Just finished watching two movies that I think are doing really spectacular visual tricks in film worth pointing out. They've got me thinking about how film is an attempt at marrying verbal narratives with visual ones, and just how rare it is when these two goals actually meet. Now, arguably the two films I want to write about--Water and 2046 don't necessarily achieve both of these. However, their visuals are so arresting that I found myself obsessed with each shot, which is something I've never been able to say about a movie before.
First off, it's worth noting who the cinematographers are behind these projects although directors Deepa Mehta and Wong Kar Wai deserve a great deal of credit for how their projects turned out. In 2046 it's Christopher Doyle who, based on a quick IMDB scan is probably best known for his work on Hero, and with Water it's Giles Nuttgens who was behind the other two films in Mehta's trilogy and most frighteningly was also behind the lens in Battlefield Earth. However, I'm willing to forgive given how beautifully he composed the shots in Water, a film that could've easily rested on its somewhat controversial narrative, but instead chose to capture Varanasi in a kind of constant pre-dawn glow that was stunning. The approach to visuals in both films is different, and this makes sense given the content of each film but what I really appreciate is the commitment to giving the viewer something really powerful visually, which, as silly as it sounds given the medium is really unusual. Of course I say 'unusual' but that's pretty strictly in the context of studio films. I haven't seen nearly enough alternative cinema to know what kind of visual palettes are out there, but suffice to say for popular cinema these two are pretty groundbreaking.
In getting down to the nitty gritty of their visual approaches I found Wong Kar Wai's really fascinating because he works without a script. Beyond the turmoil that probably creates for the actors I suspect it means he relies on visual depictions right off the bat to create mood. One of the great things about this film is how it shifts from a color saturated, sleek futuristic Hong Kong to a sepia toned nostalgic one set in the 60's without missing a beat. So much of the romance that pervades the film comes from his shot composition, which I can only describe as elegant. They are in no way flashy, overdone, or simplistic; instead they are composed so carefully with pure aesthetics in mind. Because there is a time shifting/dream like nature to the film there are a lot of shots where an object sits in the background, and we get something seemingly less significant like flowers blurred in the foreground. I think another way to describe Doyle's work is precise, which is not to say that the film is efficient by any means but it doesn't feed us unnecessary visual stimuli. I think Wong Kar Wai has enough confidence in his vision not to overstimulate while at the same time completely overwhelming the viewer with the power of film.
With Water I think there's a similar precision at work although some of the visual motifs used to depict romance feel more familiar and typical. The colors at work in these shots are intense and pure, which works really well given the stark white costumes of the widows. Because the narrative economy of the film is pretty spartan it is often the more inconsequential shots (to the storyline) that carry the most weight. There are phenomenal images of rain, lakes, and small beaches that make the geography of the story present in the film. I think a story that has the emotional and political impact of Water is clearly one that needs to be told, but when we are treated to a true cinematic experience in which the director and their crew are clearly interested in maximizing how that narrative is delivered we're lucky.
The question of how to credit visual work in film is interested because it is a collaborative project, and clearly no one person is responsible for everything that we get. I tend to give the director most of the credit, and that's probably not fair, although the title of auteur is one used frequently with both Wong Kar Wai and Deepa Mehta. I bow down to both of them for giving me something great to wrap my brain and my eyes around.
