Muriel Award: Best Cinematography
One of our tighter races results in an unexpected dark-horse winner. (A very dark horse.) Behold:
Anthony Dod Mantle, Antichrist [104 points/14 votes]
“The night I saw Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, I lay awake in my bed for several hours with my eyes slammed shut, afraid of what I might see if I opened them, yet too shaken by the film to sleep. As I lay there for minute after agonizing minute, it eventually dawned on me that while the film’s much-publicized scenes of brutality certainly delivered on the hype, it wasn’t these scenes that haunted me. No, it was the early scenes in which we first arrive at the scene of the future crimes - the forest retreat of Eden - that really got under my skin. And for that, I have to thank Mr. Von Trier and his longtime collaborator, the great cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle.
Ever since his infamous Dogme 95 manifestor, Von Trier’s films have become associated with a seemingly slapdash handheld aesthetic, yet a quick look at his early work reveals that he has a unique flair for combining classical framing with unconventional lighting choices to create haunting images. And from the opening scene of Antichrist, it’s clear that he hasn’t lost the gift. This is most apparent in a magnificent super-slo-mo shot of Charlotte Gainsbourg crossing a wooden bridge as she approaches Eden. The creeping pace of the onscreen action here as elsewhere heightens the sense of the action being dictated by an outside and sinister force, but without the masterful lighting, it wouldn’t be half as effective.
In interviews, Von Trier has stated that Antichrist is about a world that was created not by good but evil, and the film’s visuals make this point abundantly clear. At no point is Eden lit in reassuring tones - in the daytime, grey-green trees block out overcast skies, and by night, the light of the moon isn’t calm blue but harsh silvery-white. Much of this light comes beating down from overhead, suggesting that God who presides over Eden is uncaring at best, unforgiving at worst. But beyond the theological ramifications Von Trier addresses, Antichrist is pretty terrifying stuff, thanks in large part to the contributions of Mantle and his director. I hope that the two of them will take it as a compliment that I’m not sure I want to subject myself to the film ever again.
After all, I don’t know if I can stand another sleepless night like the last one…” - Paul Clark
Runners-up:
Robert Richardson (Inglourious Basterds) [99/16]
Christopher Doyle (The Limits of Control) [74/11]
Roger Deakins (A Serious Man) [60/12]
Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker) [47/8]
