One Category at a Time: Cinematography

If you're no stranger to the blog you probably already know that Best Cinematography is always my favourite category at the Oscars. Not only because of my personal fascination with the craft, but because it always proves so devilishly tricky to predict. It's an area where the precursors tend to be deceptively offtrack, and ideologies on how the whole Academy votes shift from year to year. This year's slate (the only one I correctly predicted 5/5) houses five contenders which are equally plausible winners for completely different reasons. My rationales, accompanied by my favourite shot from each nominee, are outlined after the cut.

Review - The Artist

Silence is golden in Michel Hazanavicius' quaint silent cinema homage The Artist. The story is a somewhat slight but archetypal one about the screen stars of Hollywood's silent era falling into obsolescence and obscurity at the hands of the talkies. The novelty of a (mostly) silent film in 2011 may seem a gimmick, but it's hard not to let yourself be charmed by it.

We first meet George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) at the premiere of another one of his melodramatic hits, where the showman reveling in the noiseless applause of his adoring fans. He's blissfully unaware of the impending cacophony that will threaten not only his livelihood but the way of the world as he knows it, but not before he sends bright-eyed ingenue Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) on her own trajectory to fame and acclaim in the brave new world of talking pictures.