The beauty of Emmanuel Lubezki's cinema
Thursday, August 20, 2020 at 11:00PM 
Before saying goodbye to our celebration of 2005, we must finish our look back at that year's Best Cinematography nominees. First up, we talked about the chromatic madness of Dion Beebe. Then, there were Rodrigo Prieto's cinematic elegance, the steely coldness of Wally Pfister's movies, and Robert Elswit's wide-angled wonders. Finally, we arrive at Emmanuel Lubezki, one of the past decades' most influential directors of photography. His free-flying camera movements, the masterful of natural lighting, and control of color are beyond description, so great is their beauty. No wonder AMPAS has fallen in love with the cinema of Emmanuel Lubezki, giving him eight nominations overall and three consecutive wins…
Because of his numerous Oscar nods (the biggest haul of any of the 2005 nominees), this piece on Lubezki goes off-model in comparison with the previous pieces. Instead of just ten highlights from his filmography, here are some considerations about his eight nominated pictures followed by another eight stellar works that didn't receive similar love from the Academy.
First up, here are his Oscar nominations in chronological order:
A LITTLE PRINCESS (1995)
Is this the greenest film of all time? Maybe. Alfonso Cuarón's A Little Princess looks like a storybook come to life, with Lubezki's cinematography distorting space and evoking dreamy imagery that transcends any notion of realism.
A Little Princess is available to stream on HBO Max. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999)
Instead of grounding Tim Burton's folkloric nightmare to notions of historical materiality, Lubezki severs whatever's connecting the tale to our world. His gothic images are deliberately artificial, painted with deep shadows and cold lights, splashes of blood-red and silvery fog.
Sleepy Hollow is available to stream on Netflix and Fubo TV. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
THE NEW WORLD (2005)
Emmanuel Lubezki and Terrence Malick were made for each other. In the Mexican cinematographer, this master director found his best collaborator ever. Their styles have become synonymous and their first project, The New World, remains one of the most beautiful movies of the 2000s.
The New World is available to stream on Vudu Free. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)
Throughout this series, we've been using still frames to highlight these filmmakers' excellence. Of course, the art of cinematography isn't one characterized by stillness. The movement of the camera and in front of it is as important as composition, lighting, and color. When it comes to Emmanuel Lubezki that is especially true and his work in Cuarón's Children of Men was his most kinetic up until that point. It's a whirlwind nightmare steeped in despair.
Children of Men is available to stream on Showtime, Fubo, and DirecTV. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)
Malick and Lubezki's crowning achievement is this cinematic poem about brotherhood, family, faith, and, maybe, life itself. Dazzling in every regard, visually lyrical and technically prodigious, The Tree of Life is like a dream, or perhaps a memory, that's been preserved in the amber of film expression.
The Tree of Life is available to stream on all HBO Max, HBO Now, HBO Go, and DirecTV. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
GRAVITY (2013)
The line where visual effects end and cinematography starts is a bit difficult to parse out when it comes to movies like Gravity. Nonetheless, this Cuarón-helmed Oscar champ is a delirious vision of space adventuring which manages to make the void of infinity look claustrophobic. Lubezki deserved this first Oscar win.
Gravity is available to stream on Fubo TV and IndieFlix. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
BIRDMAN (2014)
While I have some misgivings about how director Alejandro González Iñárritu uses the mechanics of a one-shot movie, it's impossible to deny Lubezki's technical achievement. Adding to that, Birdman features what is probably the cinematographer's most inspired work with overtly artificial light sources and saturated colors.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) can be rented from Amazon, Youtube, Google Play, and others.
THE REVENANT (2015)
After winning Oscars for Gravity and Birdman, Emmanuel Lubezki won again for Iñárritu's The Revenant and thus became the only cinematographer to ever win three consecutive awards in Oscar history. While spectacular, the images the Mexican DP conjured for this DiCaprio vehicle are not among his best or most memorable.
The Revenant is available to stream on FX Now and DirecTV. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
And here go another eight Lubezki flicks. This time, none of them got Best Cinematography nominations, no matter how Oscar-worthy they were:
REALITY BITES (1994)
The rebellious youths at the center of this 90s hit might live in a whirlwind, but Lubezki's cinematography is surprisingly serene, elegant, sometimes even austere. Whether capturing the soft colors of dusk or painting shadows over shabby interiors, he finds romantic beauty in the mundane.
Reality Bites is available to stream on Max Go, DirecTV, and the Cinemax Amazon Channel. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
THE BIRDCAGE (1996)
Lubezki constructs a candy-colored vision of Miami, making the city look like an extension of the club owned by the main characters. There's also the way the lighting changes once the domestic space is transformed, going from sunny warmth to a church-like severity that's so overt it becomes hilarious. Humor through illumination.
The Birdcage is available to stream on Fubo TV, Vudu Free, Showtime, Pluto TV, DirecTV, and The Roku Channel. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1998)
Bringing Dickens' classic to modern times, Cuarón and Lubezki indulge in dusky imagery and bouts of erotic longing so strong it bleeds into the frames. It manages to look both timeless but also anchored to its moment in History. Lubezki found two of his greatest subjects in Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow, shooting them like immortal stars, fated to be adored for eternity.
Great Expectations is available to stream on DirecTV. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
ALI (2001)
In the grand scope of Lubezki's filmography, there's no title more unjustly underrated than Michael Mann's Ali. Dazzling and creative, glistening with metal and blood, this movie's images are crystalline miracles that immerse the audience in the characters' psyches and their historical moment.
Ali is available to stream on Fubo, IMDB, and Tubi TV. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN (2001)
Bold and sensuous, full of slithery camera movements and master control over chromatic nuances and exposure variation, Y Tu Mamá También is one of Emmanuel Lubezki's crowning achievements. His other works with Alfonso Cuarón may be flashier, but the look this erotic road movie is as perfect as that of Gravity or Children of Men.
Y Tu Mamá También is available to stream on Netflix and the Criterion Channel. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
BURN AFTER READING (2008)
The Coens usually work with Roger Deakins but, in Burn After Reading, they had another master cinematographer lensing their picture. Lubezki doesn't try to copy Deakins' characteristic aesthetic, but he does adapt his technique to the cinematic world of the Coens, to glassy offices and dreary suburban hellscapes.
Burn After Reading is available to stream on Starz and DirecTV. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
KNIGHT OF CUPS (2015)
Despite having a very specific personal style, Lubezki isn't afraid of challenging himself. In Knight of Cups, he and director Terrence Malick pushed the limits of digital cinematography to bizarre extremes, capturing worlds of concrete and glass with the same oneiric wildness they gaze at golden wheat fields. Hollywood has never looked as alien as it does here, beautifully so.
Knight of Cups is available to stream on Hoopla. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
SONG TO SONG (2017)
These later collaborations with Malick haven't gotten Lubezki as much praise as their earlier efforts, but that doesn't mean their imagery is uninspired. If anything, the two cineastes have perfected a way of making the familiar odd, producing shots that both evoke intimacy and the sweep of an epic. If Song to Song is the last film these two masters do together, it's a closing chapter they can be proud of.
Song to Song is available to stream on Amazon Prime Vido, the Roku Channel, and Hoopla. You can also rent it from Amazon, Youtube, and others.
What are your favorite works from Emmanuel Lubezki's filmography? Also, since we’re at the end of our miniseries on the 2005 nominees, who should have won the Oscar back then?
Reader Comments (12)
Beautiful work beautifully written up.
No Solo con tu Pareja by Alfonso Cuaron? That is a film more people need to see.
Tree of Life deserved the Oscar. Great article about a great cinematographer.
Claudio, excelente escrito como sempre.
I think Emmanuel Lubezki's finest hour as a cinematographer is The Revenant. Watch this two minute compilation video to see the beauty this master of imagery can capture.
https://vimeo.com/161284226
Wow, Cláudio, these screenshots are amazing. He fully deserves those 3 Oscars. My favorites are probably "Birdman" or "The Birdcage" although there are no wrong choices here.
I love a deep dive into cinematography, thank you for this whole series.
Cheeevo!
Great piece. I remember seeing GREAT EXPECTATIONS in a top-notch theater with a great projection system and thinking it was one of the most beautiful visual experiences I'd ever had at the movies. I was shocked it didn't get any awards attention at all. Something about THE BIRDCAGE seemed off to me; I thought the cinematography (and really everything about the film) was scaled way too big. It was as if Nichols thought he was shooting OUT OF AFRICA. I agree that THE REVENANT's cinematography was a bit overrated, although I have a friend in the biz who claims knowing how to take advantage of natural light is, maybe, the hardest part of a cinematographer's job. Lubezki certainly did that.
I like to see the stills because as you watch it the film passes so quickly you rarely have time to savour the images despite being wowoed,this is a great series.
The Tree of Life.
Rodrigo Prieto, Brokeback Mountain.
Favorites - Most of all Birdman and Sleepy Hollow (I think the artificialness you note works very well in the latter, and in Lemony Snicket's ... too). Great Expectations is underrated. Children of Men deserves the praise it always gets.
That 2005 Oscar is a tough one. 3 or 4 deserving contenders. If pressed to pick today I guess I'd vote ... Pfister? But I could easily have a different answer on another day.
I've loved this look back at 2005 cinematography. Good selections all around.
A Little Princess, Sleepy Hollow, and The New World are the perfect trifecta of his genius eye.
Each coloring different textures and angles, each highlighting a different corner of the cinematic experience as viewed by the passengers strapped in that dark room for the ride.
My favorite of his nominations, and, for my money, alongside Children of Men, the foundation of his career and legacy.
Now I’m just gonna stare at those screenshots for a while longer....