Commingled Containers: Fuzzy Lights
Here's a collection of film-caps emphasizing those moments when nobody's on screen and what we're left with is an array of out-of-focus lights. A few of these are "cheats" - meaning there are people, cars, etc. in view, but I figured I'd include those anyway if they were beautiful enough. Still, my favorites are the more abstract designs, with no indication at all of what we're looking at. I'm not a filmmaker so I can't say I understand exactly how, technically, these images are created, but I assume it must be function of lens choice, focus, filters, etc. It's something distinct to photography and film, and I enjoy seeing its utilization, intentional or otherwise.
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and photographed by Jurgen Jurges. This is the background to the opening credits.
Ali, a Michael Mann film shot by Emmanuel Lubezki.
American Gigolo is remake of Bresson's Pickpocket, written and directed by Paul Schrader and filmed with great attention to surfaces by cinematographer John Bailey. I love Bresson and consider the notion of remaking any of his films pretty dumb, but I have to say this is a fine film, probably Schrader's best. Maybe it helped that I hadn't read about the film prior to watching it and only realized it was a dreaded remake about two-thirds of the way into it... at which point I was so impressed with the filmmaker's gall that I couldn't help but admire the movie, which doesn't really have any more flaws than the original, in my opinion.
Candy Snatchers is a truly nasty little kidnapping film directed by Guerdon Trueblood. Robert Maxwell's photography is remarkably vivid and polished for what must have been a pretty low-budget flick, yet retains a lurid quality appropriate to the subject matter. The film almost looks like a Douglas Sirk melodrama. This shot is actually a reflection of light (as opposed to a direct light source: headlights, streetlights, etc) - it's a string of jewels dangling in front of the camera.
This second shot from Candy Snatchers is also reflected light, in this case a blurry brass telephone.
This is from Donnie Brasco, direction by Mike Newell, cinemotagraphy by Peter Sova.
The Fountain is a Darren Aronofsky film with photography by Matthew Libatique.
Two shots here from Friday Night, a charming but minor work by someone I consider the greatest living female director, Claire Denis. Photography by Agnes Godard, who has collaborated with Denis on several stunning films. A helluva team.
From The Graduate, by Mike Nichols with cinematographer Robert Surtees. This is an hilarious film, but it gets sadder each time I see it.
This is a shot from Michael Mann's Heat, one of the greatest crime films of the 1990s, shot by Dante Spinotti. The next four screen-caps are from other Mann films as well; they however include a figure or other foreground object against the "fuzzy lights".
Heat again, with Tom Sizemore's fat head ruining the picture.
Ali; Mann loves this sort of shot and does it well.
Collateral, shot by Dion Beebe & Paul Cameron.
The Insider, shot by Dante Spinotti.
Spike Lee's Inside Man, photographed by Aronofsky's pal Matthew Libatique. Most of these examples are, obviously, from night scenes; this is a rare day shot.
Into the Blue, bikini-trash helmed by John Stockwell and lensed by Shane Hurlbut. This is sort of a cheat, too, as most of the frame is occupied by a figure, even if he is obscured in darkness. But I couldn't resist - look at those octagons!
Curtis Hanson's L. A. Confidential, photographed by Dante Spinotti. Also a cheat, and almost the same as Into the Blue - the entire right two-thirds of the frame is a figure.
Michael Mann's Miami Vice, cinemotography by Dion Beebe.
Mikey & Nicky is an Elaine May film shot by Bernie Abramson, Lucien Ballard and Victor J. Kemper.
Old Joy is fine film by Kelly Reichardt. Not sure how I feel about Peter Sillen's photography - maybe it's the DVD, but I thought it was a bit spotty (digital?). This is a nice shot from the end of the film as Will Oldham's character exits the frame and his life goes even further out of focus.
Carl Franklin's great crime film One False Move. James L. Carter filmed it.
Out of Sight is a Steven Soderbergh whatever shot by Elliot Davis.
Now here's a crime film, and Soderbergh knows it: John Boorman's Point Blank. Philip H. Lathrop's excellent cinemotagraphy owes more than a little to the work of Antonioni.
These last two grabs are "cheats" again - this one is from Ulu Grosbard and Dustin Hoffman's Straight Time, a fantastic character study disguised as a crime film. Shot by Owen Roizman.
Francis Ford Coppola's One From the Heart is brimming with theatrical imagery, and this scene is no exception. Ronald Victor Garcia and Vittorio Storaro were responsible for the photography.
Okay, last one to leave don't forget to turn out the lights. Ha! *groan*