film recommendations: beautiful cinematography
a list of 30 brilliant movies with beautiful cinematography for the aesthetic lovers (with mini reviews)
My friends who are into astrology tell me that it’s the Libra rising in me, but I love anything aesthetically pleasing. As in, I’ll collect books with beautiful prose, rewatch movies with stunning cinematography over and over again, take pictures of any fleeting moment I think is pretty.
I watched La Chimera yesterday, and was blown away by how incredible and thoughtful each shot was. I love feeling that way after watching a movie, so here are some really great movies with such beautiful cinematography, in which each frame could truly be a photograph or painting. I had so much fun putting this list together. I tried to include a lot of movies I consider underrated or ‘less popular’, although I don’t think any are like Super Obscure Arthouse.
(This list is also in large part inspired by Severance, because although it’s not a movie, the cinematography in that show is actually breathtaking.)
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Also, here is my Letterboxd!
La Chimera (2023)
director: Alice Rohrwacher
cinematographer: Hélène Louvart
Just out of jail, rumpled English archaeologist Arthur reconnects with his wayward crew of tombaroli accomplices – a happy-go-lucky collective of itinerant grave-robbers who survive by looting Etruscan tombs and fencing the ancient treasures they dig up.
Haunted by his lost love and mystical visions, British archaeologist Arthur returns to Italy from prison to resume a career of tomb-raiding, trapped between real life and fantasy, between past and present—forever chasing the elusive red strings of fate. One of those movies that feel like poetry in film form.
Roma (2018)
director: Alfonso Cuarón
cinematographer: Alfonso Cuarón
There are periods in history that scar societies and moments in life that transform us as individuals.
In 1970s Mexico City, two domestic workers help a mother of four while her husband is away for an extended period of time.
Roma is more of an experience than a movie. I watched this for the first time on a rainy day in February, and it changed my life a bit. Alfonso Cuarón is one of the most celebrated directors for a reason; every scene of this movie is precise and meticulous and has a purpose. Such a privilege to have seen it.
Barry Lyndon (1975)
director: Stanley Kubrick
cinematographer: John Alcott
At long last Redmond Barry became a gentleman—and that was his tragedy.
An Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England, transforming himself from the humble Redmond Barry into the noble Barry Lyndon.
I watched this in one of my college courses and could not tear my eyes away for even one second, like I was somehow being hypnotized by the screen. This is the closest a film gets to being aesthetically perfect—every frame of this could absolutely be a painting of its own. Kubrick is meticulous in his directing as always, and this movie is no different.
Nosferatu (2024)
director: Robert Eggers
cinematographer: Jarin Blaschke
Succumb to the darkness.
A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Nosferatu is gothic perfection. Every shot in this movie was perfect and so well thought out—the costume design, the setting, the direction—and the scene where the shadow of the hand glides across the sky of the town was one of the most incredible things I’ve watched. So atmospheric and gorgeous; a must watch on a gloomy rainy night.
Loving Vincent (2017)
director: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman
cinematographer: Tristan Oliver, Łukasz Żal
The truth is, we cannot speak other than by our paintings.
A young man arrives at the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist’s final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.
There isn’t anything like this film, and I mean in the literal sense. Loving Vincent has 65,000 frames, and each one is handpainted by 125 painters. The animation and visuals alone make this worth watching, and the dedication from everyone involved is, in my opinion, one of the greatest feats in cinematic history.