by Nathaniel R
EMPIRE OF LIGHT
One of our favourite guild awards each year is the American Society of Cinematographers. This is not, primarily for their main category but the "spotlight" category which gives us a peek at which films far outside the main Oscar conversation they actually watched and thought about from a craft standpoint. More guilds should have awards like this. Their nominees are after the jump...
THEATRICAL FEATURE
- Bardo, Darius Khondji
- The Batman, Grieg Fraser
- Elvis, Mandy Walker
- Empire of Light, Roger Deakins
- Top Gun Maverick, Claudio Miranda
As much as Roger Deakins is a genius his nominations are starting to feel like John Williams in Original Score did for decades, an automatic vote regardless of the film. For the record I personally like Empire of Light more than most people do but I wouldn't rank its cinematography above the work on Nope especially or TÁR or The Fabelmans or several buzzy international films this year.
The ASC runs parallel to Oscar's cinematography branch more than some guilds do. Sometimes the list transfers fully intact though lately it's been 4/5 match. So one of these could easily fall. But to what? Avatar, Babylon, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Fabelmans are most likely if Oscar switches it up though we're personally rooting hardest for Hoyte van Hoytema's work on Nope to surprise.
SPOTLIGHT AWARD
THE QUIET GIRL
- God's Country, Andrew Wheeler
- The Quiet Girl, Kate McCullough
- War Sailor, Sturla Brandth Grøvlen
See!? Impossible to predict these. We get one indie drama, and two Oscar submissions for Best International Feature Film, one of which did not make the Oscar finals (War Sailor from Norway). This makes us wonder (a little bit) if The Quiet Girl will be the surprise in Best International Feature Film nominations.
ONE HOUR (NON-COMMERICAL) TV SERIES
1899 "The Calling"
- 1899 "The Calling" - Nikolaus Summerer
- House of the Dragon "The Lord of the Tides" Catherine Goldschmidt
- House of the Dragon "The Green Council" Alejandro Martinez
- The Marvelous Mrs Maisel "How do you get to Carnegie Hall". M David Mullen
- The Marvelous Mrs Maisel "Everything is Bellmore" Alex Nepomniaschy
- Westworld "Annees Folles", John Conroy
ONE HOUR (COMMERCIAL) TV SERIES
- Better Call Saul "Saul Gone" - Marshall Adams
- Interview with the Vampire "Is My Very Nature That of the Devil" - Jesse M Feldman
- The Old Man "IV" Jules O'Loughlin
- Snowfall "Departures" - Christian 'Tico' Herrera
- Snowpiercer "Bound by One Track" - Jaime Reynoso
PILOT, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION
CABINET OF CURIOUSITIES "The Outside"
- Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiousities "The Autopsy" -Anastas Michos
- Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiousities "The Outside" - Jeremy Benning
- Lost Ollie "Bali Hai" -C Kim Miles
- The Old Man "I" - Sean Porter
- Winning Time: Rise of the Laker Dynasty - Todd Banhazi
EPISODE OF HALF-HOUR SERIES
HACKS "The Click"
- Atlanta "New Jazz" - Stephen Murphy
- Atlanta "Andrew Wyeth. Alfred's World" - Christian Sprenger
- Barry "Starting Now" - Carl Herse
- Hacks "The Click" - Adam Bricker
- Russian Doll "Matryoshka" - Ula Pontikos
Very strange / demeaning even that they give one hour shows two separate categories for honors (commercial and non-commercial) but don't do that for the half hour series.
DOCUMENTARY
- All That Breathes Ben Bernhard & Riju Das
- Chef's Table: Pizza "Franco Pepe" - Adam Bricker
- This Stolen Country of Mine - Wolfgang Held