Probably our favorite technical category in film, the American Society of Cinematographers have announced their list of nominees for the films of 2008. Normally we do some kind of preview piece to predict who we think will be on the list and who we think should be on the list. There’s no major surprises to us, though we wouldn’t have bet on ‘Slumdog.’ We already shouted out the great Roger Deakins’ work in both “The Reader” and “Revolutionary Road” (last year he was nominated for two cinematography awards in the same lensing category, but lost out to Robert Elswit for “There Will Be Blood”) and the rest seem pretty obvious.
Here’s the five they picked:
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Claudio Miranda)
“The Dark Knight” (Wally Pfister)
“The Reader” (Roger Deakins and Chris Menges)
“Revolutionary Road” (Roger Deakins)
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Anthony Dod Mantle)
The two “snubs”? We really though Harris Savides’ naturally light work in “Milk” was going to receive a nod and some of us (including us) thought Mandy Walker’s work in “Australia” was going to receive a nod, but while they movie was a lush, spectacle it still underwhelmed for most. We wonder how Claudio Miranda will fare at the Oscars – remember his work is digital and Oscar can have that bias. He’s only done one feature before ‘Ben Button,’ and used to be a camera and electrical guy for Fincher’s earlier films like “Fight Club.”
Digital photography is growing leaps and bounds and we’d bet Oscar can’t deny it any further. He’s sure to get a nomination. What’s the story with two people listed on “The Reader”? Apparently Roger Deakins started it, but then production was stalled and Chris Menges has to take over. We must say, the two looks are seamless. We didn’t care for the film, but you’ll recall we did love the truly understated and beautiful photography of the film, that and the score by Nico Muhly were the only things we really liked about it (watch for Mulhaly to get a score Oscar nom too).
