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It wasn’t
that long ago when you could watch the Oscars, see what movie won the award for cinematography and think, “OK. That might be the best picture winner too.” In the ‘90s, the two awards went hand in hand six times. “Dances With Wolves,” “Schindler’s List,” “Braveheart,” “The English Patient,” “Titanic” and “American Beauty” all pulled off the feat. In the ensuing two decades, it has happened just twice “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Birdman.”
Instead, the correlation now comes between director and cinematographer. Alfonso Cuarón won both Oscars for “Roma.” Two years before that, “La La Land” swept the two honors. “The Revenant,” “Birdman,” “Gravity” and “Life of Pi” also won both.
Twenty-twenty has been a year of disappointment for all of us except for Jeff Bezos, who gets to make money during a pandemic by exploiting his workers and avoiding taxes. Much has been said about the state of cinema this year and just how much of a disaster releases have been, what with arthouses and multiplexes alike having to close down for the safety of their workers and audiences alike. But this isn’t to say that there hasn’t been a lot of beauty in the world of film amid all the garbage we’ve faced.
With all of us stuck at home and new streaming options like the glorious HBO Max and the disastrous Quibi, the lines between what cinema actually is and isn t have started to blur together. Is watching a miniseries the same as watching a movie if you binge it all and there are no plans for a bad expansion? (See