Cinematography File takes a look at the work of a cinematographer whose work is either recently released on home video or in theaters. Today, we’re talking about Emmanuel Lubezki, who Birdman is in select theaters now and will expand later.
Who is this guy?: Emmanuel Lubezki is a Mexican cinematographer. He began his career working with director Alfonso Cuaron, shooting episodes of the low-budget anthology series Hora Marcada with him. They graduated to features with the more-than-mildly disreputable sex farce Solo con tu pareja. That calling card got Lubezki a job on Like Water for Chocolate, which proved to be a huge crossover hit in the US (it was the highest-grossing Mexican film in the US at the time of its release). Lubezki soon moved to English-language films, shooting the mediocre Gen X rom-com Reality Bites, the mediocre romantic melodrama A Walk in the Clouds, and the wonderful children’s film A Little Princess (the latter directed by Cuaron). For the latter, he earned the first of six Academy Award nominations. He finally won for his work shooting Cuaron’s Gravity.
Notable collaborators: Thus far, he has shot all but one of Cuaron’s films. In addition, he’s recently begun a collaboration with Alejandro González Iñárritu, Cuaron’s contemporary. Lubezki initially shot González Iñárritu’s segment for the anthology film To Each His Cinema, then his World Cup-themed Nike ad “Write the Future”, and now he’s shot Birdman and the upcoming The Revenant for González Iñárritu. In 2005, he began working with Terrence Malick, earning an Oscar nomination for his work on Malick’s The New World. The two would team up again six years later for The Tree of Life, earning Lubezki another Oscar nom, and two years after that for To the Wonder. They’re currently working on two additional projects together. Other directors he’s worked with include pre-decline Tim Burton (on Sleepy Hollow), pre-Gigli Martin Brest (on Meet Joe Black), the Coen Brothers (on Burn After Reading, their rare outing sans Roger Deakins), and Michael Mann (on Ali).
The Narrator’s Favorite: In terms of quality and beautiful imagemaking, my choice for his best is obvious; The Tree of Life. Not only is that probably my favorite movie of all time, it’s also definitely one of the most gorgeous movies I’ve ever seen shot by anyone. Whatever one thinks about the film as a whole, visually, it is poetry. Not that Hugo wasn’t well-shot, but you’d have to be an idiot, or blind, or a blind idiot, to think it was better shot than this.
What says you, Soluteers? What’s your favorite Emmanuel Lubezki joint (other than The Cat in the Hat, of course, otherwise everyone would have the answer)? What one do you think looks the best?