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Film Canon | Best Cinematography


In Order of Excellence

1. Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941)
Cinematography - Gregg Toland

Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance.

2. I Am Cuba - Mikhail Kalatozov (1964)
Cinematography - Sergei Urusevsky

This study of Cuba--partially written by renowned poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko -
captures the island just before it made the transition to a post-revolutionary society.


3. The Conformist - Bernardo Bertolucci (1970)
Cinematography - Vittorio Storaro

A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky
who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.


4. Touch of Evil - Orson Welles (1958)
Cinematography - Russell Metty

Stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in Mexican border town.

5. L'Avventura - Michelangelo Antonioni (1960)
Cinematography - Aldo Scavarda

A woman disappears during a Mediterranean boating trip.
​But during the search, her lover and her best friend become attracted to each other. 


6. In the Mood for Love - Wong Kar Wai (2000)
Cinematography - Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan, Ping Bin Lee

A man and a woman move in to neighboring Hong Kong apartments and form a bond
​when they both suspect their spouses of extra-marital activities.


7. Children of Men - Alfonso Cuaron (2006)
Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate,
a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea,
​where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.


8. The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928)
Cinematography - Rudolph Mate

A chronicle of the trial of Jeanne d'Arc on charges of heresy,
​and the efforts of her ecclesiastical jurists to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.


9. Othello - Orson Welles (1952) 
Cinematography - G.R. Aldo, Anchise Brizzi, George Fanto

Desdemona, daughter of a Venetian aristocrat, elopes with Moorish military hero Othello,
​to the great resentment of Othello's envious underling Iago.


10. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Ang Lee (2000)
Cinematography - Peter Pau

Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are led to an impetuous, physically-skilled,
​teenage nobleman's daughter, who is at a crossroads in her life.


 11. The Cranes are Flying - Mikhail Kalatozov (1957)
Cinematography - Sergei Urusevsky

Veronica plans a rendezvous with her lover, Boris, at the bank of river,
​only for him to be drafted into World War II shortly thereafter.


12. The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
Cinematography - Gordon Willis

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

13. Beauty and the Beast - Jean Cocteau (1946)
Cinematography - Henri Alekan

Adélaïde, Belle, Félicie and Ludovic are young adult siblings who once lived in grandeur
​until their father's merchant ships were lost at sea. 


14. Ashes and Snow - Gregory Colbert (2005)
Cinematography - Acacio Almeido, Giorgos Arvanitis, Gregory Colbert, Koji Nakemura, Philippe Vene

Exploring the shared language and poetic sensibilities of all animals.

15. JFK - Oliver Stone (1991)
Cinematography - Robert Richardson

A New Orleans DA discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.

16. Amores Perros - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (2000)
Cinematography - Rodrigo Prieto

A horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss,
​regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love.


17. Dracula - Francis Ford Coppola (1992)
Cinematography - Michael Ballhaus

The vampire comes to England to seduce a visitor's fiancée and inflict havoc in the foreign land.

18. Rashomon - Akira Kurosawa (1950)
Cinematography - Kazuo Miyagawa

A heinous crime and its aftermath are recalled from differing points of view

19. Triumph of the Will - Leni Riefenstahl (1935)
Cinematography - Sepp Allgeier

The infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany.

20. Pastoral: To Die in the Country - Shuji Terayama (1974)
Cinematographer - Tatsuo Suzuki
A young boys' coming of age tale set in a strange, carnivalesque village becomes the recreation of a memory that the director has twenty years later.

21. Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
Cinematography - Robert Burks

 Retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's much-younger wife,
​all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.



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