The 75 best looking films ever made

I loved it but it kinda made me feel like I never needed to watch Kill Bill again.

As with most of Tarantino it borrows heavily. He normally stays on the right side of the homage / steal line. Just about.

Not a big fan of The Grand Budapest Hotel, or Wes Anderson, in general, as his trademark quirk is too dainty for me, but I can't deny that his compositions are quite gorgeous in a confectionery sorta way. Been meaning to revisit Shane. I liked it, but walked away underwhelmed compared to its reputation as one of the genre's greats. Don't recall being particularly impressed with its aesthetics, but that could easily change with a re-watch since I was focused more on its story. If I made my own version of this list, I'm sure westerns would be well represented -- particularly those featuring the majestic combo of John Ford and Monument Valley.

Haven't seen The White Ribbon. Love The Master and consider it the best-looking film to appear so far in here. Also love Kill Bill Vol. 1 and would probably agree that it's QT's most visually striking film -- especially during the last act with all those stylish backdrops. However, Lady Snowblood has risen up my favorites list faster than any other film I've seen in the last few years, and I now prefer it to Kill Bill. I'm partial to that 70's aesthetic. Rub some blood and spit on it, scratch it up with some dirt. That roughness is more beautiful to me than today's slick polish. I've never given much thought to what I consider the best-looking films, but Lady Snowblood is one of the first to spring to mind. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is another, but something tells me that won't be showing up in here.

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Elle Driver would likely object to that sentiment, if only she could see it.

This film was my introduction to the films of Victor Erice, and I was staggered by how beautiful it is. Luis Cuadrado uses the light to instill this hypnotic, dreamy and at times slightly creepy atmosphere. The girls stumble across trains, barns and soldiers and the film (maybe the family too) is a metaphor for how Spain dealt with the aftermath of the civil war and then Franco's reign. Some critics have even analysed the bees as the workers of Spain trying to re-build the country (maybe that ties in with the title too). The metaphors are rife presumably because a film outright mentioning the Franco regime wouldn't have got released.

The visual metaphors aside it's a stunning film to look at and you can see why film-makers like Guillermo del Toro state it as hugely influential.

I agree and I don't have any problem with what he did or does (mostly) but I actually thought Lady Snowblood was the better version of the same movie, more or less.

Agreed.
Cap, you been here this whole time?

If you mean Movie Forums, I've been a member for almost seven years. If you're referring to your attic, I've only been up here for a couple days. I've been trying to keep quiet while rummaging through your stuff. You've got a really nice house, btw. Oh, and we're out of milk.

I'm not the biggest fan of action / martial arts films, so for this film to stick in my mind as one of the best looking, it must have made an impression. The colour composition is out of this world. Chris Doyle's mind must have been in overdrive as it just looks jaw dropping. He must have large scale help from the set designers and fight choreographers (and of course the director) to make it all come together but still, it looks pretty amazing.

Big fan of Hero. Saw it multiple times theatrically, and I tend to revisit it from time to time.

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That one has been on my watchlist for some time.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

I must confess I've never seen Shane either.

Hahahaha! Thanks for that, I've been in a bad mood and I needed a laugh.
And you got legs, feel free to get us some more milk.

Only finding this thread now SL. Brilliant so far. Looking forward to seeing when Ciro Guerra makes an appearance.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

I'm a big fan of Hoyte van Hoytema's work. He's one of the best DoPs working today. This is his 2nd entry on the list and other credits include Tenet, Interstellar, Ad Astra, Spectre and The Fighter. What I like about his photography is the way he captures intamacy. The close up shots reveal such a human side to them that he helps the director get the audience in that particular moment.

The shot on the bottom right here ^ could have been just another shot. But it's not, because we're placed into the mind of the young boy Oskar, due to the camera being at the water level and Oskar's eyes looking behind us. It's a perfect shot because it makes us involved, it draws us into Oskar looking up at the character behind us. But not only that, we then switch to a view of the character he's seeing, but it's out of focus, to represent the water in Oskar's eyes. Then there's a focus pull to get her in focus. Then we switch back to Oskar and another focus pull on to his eyes. And then the sweetest of smiles and she smiles back. They're both fully focused on each other. They've found each other's soul mate - right at that point, director and DoP have told us so much all in the space of about 15 seconds.

All that beauty with a human head floating towards the bottom of the pool in the background. It's an incredible scene.

I get goosebumps every single time I watch it. Here it is in all it's glory:

Excellent choice! I have seen this wonderful film several times, and it hypnotizes me every time. I just re-watched the pool scene using your link and it brought me right back into the vibe of the film almost instantly.

Great one.
It also appears van Hoytema did Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, not only one of my favorite movies, but one of my favorite cinematographic outings. I think it looks truly perfect for the film that it is.

Great isn't it. The mixture of tenderness and horror is I expect difficult to nail properly, but director and DoP did it in this film.

fun story:

About 15 years ago I sold a Meters LP on EBay to a guy in Sweden named Hoyte van Hoytema. Let the Right One In came out shortly after, so when I saw the name in the credits it rung a bell. I went back through my sales and found it, and went snooping through his feedback page and all of his other purchases were from camera supply stores. So maybe that's a common name over there, but I've convinced myself I sold to the DP. (I think he bought Fire on the Bayou)

And to stay on topic, he's also done Dunkirk, Ad Astra and Interstellar. Not too shabby.

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My Collection

Dude, that's awesome.
I mean, I would never sell any of my Meters LPs, but otherwise, good story.