As countless films look for attention as the days countdown to the beginning of Oscar nomination voting, one film’s below-the-line contributions have been slightly unheralded. Well, at least in the media. The guilds have already given “Jojo Rabbit” significant love with ADG Awards (production design), ACE Eddie Awards (editing) and CDGA Awards (costumes) nominations. One aforementioned aspect of Taika Waititi’s word of mouth wonder that deserves slightly more love is Mihai Mălaimare Jr.’s cinematography. (And, yes, we’re looking at you American Society of Cinematography members and your nominations that are announced on Jan. 3.)
WATCH: Ra Vincent on the unexpected use of color in “Jojo Rabbit’s” production design
The Romanian-born director of photography’s credits includes Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Youth Without Youth” and George Tillman’s “The Hate U Give.” His work on “Jojo,” however, is arguably his best. As noted in this exclusive featurette provided to The Playlist, Waititi and Mălaimare collaborated not only on stellar compositions but a color palette that gets decidedly darker and more muted as young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) discovers how dark the world really is around him in World War II Nazi Germany.
Considering how consistent Waititi’s aesthetic has been throughout his career, the fact Mălaimare has brought so much of his own vision to the Fox Searchlight awards contender should not be ignored by his peers either in the ASC or the Academy.
You can watch both Waititi and Mălaimare discuss their work on the video embedded in this post.
“Jojo Rabbit” is now playing nationwide.