Between Anachronism and Pastiche: The Look of "Mank"

by Cláudio Alves

After months of great anticipation and even greater expectations, David Fincher's Mank is here. For some, the picture's a rousing success, a politicized look at Old Hollywood's insidiousness through the eyes of Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. For others, it's a disappointment, history and fantasy mushed together with pretension and aggrandizement. I find myself in the middle of these reactions, though my immediate feelings were probably more inclined to the latter than the former.

Still, a good way to consider a film's power is to see how it lasts in one's memory. For me, Mank has aged oddly in the last week. It's not that my perspective is warmer but that I can't shake it off. As the days go by I find myself ruminating on David Fincher's formal conception of this manky flick, its weirdness and intrinsic contradictions…

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Oscar Predictions: Cinematography, Production Design, Editing

by Nathaniel R

we're in mourning that we won't get to see DUNE this year...

You've probably heard that Dune is no longer a 2020 picture and will now arrive in the final quarter of 2021. This necessitated yet another revision just as we'd finished nearly all of the Oscar charts -- our work is never done! The biggest impact is in the visual categories. These should be interesting to follow this year in the absence of the kind of big budget spectacle films that often dominated visual categories. Does this mean voters will get more creative and search out further afield Production Design possibilities like, say, Shirley, or First Cow or I'm Thinking of Ending Things or more lax and just nominate their favourite Best Picture candidates in every visual category even if those pictures are mostly contained in one location (hi One Night in Miami, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) or out on the open road in a beaten down van (hi Nomadland)... 

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The beauty of Dion Beebe’s cinema

by Cláudio Alves

Despite some dubious victors, the 78th Academy Awards honoring the films of 2005 had many great lineups filled with splendorous movies. Later this month, Nathaniel and his guest panelists will take a look at the Best Supporting Actress category. Before that, however, I invite you to bask in the beauty of that year's Cinematography nominees. Specifically, we'll be taking a look at each of the five nominated cinematographers, their filmographies, and characteristic style. First up, we have that year's winner, Dion Beebe (Memoirs of a Geisha). The Australian filmmaker is a master of color, always up to play with wild palettes and shadow games which make bright pigments look even bolder. His best achievements tend to avoid naturalism in search of something more unreal, be it the metallic sharpness of a Californian thriller or the spectacle of Cinecittá.

Here are ten highlights from his filmography…

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Review: Rosamund Pike in "Radioactive"

Please welcome new contributor Juan Carlos Ojano, who you may know from the podcast "One Inch Barrier" - Editor

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Biopics are tricky.  Inasmuch as making them are good bets for filmmakers to get awards consideration, they are also prone to falling to overused clichés. One overworn formula persistently plagues this genre: the all-encompassing chronicle of the major events in a real person’s life. Such is the case with Marjane Satrapi’s Radioactive, an unabashed ode to the legacy of Marie Curie and her contributions to science, that's now streaming on Amazon Prime.

While this biopic harbors a lot of distinct aesthetic choices, they are but distracting compensation for formulaic storytelling...

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We had so much fun on "Down with Love"

Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi concludes his guest-blogging day with our favourite of his pictures. You should follow him on Instagram for more fun set photos & costume sketches....

by Daniel Orlandi

The Doris Day / Rock Hudson sex comedy romps were among the first movies I saw as a kid. I was so enamored of the look. So when I read the script to Down with Love (2003), I had to do it. I owe a lot to Producer Paddy Cullen for helping me get the job. She slipped me that script early and got me in to meet the director and producers first.

There was one problem, though...

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