I have been watching a lot of films lately. In the past few months I've probably doubled the amount of films I've watched and trebled the quality. I'm always drawn in by a fantasticly tragic and interesting script. I'm not too thrilled with happy endings. I like cliffhangers, stories with ambiguous meanings and films that are quite thought provoking. Above all I love the cinematography. Here are a few films that I've seen this year which stood out to me (in terms of the cinematography and editing.)



House of Flying Daggers, 2004. Directed by Yimou Zhang.
All of Zhang's films are visually stunning but this was the first of his films that I saw. Each scene tends to be themed around a colour (in costume and settings) and reflect the mood of the scene... the traditional chinese clothing is probably the most impressive thing but every detail in all aspects of this film has had so much attention.

Manhattan, 1979. Directed by Woody Allen.
The second Woody Allen film I saw. It was shot in black and white with an amazing montage of the Manhattan skyline at the beginning. The rest of the film features Manhattan heavily and contains the iconic bridge shot (above) filmed at 5am.

 

Lost in Translation, 2003. Directed by Sofia Coppola.

Filmed in Tokyo, lots night life and narrow depth of field to show off the lights and bokeh. It's so beautiful.

 

Taxi Driver, 1976. Directed by Martin Scorsese.

I don't know why I like like Taxi Driver so much visually... there are wonderful shots of De Niro driving his taxi through NY at night, but I think more than anything it offers a very different view of the city. A much darker and dangerous side which is very contrasting to Manhattan, for example. 

   

Deconstructing Harry, 1997. Directed by Woody Allen.

I have to include another Woody Allen film because I watched this very recently and I really liked the editing. Allen plays a writer and the film really consists of flashbacks and scenes from his stories as they overlap with his life; his characters start interacting with him.  There is a surreal scene where he comes out of a lift (pictured) into hell. In the film when his life is going well the scene plays out, but when he has arguments or sees his analyst, the scene is full of jump cuts. At the beginning of the film, a scene is heavily edited with jump cuts and repeated numerous times. It's a really stand out film compared to some of Allen's other films.

 

Natural Born Killers, 1994. Directed by Oliver Stone.

Honestly the weirdest film I've ever seen. There is so much editing and so many methods used. I read that the film took 56 days to shoot while editing took 11 months. There are almost 3000 cuts in the film while the average film apparently has about 600-700. It's frenzied... it's filmed in black and white, colour (unusual colour schemes), animation is used, as well as a range of camera angles, special effects and filters. Despite it's controversies, there's no denying it is a very interesting and creative film.