My Favorite Shots Ever
What are the greatest shots in movie history? To be clear, these are not moments—just the shots. It is less about what was perhaps on the page in the script, and more about what was in the cinematographer’s mind. Some of these look like paintings; some look like mind-bending science fiction impossibilities; they all look like the very best in visual storytelling.
Photo Courtesy of Universal Studios
Children of Men
Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki
Children of Men places us in a dystopian future where infertility threatens the continued existence of humanity. This shot captures a moment from the journey to protect one of the world’s only pregnant woman and thus mankind’s last hope. Much of the film is chaos and collapse, but this shot and its calm waters in the fog, stands out for its particular brand of despair and isolation. Emmanuel Lubezki is one of the very best and this shot could easily be just at home on a canvas.
Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Inception
Cinematographer: Wally Pfister
File this one in the category of just downright cool. Christopher Nolan’s mind bending dreamscape features all sorts of shots and ideas that melt reality, but this shot is on another level. Nolan, famously rigorous in his filming techniques, insisted on a real spinning hallway to create this particular dream sequence. The result is Joseph Gordon Levitt walking up a real wall as ceiling becomes floor. It’s hard to forget this level of spectacle.
Photo Courtesy of A24
Moonlight
Cinematographer: James Laxton
Moonlight was the product of second time filmmaker, who chose to tell a story centered on the queer Black experience. At the time, it was seen as unlikely to become what it ultimately did—a moment of cultural expression that had its relevance cemented with a Best Picture win. It accomplished that through sheer quality and gorgeously executed story-telling. This shot, representing Little’s reckoning with his personal identity, serves as a crux in this beautifully rendered exploration.
Photo Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures
Tree of Life
Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki
I am not a fan of this movie. It’s unfocused narrative has never worked for me despite an all-time cast and sumptuous visuals. But there there is no denying this shot. The vision necessary to execute this is next level. Jessica Chastain walking across white sands toward a mysteriously off-putting horizon. Something about it is at once disorienting and oddly calming. Another example of Chivo Lubezki’s mastery of the frame.
Photo courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures
Saving Private Ryan
Cinematographer: Janusz Kamiński
This war epic tells the story of a rescue mission to recover Private First Class James Francis Ryan. And while it is focused on the team looking to save a single soldier, along the way you are confronted with the horrors of wars. The decisions as sacrifices that come with war are well chronicled in movie history, but this is one of the very best efforts at showing the scale of the human toll. This shot, and its endless rows of cross-marked graves, represents the incalculable cost of war. All of the families and stories captured in this shot are meant to invoke a realization of the sheer immensity of the loss.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Psycho
Cinematographer: John L Russell
This shot, which comes at the very end of Alfred Hitchcock 1960 classic, allows you to look into the eyes of the film’s main character for the very first time. Sure, you had seen Norman Bates before, but this was the first time you saw him with a clear understanding of what is going on behind those eyes. Unforgettable and truly disturbing.
Photo Courtesy of Vantage Cinema
There Will Be Blood
Cinematographer: Robert Elswit
Daniel Plainview is one of the best characters in the history of cinema. His ruthless ambition and forthright nature make him the perfect avatar for American ideals. This shot shows Plainview overseeing and contemplating the origins of his enterprise. All of the human and environmental sacrifices that will inevitably follow are right there if you look at this shot long enough. Plainview’s tightly laced boots will march forward no matter what.
Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The Dark Knight
Cinematographer: Wally Pfister
Would this shot be as iconic if Heath Ledger hadn’t ate this performance? Hard to say. But once you have experienced the totality of his take on the Joker, it is hard not to be struck by images like this. The sad clown in search of mayhem—standing on the corner on the precipice of another entry in his chaotic catalogue. The best part of this shot is that its melancholic nature stands in stark contrast to the joy with which he plays him throughout the film, suggesting even more depth and darkness that meets the eye.
Photo Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
Fight Club
Cinematographer: Jeff Cronenworth
Fight Club is an internet era classic with one of the best endings in recent film history. This shot, from that very ending, comes as you’ve just been hit with the realization of the movie’s deceit. The film’s bottom line has to do with societal belonging and what people are willing to do to create community. This shot represents the tortured end to our protagonist’s journey to feel like he was a part of something.
Photo Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The Truman Show
Cinematographer: Peter Biziou
This shot represents the film’s commentary on the nature of reality. Is it what we see or is it something else? Will we ever be able to figure it out? Does it even matter if we never do? These are the questions posed by this Jim Carrey vehicle, which had lots to say about privacy, philosophy, surveillance and our understanding of the world we live in. Steps to wherever set against a simulated background with a light from above. Perhaps that’s all life really is.
Photo Courtesy of Miramax Films
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Cinematographer: Robert Richardson
Quentin Tarantino’s films are generally noted for their whip smart scripts and meandering, but focused, dialogue. This particular shot, however, is representative of a part of his canon that involved very little dialogue. This comes from the sequence where Beatrix Kiddo faces off and defeats the “Crazy 88” in Kill Bill: Volume 1. It is largely made up of graphic violence and gratuitous gore, but this shot and all its restraint offers a brief and beautiful respite that is still instantly recognizable.
Photo Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer
2001: A Space Odyssey
Cinematographer: Geoffrey Unsworth
As perhaps the most influential science fiction movie of all time, 2001: A Space Odyssey is filled with arresting visuals. This shot, which seems to meld the vastness of space with the confined nature of space travel, feels less like a shot from this movie and more like a template for every movie about space that came after it. This was the blueprint that gave future filmmakers a visual language to use as they explored the universe.
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