Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

It could be they've liked Fraser's past work and decided it was time to honor him. I'm not sure they'd have mounted that strong a defense for the cinematography of Blaze, Tequila Sunrise or The Patriot, either -- but the guys in charge were vets they wanted to salute. Everyone noted how many newbies there were on this year's slate; it's almost logical for a guild that's long had a crony-lean to deviate from consensus. (Though, like you, I'd have thought a better movie might have been their choice.)

I don't know this will have any effect on an Academy that will focus on the beautiful hues of the dock during City of Stars. We've got a bit used to Oscar favorites winning this guild during the Lubezki run. But prior to that, there were dissents about 50% of the time, with The White Ribbon, The Tree of Life and Skyfall.

I think that if there was one guild that La La Land was going to lose, this one isn't so far fetched. Because at the end of the day, there is a difference between great cinematography and moving the camera around a lot. While that opening number is impressive, there is an ugly quality to how the light strikes these dancer's faces and keeps them in shadows. There is obvious use of wide angle lenses.

But how did they land on Lion? I guess if you want to honor someone in the club but just can't stomach the idea of giving it to Silence (3x nominee Prieto), then Greig Fraser is your guy. Lion adopts an authentic child's POV, it has nice mood to it, it's pretty, etc, and also he works a lot. This year, he shot Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. That said, if you were to tell me that something was going to win and it wasn't going to be La La Land, I would've guessed James Laxton or Bradford Young.

Oh, well, I was right in the last part of my CinemaSight prediction, which was:

There’s no reason to think that the cinematographers will buck the trend and go against La La Land, but Moonlight could upset. A win for anything else would be surprising.

The ASC diverged from the Oscars 33% of the time so far this decade. While La La Land's cinematography was so fine and nuanced, I can see one of the showier candidates (Arrival) take the prize. I agree with BJ about Silence and I don't think Moonlight makes the kind of impression that usually wins this award.

I'm honestly floored by Lion's win. Aside from finding it the least visually distinguished of the nominees, I'd thought it was running well behind some other candidates in this year's race, notably potential sweeper La La Land, critically rewarded Moonlight, and big tech achievement Arrival. (Only Silence, with its sole nomination in this category, seems totally out of the race.)

This might be a good candidate for a Categories One-by-One thread, simply because it seems one of the few races that could legit go a whole bunch of different directions (i.e. La La Land won't necessarily just be the de facto winner.)

Granted that I haven't seen Lion yet....but Lion?! over Silence and Moonlight, which were critically acclaimed?

Hey, somebody did see Silence.

Very pleased by the absence of Hacksaw Ridge and Nocturnal Animals.

Could something like The Handmaiden slip in at the Oscars?

Now we're starting to see how much people like Hacksaw Ridge. Interesting.

Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for “Lion”
James Laxton for “Moonlight”
Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC for “Silence”
Linus Sandgren, FSF for “La La Land”
Bradford Young, ASC for “Arrival”