Florian Hoffmeister is enjoying his first nomination. The German-born cinematographer got his start in German and then British television series and movies. He made an impressive leap to features with Terence Davies
Deep Blue Sea (2011) and has had somewhat uneven jobs since then including the Johnny Depp dud of a would-be-comedy
Mortdecai (2015), Scott Cooper’s moody horror flick
Antlers (2021), the Apple TV+ series
”Pachinko” (2022), and the upcoming fourth series of HBO’s
”True Detective” starring Jodie Foster.
Tár is crisply shot but it lacks any of the inventiveness or scope that usually wins this award.
This is also the first nomination of
James Friend and this remake of
All Quiet on the Western Front is his feature film debut. He has worked in several television projects including to the Showtime series
”Your Honor” starring Bryan Cranston and Disney+’s
"Willow".
All Quiet on the Western Front picked up some big surprise nominations, including Best Picture. The original Lewis Milestone adaptation won Best Picture at the third ever Academy Awards while the cinematography lost to the documentary
With Byrd at the South Pole. I don’t think Friend will win here but he is a young talent to keep an eye on.
Mandy Walker is the third of the first-time nominees in this category. She is Australian and only the third woman ever nominated here, the other two being fellow Australian Ari Wegner for last year’s
Power of the Dog and Rachel Morrison for
Mudbound (2017). This is her second round with Baz Luhrmann, having also lensed his would-be epic
Australia (2008). The first time I noticed her work was for the underrated
Lantana (2001). Since then she shot Billy Ray’s
Shattered Glass (2003), John Curran’s
Tracks (2013), Gavin O’Connor’s
Jane Got a Gun (2015), Ted Melfi’s
Hidden Figures (2016), and the live-action remake of Disney’s
Mulan (2020). Personally I found Luhrmann’s
Elvis to be relentlessly hollow and silly, but as with all of his movies like them or lump them they are at least bright and flashy…though
Moulin Rouge! is the only one of his previous features to be nominated for its cinematography (
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring won). Will this latest take on The King of Rock & Roll’s life be the first female winner for cinematography?
Iranian-born
Darius Khondji is a well-known veteran, though this is somehow only his second career Oscar nomination having been tagged previously for Oliver Stone’s adaptation of
Evita (1996) – the year
The English Patient won. But Khondi has the kind of stellar resume that should have netted him
at least four or five more nominations and a win or two. His credits include David Fincher’s
SE7EN (1995) and
Panic Room (2002), Caro & Jeunet’s
Delicatessen (1991) and
City of Lost Children (1995), Bertolucci’s
Stealing Beauty (1996), Polanski’s
The Ninth Gate (1999), Danny Boyle’s
The Beach (2000), Wong Kar-Wai’s
My Blueberry Nights (2007), Woody Allen’s
Midnight in Paris (2011), Michael Haneke’s
Amour (2012) and
Funny Games (2007) remake, Bong Joon-Ho’s
Okja (2017), the Safdie Brothers’
Uncut Gems (2019), and James Gray’s
The Immigrant (2013) and
Armageddon Time (2022). Alejandro González Iñárritu’s
Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is his
8½-esque, personal, impressionistic dream trip, and though it may be little-seen, for anyone who actually bothered it is undoubtedly a visual feast. This is the third Iñárritu film to be nominated in this category, the other two were wins for Emmanuel Lubezki (
Birdman and
The Revenant).
Bardo is Alejandro’s first feature since that award-winning pair and it may get Darius Khondji his long overdue statue.
Roger Deakins is one of the living legends of cinematography. After his first thirteen nominations confusingly went without a win he won back-to-back overdue Oscars for
Blade Runner 2049 and
1917.
Empire of Light is his sixteenth nomination, closer and closer to the eighteen career nominations held by both Leon Shamroy (
Leave Her to Heaven, Cleopatra) and Charles Lang (
One-Eyed Jacks, A Farewell to Arms). As long as he doesn’t drop dead he will very likely catch and pass them. This is Deakins' fifth collaboration with Sam Mendes (
Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Skyfall, and
1917). Despite the pedigree of the project, Deakins’ is the only nomination
Empire of Light received. If Deakins was still somehow Oscar-less you’d have to predict he wins just because he
had to at some point. It is beautifully shot, of course, though this melancholy love letter to cinema is hardly anything new, visually.
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