Oscar nominees:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road: Impeccably designed in accordance with the tones of the film, each shot is pleasing to watch because of just how meticulous each bit of set detail is. I couldn't even find a good picture of my favourite set, the hideout of the War Boys.
2. Bridge of Spies: Old-fashioned set design work as such beautifully rendered contrasts are generated between the straightforward, suburban American homes, the courtrooms, and of course best of all the Berlin sets all with a character of their own.
3. The Martian: Nicely straightforward, aesthetically impeccable, realistic designs of the base on mars, the spacecraft and mechanics, even the earth base scenes. All splendidly done, and only put it behind 1 and 2 because it doesn't have quite the character of those sets (although that's not a bad thing).
4. The Revenant: The only thing I really have against this one is that there's not many sets, and though they're good I don't think they're really the highlight of those scenes, and are enhanced by the direction and cinematography. HOWEVER, in terms of just the choice of where these sets are placed in, they were all pretty good, so kudos to the production designer for that. And actually that fort is pretty darned cool.
5. The Danish Girl: I know many don't really take to Tom Hopper set designs in his films but I've always been quite fond of them, this is no exception as I thought the various sets, whether in Gerda's studios, the office of Hans, the hospital, all were quite aesthetically pleasing to me.
My nominees:
1. Carol: Need I say anything? It views with Mara as the best aspect of this film, and like Mara excels not just because it's beautiful to look at, but also within that beauty captures the perfect essence of 1950's New York both of the motion picture sense, and the realistic sense.
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Bridge of Spies
4. Brooklyn: I might need to re-check on the proper definition of the word 'production design' but I just thought each and every set to Brooklyn had such a distinctive tone of its own that provided such clear, beautiful steps to Eillis' journey through America and Ireland.
5. The Hateful Eight: Just one set but it has such a great character of its own, it's clear how much detail was put into each and every crevice of the cabin where our hateful eight take refuge in.
6. Ex Machina
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8. Crimson Peak
9. Legend
10. Beasts of No Nation
What there was in The Revenant was far better than the best set in The Danish Girl. Not to mention the production designer also has input in terms of finding the right locations as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Macbeth did not make your personal list.
Actually, you know what, in terms of finding the right locations (which I did not know, forgive my ignorance :)), I'll put The Revenant above The Danish Girl then, as I will grant that they were some amazing decisions.
DeleteI guess we'll just have to agree to disagree then :)
ReplyDeleteLet's just say I wasn't a fan of any of the technical or production aspects, and the directorial style, of Macbeth. All of my appreciation of the film came from solely Fassbender's magnificent performance, and some of the ingenuities with the plot additions (I didn't even think Cotillard was all that, and as you know I love her in general). In fact I thought the production design really distracted me from appreciating Fassbender's performance in particular scenes, which is a shame. In a straightforward, more workmanlike adaptation of the play, he might well have been my #2 or even win for the year.