Best Cinematography, 1999
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Nominee Conrad L. Hall American Beauty 5:2 |
Legendary cinematographer receiving his ninth Oscar nomination, with only one win (for 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Widely credited with assisting rookie director Mendes in shaping American Beauty into the luscious, striking visual experience that it is. Won the annual citation from the Cinematographer's Society. |
Voters in this category tend to want panoramic natural vistas (Legends of the Fall, Braveheart), gritty realism (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan), or at least some visual razzle-dazzle (JFK). American Beauty has immense popularity but does not fit into any of these categories. |
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Roger Pratt The End of the Affair 15:1 |
Like The Wings of the Dove in 1997, The End of the Affair appears here to represent period filmmaking that opts for precise shots and luminous ethereality over profligate displays of finery and chandelier kitsch. |
Also like The Wings of the Dove in 1997, The End of the Affair was less widely seen than its competitors, and its understated elegance is likely not to register with voters who prefer conspicuous eye-candy. (As if Ralph and Julianne weren't that!) |
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Dante Spinotti The Insider 2:1 |
Overlooked for his sole nomination (for 1997's L.A. Confidential) as well as for equally deserving but unnominated work (such as his previous Michael Mann collaborations, The Last of the Mohicans and Heat), Spinotti turned a corporate thriller into an unlikely but hypnotic visual artwork. |
People who confuse Mann's work as being too slick, as they have done since his days on Miami Vice, may want to throw support to the more established Conral Hall and his more classically framed shots in American Beauty. Plus, some people think The Insider overdid it with the blues and grays. I'm serious. |
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Emmanuel Lubezki Sleepy Hollow 3:1 |
The creepy fogs, silhouetted trees, and pale skins that dominate Sleepy Hollow not only represent the film's highest achievements but provide the only factor that redeem the film out of silly junk-culture indulgence. Lubezki won the bulk of critics prizes and lost on his previous Oscar bid with 1995's A Little Princess. |
Technicians are not judged along the same lines of who's been passed over in earlier years that can help neglected actors and directors. Many voters may elect not to screen the unabashedly commercial and unabashedly weird Sleepy Hollow; those who do may honor it in the Art Direction and Costume Design categories, where it isn't competing against top-flight Best Picture contenders. |
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Robert Richardson Snow Falling on Cedars 3:1 |
Previous Oscar winner (for JFK in 1991) lavishes adaptation of widely read novel with exactly the sort of beautiful natural tableaux and stark light/dark contrasts that many voters construe as the highest form of film photography. Anyone who saw Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead knows that Richardson did Oscar-worthy work on more than one picture this year. |
Fans of the book did not turn out for this picture, meaning that far fewer people will have seen it than American Beauty or The Insider; its considerable length and the tepid responses of its viewers suggest that even stay-at-home voters may not rush to watch the tape, where the visuals will not be as striking anyway. |