Acensbart
Excellent but underrated film
Onlinewsma
Absolutely Brilliant!
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Raymond Sierra
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
georg-wachberger
... how can you make such documentary, interview sven nyquist, yet show no frame of his work? i am sure that many people find many people missing, yet sven is really admired as one of the very best ever and i have immediately tons of frames of his work in mind, more than from any other DOP ...nevertheless it is a great piece and does not become unnecessary detailed in technical issues. i am not entirely sure about the selection of material they presented. but this is necessarily highly subjective. yet i would have wished to see more of Japanese and European cinema. the more i think about it the more i feel that i find it great that they produced this tribute to cinematographers, but i am more and more unhappy by the way they did it. leaves with the taste of a too clean feature film. too little risk. so i change my vote from initially 9 to 6.
ccthemovieman-1
People who surf this particular website, generally-speaking, should love this documentary as it deals with the movies, and how they are photographed and how the cameramen and we, the viewer, see them. That may sound a bit dry, but this documentary is anything but that. They never stay more than a few minutes on any topic, personality or movie.I appreciated this DVD more and more as I became more familiar with films. The more of a fan you are of both movies and cinematography, the higher you will rate this documentary. From silent movies to modern-day, the producers on this did a fine job showing examples of films from every decade up to 1990. (It would be fun to see an updated edition of this to include films from the past 15 years.)This video gave me a new appreciation for black-and-white films. Some of the photography was magnificent and many cinematographers think that is the medium in which they could really show off their talents.Regarding color, this documentary is where I first heard about the fabulously- filmed movie, "Days Of Heaven" (1978), which has become one of my all-time favorites. In all, there are about 125 films mentioned, so you may discover some gems you weren't aware of, as I did.Whether you know most of these films or just a few, you should find a number of things in here interesting.
moonspinner55
Documentary on the art of cinematography, with a handful of revered directors of photography reflecting on their heroes and mentors, on films which inspired them and (selected) projects they've worked on. Despite a lot of smart talk and amusing anecdotes, this project is colorful and entertaining without being especially enlightening (for instance, only Gordon Willis cites a regret--a sequence from "The Godfather Part II"). Some incredible (and Oscar-winning) DP's like Geoffrey Unsworth, Harry Stradling and Peter Bizou are not even invited to the fore, which is disappointing, and the film clips are certainly on the lean side (hardly anything from the 1950s), but what is here is enjoyable, if not intriguing. Financed by the American Film Institute for PBS and Japanese equivalent NHK. **1/2 from ****
Vladislav
I enjoyed watching this documentary on Cinematography, and yet it still pales in comparison to A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies. I was spoiled, I think, with Marty Scorsese's documentary, as in its three cassettes it is the truly definitive documentary on film. Visions of Light is worth a purchase, though it was not as complete and definitive as I would have liked it to be.