Film Review. An analysis of the cinematography of The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights...) directed The Master, the first film to be shot entirely on 65mm using Panavision's System 65 camera, in more than 16 years, which at a time where digital rules is quite challenging.

The plot. Freddy Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) returns from navy service in World War II with mental disturbs. After struggling to reinsert himself in the society, he ends up in a cult getting involved with them and starting a peculiar relationship with his leader.

Cinematography: Mihai Malaimare Jr.

Camera: Panavision 65 HR Camera, Panavision Panaflex Millenium XL2, Panavision Panaflex System 65

Lenses: Panavision Ultra Speed Z-series MKII, Hasselblad, Kowa, Zeiss Jena

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Format: 65mm, 35mm

Film Stock: Kodak 5203 50D, Kodak 5207 250D, Kodak 5213 200T,  Kodak 5219 500T

Surprisingly, Paul Thomas Anderson doesn't rely on his habitual cinematographer for The Master; instead he offered Mihai Malaimare the job, who DP'd last three Coppola's features, all of them shot in digital. Anyway, Malaimare wasn't totally new to film: as he said in an interview, in Romania (his country) they still learn shooting on film. Initially, the cinematographer chose to shoot on 35mm and using 65mm for some portraits; but, after reviewing the first dailies, Anderson and Malaimare were just excited with the look of 65mm and decided to shoot the entire film with large format. The choice suits perfectly the story which develops in the years after WWII, recreating the same feeling of photographies of that time, most of them taken on Medium Format. He decided though, to shoot on 35mm some scenes, the more intimates ones, like the conversation between the two main actors on the boat. To minimize the change from one format to the other, Malaimare used Zeiss Jena lenses which smoothed a lot the transition although a difference in grain structure can be noticed. To get a  crispier look he used Hasselblad lenses which were modified to fit the Panavision camera. Depth of field, organic feel, details, clarity... All the characteristics of a 65mm film are present,  but what I miss is the potential it can offer: using a 65mm film for a movie full of medium and close shots is fair but reductive.

All of Anderson´s film are full of camera movements; well, everyone of them except The Master. The camera barely moves and the shots are quite long offering the actors all the time they need to do their job. The few camera movements are remarkable tough.

Light is natural and minimalist, always justified and soft, mostly bounced and coming from the ceilings. Sometimes the light sources are in the frame creating a nice great contrast, like the scene of the boat approaching the bridge at sunset. I like the way Malaimare played with colour temperature in some scenes: he created a contrast between the ambient light with bluish tones and the characters bathed in a soft orange light.

The Master is a film that remains too distant and cold, actors do a good job but they really never connect with the audience; it looks like Anderson didn't have anything to say and the story never hooks. Unfortunately the cinematography reflects these lacks: The Master is wonderfully lit but the light rarely transmits something.

Film review. An analysis of the cinematography of To the Wonder by Terrence Malick

Few days ago I had the opportunity to watch again To the Wonder, a film by Terrence Malick who needs no presentations: The tree of Life, The thin red Line, The new World, Badlands are some titles of his filmography. It was a great delight to enjoy once again the work of one of the best cinematographer of the present time: Emmanuel Lubezki.

The plot. An American falls in love with a divorced girl living in Paris. She follows him and settles in Oklahoma but problems arise in their relationship. Meanwhile, a priest struggles against his faith.

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki

Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,

Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW

Film Stock: Kodak 5218 500T, Kodak 5217 200T, Kodak 5219 500T

Terrence Malick relies once again on the cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki whose filmography is quite extensive ( Ali, The New World, Sleepy Hollow, Meet Joe Black, Y tu mamá también...). As he already did it in The Tree of Life, the mexican cinematographer only makes use of natural light for filming To the Wonder, using just bouncers and blockers. According to him, "natural light is more complex than artificial light and once you master it, it is hard to go back and illuminate a scene artificially". He not only did an excellent job with that but also taught (or reminded) everyone that everything has to serve cinematography to visually tell a story in the best way possible: not only trough light, costumes design and colours, lenses and camera movements, but even trough the film stock, the camera itself and the format used.

Throughout the film, Lubezky always seeks back-light; in the exterior shots the sun is always low in the horizon and quite often in frame, he plays with it, positioning the actors between it and the camera, avoiding the silhouette and shooting them shadow free, and looking for light spills and flares every time they move, overexposing some areas of the frame. In the shots taken indoors the back light is more extreme: he uses doors and windows as light sources and the actors are dense black silhouettes. Shooting indoor must have been complicated: with light changing constantly Lubezki only had few useful hours in every location. They shot fast and they shot a lot, because they didn't have to "waste" time moving lights, and probably shot some hours in a house and some hours in an identical one but architecturally different to take advantage of the entire shooting day.

In the few night time shots, available light of lamps is used: they are always in frame and overexposed, creating great contrast in the scene.

Five different cameras were used to shoot To the Wonder. The film starts with some images of the couple in a train taken with a digital camera full of digital artifacts but it does remind a super-8 camera and the feeling of holiday and happy memories, like the beginning of a relationship. When Marina (Olga Kurylenko) goes back to Paris, Lubezki follows her alone in the street at night using a Red MX, giving a sense of modern and urban life (in contrast with the Oklahoma surroundings) as well as a sense of cold solitude. All the rest of the film is shot in 35mm apart from the scenes where Ben Affleck starts a relationship with an old friend, Rachel McAdams: here the 65mm negative is used. This relationship is less romantic but more stable than the one with Marina: for Lubezki the 65mm reflects this more realistic stability.

Camera is rarely static: always flowing with the characters, mostly following them, on a steady-cam or hand-held, and always going forth, suggesting the idea that life always goes on. Lubezki chose, as in The Tree of Life, Master prime lenses which offer a very clean and sharp image, mostly using wide angle lenses, achieving a very great depth of field which suits perfectly Malick's way of directing especially because the director rarely leads the eye of the spectators toward the actor, and offers them the whole frame instead.

Terrence Malick is a peculiar director with a peculiar style pretending to make poetry with images. You can like his style or hate it. And To the Wonder is no exception. The movie was shot without a script, almost has no dialogue and no plot nor action: it is absolutely visual, showing moments of the life of a couple and it's up to the spectator to shape a story. Whatever you like his style or not, To the Wonder is a cinematographic piece of art which confirms Lubezki as one of the best living cinematographer capable of creating stunning beautiful images and a visual storytelling second to none. To the Wonder is an exquisite visual experience, completed with great music and editing,  that will undoubtedly be in this year top five best cinematographies.