Country with best cinematography?

[MikeH]

There are literally hundreds of British movies.

These are a top 100 I just lifted from a site http://www.britmovie.co.uk/

1 Trainspotting
2 The Third Man
3 Lawrence of Arabia
4 The Ladykillers
5 A Matter of Life and Death
6 Get Carter
7 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
8 Kind Hearts and Coronets
9 The Full Monty
10 The Italian Job
11 The 39 Steps
12 Brief Encounter
13 Withnail and I
14 Four Weddings and a Funeral
15 A Clockwork Orange
16 Snatch
17 Zulu
18 Billy Elliot
19 Notting Hill
20 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
21 Kes
22 If...
23 A Canterbury Tale
24 The Red Shoes
25 The Lavender Hill Mob
26 I Know Where I'm Going
27 Billy Liar
28 The Bridge on the River Kwai
29 The Lady Vanishes
30 Great Expectations
31 Monty Python's Life of Brian
32 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
33 The Long Good Friday
34 Shallow Grave
35 Oh, Mr Porter!
36 Dr. Strangelove
37 Quadrophenia
38 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
39 Brassed Off
40 Bridget Jones's Diary
41 Secrets and Lies
42 The Cruel Sea
43 The Wicker Man
44 Naked
45 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
46 A Hard Day's Night
47 Alfie
48 Genevieve
49 Dead of Night
50 Passport to Pimlico
51 Scrooge
52 Performance
53 The Remains of the Day
54 The Man In The White Suit
55 Gregory's Girl
56 I'm All Right Jack
57 Ice Cold in Alex
58 Whisky Galore
59 Brazil
60 Hobson's Choice
61 Odd Man Out
62 A Room with a View
63 Doctor Zhivago
64 Don't Look Now
65 A Taste of Honey
66 Green for Danger
67 Chariots of Fire
68 Educating Rita
69 Sliding Doors
70 The Man Who Would Be King
71 In Which We Serve
72 Goldfinger
73 Human Traffic
74 Shakespeare in Love
75 Oliver Twist
76 Local Hero
77 Black Narcissus
78 Ask a Policeman
79 Tom Jones
80 Shooting Fish
81 Brighton Rock
82 Night of the Demon
83 The Devil Rides Out
84 School For Scoundrels
85 The Dam Busters
86 This Happy Breed
87 The Crying Game
88 Whistle Down the Wind
89 Sense and Sensibility
90 Jude
91 Beautiful Thing
92 2001: A Space Odyssey
93 Hell Drivers
94 O' Lucky Man!
95 The Titfield Thunderbolt
96 Oliver!
97 Get Real
98 Hope and Glory
99 My Name is Joe
100 Peeping Tom

[aaglo]

I mentioned UK...

BTW, aren't the James Bond-movies made in uk?

AND don't forget the Monty Python stuff... funniest movies ever. National Lampoons come far behind (except the fabulous Animal House).

[Ecthy]

true

[Q Classic]

dr zhivago was a british film? didn't know that.

[SlowwHand]

"Christmas Vacation" and the other Chevy Chase Vacation movies were National Lampoon.
They were good.

[Q Classic]

and there are some spectacularly well-filmed korean movies.

chingu (friend) is one of them.
as is joint security area.
or the way home.

and animation:
my beautiful girl mari.

[aaglo]

I completely forgot chinese films... there are some very beautiful stuff there too.

[Q Classic]

yiyi, for instance.

[Oncle Boris]

Originally posted by Dry

So, better say:
Hollywood is probably one of the suckiest place when it comes to movies...
Don't mix up Hollywood and USA.

Sure. Maybe it was not clear enough, but I started by mentioning Kubrick, Lynch, van Sant, Welles (I could have added Scorcese) just to make sure I was not criticising America as a whole, but Hollywood.

As for the guy who told me Mexico is not in South America. Yeah, thanks for the insight (as if I didn't know my geography). Petty cosmetics such as these won't detract from my main point: Mexico definitely belongs to the "south American" cultural ring, both by language and tradition.

As for the UK debate: yeah, many great movies came from the UK. But surprisingly, and as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong) there is no major artistic current that originated from there. Anyway, not as much as we can associate Germany with expressionism, France with Nouvelle Vague, Italy with neo-realism, Russia with formalism, etc. Being on the winning side of history is not good for the artistic inspiration!

Still, I like to think that Peter Greenaway has been an excellent defender of UK colours in the past 20 years.

[Q Classic]

actually, mentioning david lynch... he shouldn't be in that list of good directors. dune is reason enough.

[Oncle Boris]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
actually, mentioning david lynch... he shouldn't be in that list of good directors. dune is reason enough.

Dune is a special case. I suspect it might have been done on purpose. Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet are way sufficient to forgive him. Won't you agree?

[MrBaggins]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
[SNIP]I don't wound to sound anti-American here...[SNIP]

Sure, there was Welles, Kubrick[SNIP]

Well... Kubrick actually moved to the UK when he started doing his most edgy stuff like Lolita, and liked it so much, he stayed... so he's technically a Brit now, in terms of this discussion.

[VJ]

Petty cosmetics such as these won't detract from my main point: Mexico definitely belongs to the "south American" cultural ring, both by language and tradition.

There's a whole concept created for the unified "cultural ring" you mentioned; "Latin America", that's why the term "South America" shouldn't usually be used unless talking about purely geographical issues.

[Q Classic]

actually, no, because i didn't like mulholland drive, either. or the elephant man. or twin peaks.

[Az]

USA.

[GePap]

The US certainly has the best production values, and with so much money to spend, the US gets to do so much. Now, most popualr films form any country are no good anyways. If you heard of a film from another country, it is becuase it is good..the exception ebing the US, becuase of its huge market share. Crappy French films don't make it becuase you can always pay for a better produced crappy US film instead.
Which is why things are so stillted. The whole wrold gets to see Hollywoods crap, while only the best of any other country, if only becuase Hollywood dross drown all other dross.

[Az]

The US makes good films, some of them very good, and it makes LOTS of films. I think there is no contest.

[Ecthy]

they're good only from a superficial perspective...

the Israeli movies I've seen so far sucked donkey cheneys, all of them

[Oncle Boris]

Originally posted by GePap
The US certainly has the best production values, and with so much money to spend, the US gets to do so much. Now, most popualr films form any country are no good anyways. If you heard of a film from another country, it is becuase it is good..the exception ebing the US, becuase of its huge market share. Crappy French films don't make it becuase you can always pay for a better produced crappy US film instead.
Which is why things are so stillted. The whole wrold gets to see Hollywoods crap, while only the best of any other country, if only becuase Hollywood dross drown all other dross.

Almost true. The thing is, most countries with smaller markets have to create movies with smaller budget, so they are less restricted by commercial constraints. I will not deny that many movies are made the "Hollywood" way throughout the world. But as far as I know, no one yet has surpassed the "master" in doing such movies. The land of the brave is still the stronghold of the commercial machine they created.
The French are notorious for creating more and more Hollywood-style films; but guys like Renoir, Godard, or even Blier are still the real driving force behind their cultural identity, even from the masses' viewpoint. This is not the case of the United States. Moreover, while they borrow formal elements, the American-style morale propaganda will seldom slip through the "technical exportation".
Most western countries will give much more importance to, say, Venise, Berlin or Cannes. That is not the case of the USA and their infamous Academy Awards.

[monolith94]

I think that the best cinematography, in terms of pure beauty, comes from France. From Truffaut's stunning work, to Jean De Florette, all the way up to Jeunet's most impressive films, this is a country with high standards.

[Drogue]

The USA. However I judge films, by the amount it moved me, by its relevance, by how much I forgot I was in a film and started to live it, by the way it makes me think, or by the sheer enjoyment of it, it comes out top. Admittedly I'm not a big fan of many of the typical hollywood blockbusters, but I do like the Coen Brothers, Kubrick, Sam Mendes, Ridley Scott and all the best animation and CGI (both in technicalities and ideas/humour) come from Pixar or Dreamworks.

I disagree with Oncle Boris for two reasons. There are paradoxes, there is psychology and many many films do not have set good or bad characters. Sure, it produces a lot of dross, a lot of formulaic blockbusters, but it also produces many thoughtful productions. If you want to see an example of a paradox of the bad or goodness of characters, watch a Coen Brothers film, especially The Man Who Wasn't There. Is the main character a goodie or a baddie? The same (to a lesser extent) with Oh Brother Where Art Thou, Kill Bill and The Italian Job (admittedly could class as non-American, but still english language at least ). As for the resolution point, while some films, even Hollywood ones, do not have the same resolution points, most stories have a starting point near the begining and a resolution point near the end. Leaving a story in suspense is one thing, but leaving it simply unfinished, or not telling the start, is a mark of bad storytelling.

The second point is that there is both formulaic dross and great films in most countries. Since Hollywood can get budgets and audiences for dross, it may produce more, but it produces many more films. Taking only the good films, most of them, IMHO, still come from the USA.

Sure, you can argue about the artsiness of foreign cinema, but then US cinema can be artsy and thought-provoking. It isn't all formulaic dross. US cinema is also, IMHO, far more watchable. You can think about the meanings and thoughts, but you can also sit back and enjoy the spectacle.

As yourself, if you could only watch films from one country, which country would you pick. I would pick the US without question. Sure, there are many Japanese Anime films I like, likewise with Britflicks, and even a few European and foreign language films I like. But the majority of what I watch, what I enjoy, is US films. I'd miss the others, but nowhere near as much as US films.

[Sandman]

USA. No contest.

[Drake Tungsten]

The US makes good films, some of them very good, and it makes LOTS of films. I think there is no contest.

Exactly.

[Spiffor]

France
Japan
Britain
US

We intellectual types should not be mistaken by the 90% crap spouted by the US film industry. There are many good directors in the US who are very talented. And with the sheer size of American film-industry, even the tiny proportion of good ones still makes quite some volume

[Dr Strangelove]

Ummm, when you say "cinematography" I usually think of the visual quality of a film. They give special awards just for that. If you mean who makes the best all around movies, then just say so, because they give awards for that too.

Speaking of great cinematography I am reminded of "Out of Africa", "Doctor Zhivago", and "Lawrence of Arabia".

[Sikander]

No one has mentioned Sweden yet, and they certainly deserve honorable mention for Bergman's works alone. I also like a lot of French films, particularly Jeunot's stuff like Amelie and City of Lost Children. Finally Kurosawa is fantastic visually as well. But I agree with the general trend here, that the U.S. is the one country whose films I would most miss if they stopped making them. There are numerous examples of excellence in American cinematography, so many that it detracts from too many to mention even one.

Oh, and Oncle Boris should define his terms a little better. Using Latin America instead of South America would have saved everyone some time, and deciding whether he really meant cinematography rather than film in general would have made this thread more comprehensible.

[Harry Tuttle]

Hey what about Texas? The sci-fi thriller and epic R.O.T.O.R. was filmed there.

Nothing like a badly dubbed, badly edited, badly conceived, movie about a rogue cop robot who is stopped by his adventurous hero/scientist creator and his bull lesbian super scientist compatriot. All it took was for the hero of the film to lasso some primer cord around the evil killer robot and blow him up.

http://www.jabootu.com/rotor.htm

Entirely filmed in Dallas, TX.... For $.02, and a hamburger.

[aaglo]

Hehe...
some people base their opinion (of USA being the top - with no contest) on the fact that they produce so many films. I prefer QUALITY over quantity

[Drogue]

Aaglo: When you have that many films, they may have more crap, they may have more crap per good film, but they also have more good films. The US produces many good films, more than any other country IMHO, even though it produces far more awful films than any other country. I prefer quality too, but with that much quantity, it's hard not to find something you like.

[Az]

Saying most of US movies are crap is rediculous. we all know that most movies GENERALLY are crap. The USA's good movie/crap movie is among the best out there, and the quantity just closes the deal.
You wouldn't believe the amount of crap movies of every nation I get to see. That's just the way things are: most movies suck.