Last year a tie resulted in seven nominees instead of five, but this year the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) deliver five nominees for their 2015 award for the best cinematography in 2014’s features.
Among the nominees are the expected in Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman and Dick Pope for his painterly Mr. Turner, but from there I can’t say I was certain any one of these DPs would be nominated.
Oscar Faura‘s work on The Imitation Game was impressive for the way it stuck strictly with Benedict Cumberbatch‘s perspective as Alan Turing and I love seeing Robert D. Yeoman getting some recognition for Wes Anderson‘s The Grand Budapest Hotel, but I have to say, I can’t support the Roger Deakins nomination for his work on Angelina Jolie‘s Unbroken as pretty as some moments may be and as raw as the several torture scenes may be, I just didn’t find it a particularly well shot feature, especially the scenes at sea, which looked as if they were shot in a Beverly Hills pool.
Deakins work certainly doesn’t rise above, for me, Jeff Cronenweth‘s work on Gone Girl, Hoyte Van Hoytema‘s Interstellar work or the style brought to the screen by Greig Fraser and Bradford Young on Foxcatcher and A Most Violent Year respectively. And then there’s my particular love for Sharone Meir‘s work on Whiplash, but hoping for that nomination is pretty much a pipe dream.
Hell, give me Robert Elswit for Inherent Vice or Benoit Delhomme for A Most Wanted Man. The allegiance to Deakins as if he is the “end all, be all” of cinematography is increasingly annoying to me, but whatever…
I’ve listed the nominees once again directly below and the awards will be handed out on February 15. I’ve also updated my predictions for the category right here if you’re interested in taking a look.
- Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC for Unbroken
- Oscar Faura for The Imitation Game
- Emmanuel Lubezki ASC, AMC for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- Dick Pope, BSC for Mr. Turner
- Robert D. Yeoman, ASC for The Grand Budapest Hotel
