Saturday 19 September 2009

Visions Of Light

Last night I watched Visions Of Light: The Art Of Cinematography, and while the picture quality of many of the clips left much to be desired, the skill and artistry of all the work featured came through loud and clear. As a result, I found myself ordering a bunch of DVDs from Amazon today, as well as pulling from my shelves a dozen or so titles I now feel the need to watch again. Presenting a chronological history of cinematography from the silent era through to the late 1980s, this documentary is, quite simply, essential viewing for any film lover. Just be prepared to spend a small fortune on DVDs afterwards.

6 comments:

Gerard said...

This sounds pretty terrific.

Mark Salisbury said...

It is.

Unknown said...

yeah, this is a wonderful doc. I love the bits with Frederick Elmes talking about working with David Lynch. His films are always so beautifully shot and Elmes is responsible for some of his greatest.

Mark Salisbury said...

I agree. Although Freddie Francis did a fantastic job with Lynch on Elephant Man, Dune and Straight Story.

Unknown said...

True. Francis was incredible. Despite the trainwreck that is DUNE, I end up watching it every so often just for the powerful visuals. And Francis' work on THE STRAIGHT STORY, at times, evoked the stunning cinematography of a Terrence Malick film.

Mark Salisbury said...

Agreed.

Talking of which, shame the film doesn't cover Emmanuel Lubezki who shot A New World and Tree Of Life for Malick, although he'd surely be in a VoL sequel.