"All great films are a resolution of a conflict between darkness and light,"
"There is no single right way to express yourself. There are infinite possibilities for the use of light with shadows and colors. The decisions you make about composition, movement and the countless combinations of these and other variables is what makes it an art."
-Vittorio Storaro
I have recently revisited two of my very favorite artists, and idols of the film industry. Another one of their collaborations, that I haven't had the pleasure of seeing until now. Mr. Bernardo Bertolucci the director, and Mr. Vittorio Storaro the director of photography. Especially Mr. Storaro, who still holds his place as my favorite Cinematographer of all time, who has shot two of my favorites of all time, Apocalypse Now, and Il Conformista.
The film is an extraordinary visual exploration. As always, Storaro's camera reveals to us a world that is larger than our individual experiences, and yet, oddly accessible for us at the same time.
His breathtaking, carefully controlled colors, shapes and vast expanses of landscapes shot with a wide-angle lens are, of course, signature.
But the close-ups?
There is a scene in sheltering sky, John Malkovich is violently ill with Typhoid. He speaks for the first time, after their arrival at the French Legion's outpost. We don't know wether he's getting better or worse. Camera looks down on his face, eyes closed. His face is lit with blue on the left side and yellow on the right. As the camera moves away, it tilts up and cranes up at the same time, changing our view of his face from a full-frontal close-up, to a medium shot profile, of the left side of his face. Because of the changing angle, his features have now become all blue. Thus, his death (coming up in the next scene), is foreshadowed. Enough so that, I thought he actually was dead. Didn't even need the next scene.
