a murderer played by Robert Blake is about to be hanged. Rain was
splashing the window outside and Hall noticed that if the lighting outside was
placed at just the right angle, it projected the shadows of the raindrops on
Blake's face, giving the appearance of tears as he discusses his bleak childhood
with a Chaplin. Rarely has there been a more heartbreaking scene in a movie.

Inevitably, the strength of the movie though are the hundreds of film clips it
presents . After its 92 minutes are up, you can't but help come away deeply
impressed by the talents of the great magicians behind the cameras. Indeed, any
still photographer with a heartbeat will be inspired by their vision and ability
to render magic results with light and technique. What the many film clips in
Vision of Light do is help train our visual instincts and ability to recognize
and respond to and perhaps even create the kind of light that makes for an
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unforgettable picture, still or otherwise.

The documentary is divided into three sections and right from the get-go, with
excerpts from the early silent films, we are surprised by the quality of picture
making. Even back in the early days, there was genius. The second section of the
film deals with the black and white era after the introduction of sound (an
"evolution"
that is lamented by some because sound handicapped the mobility of camera
operators). The third section of the film focuses on colour movies and explores
how the use of colour can influence viewer response. We are made aware of great

composition as well as depth of field and, of course, the power of light and
shadow to capture and hold our attention.

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Winged Migration

Winged Migration (2001) - I'm a sucker for a good wildlife film and they don't
come any better than this breathtaking effort by French director Jacques Perrin.
He gives the viewer a strong sense of what it must be like to fly and soar in
the skies. Indeed, the inspired cinematography is one of the reasons why I
recently returned to wildlife photography after focusing on other subject matter
for Masterfile, the stock photo agency that has represented me for many years.
This might seem a tad naive. After all, Perrin had millions of dollars as a
budget and a crew of over 450 people who used gliders, balloons and small
planes
equipped with ingeniously-designed cameras to film migrating flocks up, close
and personal and from all angles. He also followed bird migrations through all
kinds of weather and perilous situations through 40 countries and seven
continents over four years.

Such advantages don't dissuade me since there's also great magic in a single
still shot of a bird or mammal. It's just a different vehicle for reminding
people that there are millions of creatures the deserve our consideration.
Millions upon millions of dollars are spent annually on special effects in
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movies and often with dazzling effect such as with The Lord of the Rings. In my
opinion, however, it is the natural wonders of nature that trump just about all
the special effects and wizardry humans can concoct.

Capturing wildlife doing what it does naturally isn't easy (I speak from
personal experience), however, some clever and persistent wildlife
photographers
such as Franz Lanting and Jim Brandenburg, to name a couple, have managed to
achieve this. The potential of a film like Winged Migration is to inspire both
documentary cinematographers and still photographers to find fresh ways to
capture the magnificence of nature or just to persist in the quest to share
nature's wonders through pictures. Just so beginners don't get discouraged with
early results, it's worth mentioning that for every 225 feet of exposed film
shot for Winged Migration, only one foot made it into the movie.

The DVD offers a 50-minute behind-the-scenes documentary that shows how the
amazing photography was achieved in Winged Migration. It also reveals that
some
of the birds were trained from birth and even exposed to the sounds of airplanes
and film cameras while still in their shells.

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