kwaidan and solaris are easily the most beautiful ive seen
pierrot le fou is definitely up there though
Yes, Solaris does have beautiful cinematography in general. I haven’t seen Kwaidan.
The Color of Pomegranates, The Last Emperor, Days of Heaven, Céline et Julie vont en bâteau
Justin: Try “Leave Her to Heaven.” Technicolor noir.
I would like to see Leave Her to Heaven.
The Colour of Pomegranates
Pierrot le Fou
The Double Life of Veronique
Mirror
Pakeezah
Kwaidan
Claire’s Knee
Tales of the Taira Clan
At the Height of Summer
Far from Heaven
Gabbeh
The River (Renoir)
Senso
Maborosi
Zhang Yimou is a strong colourist. Of Ozu, probably The End of Summer.
ah, i just added Bonjour Tristesse to my rental list before seeing this thread, Justin. Looks like i should promote it up the list
The cool thing about Bonjour Tristesse is the flashbacks are in color and the present time scenes in black and white. Preminger was a great visual stylist.
Contempt
Pierrot le Fou
Floating Weeds (1959)
Days of Heaven
Lola Montes
The Leopard
The Color of Pomegranates
Shadows of Our Forgotten
Blood and Black Lace (or anything by Bava, for that matter)
Suspiria (and, as well, anything by Argento, for that matter)
Moonfleet
Our Hitler
Sans Soleil
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant
In a Year with 13 Moons
I must see Written on the Wind again, i was too young to appreciate it before but i do remember some of the interesting colour schemes, blues and browns come to mind, and All that Heaven Allows is beautiful. Sirk has recently been rising in my opinion, especially since seeing the b+w Tarnished Angels. Wellman’s Track of the Cat is a neglected colour Western.
oh, and anything in color by Tarkovsky.
and Mulholland Drive, Synecdoche New York, Johnny Guitar, etc. etc.
The Fall
I talk about this film too much.
Not forgetting from Britain, Powell-Pressburger, and from Thailand, Blissfully Yours by Apichtapong Weerasethakul.
I’m the only one so far to mention Mizoguchi and Renoir. The Golden Coach is another goodie by Renoir.
Oh, and the brilliant colour section in Ivan the Terrible 2,
I hope people will take a look at the early pioneering colour photos by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky on the photography thread. Even with recent refreshment they’re still amazing.
Baraka
2001
Both visually stunning in 1080i HD
All great examples everybody.
Thunderball
Bird With the Crystal Plummage
Mon Oncle
Floating Weeds
Amarcord
Umbrellas of Cherbourg/ The Young Girls of Rochefort
Bad Day at Black Rock
The Red Shoes
Black Narcissus
Leave Her To Heaven
Red Desert
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
Made in USA
The Gang’s All Here
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Muriel
Floating Weeds
Written on the Wind
Senso
Johnny Guitar
David: Excellent choices!
The Gang’s All Here is a great choice.
I really want to see Floating Weeds. I like how Criterion has paired it with Ozu’s first version.
I’m assuming I missed it while reading this thread, because I don’t believe no one has said Barry Lyndon.
I adore Ozu in colour. Typically an overall blue-gray (or sometimes earth-toned) colour scheme will be accented with bright yellows, reds, and oranges, that seemingly should clash but instead delight, very reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints (and vaguely reminiscent of Lèger).
I love the way some goofily bright, irrelevant object — such as a red kettle, a plastic pail, or an array of table clutter, often popping up recurrently — will upstage the human characters.
I agree with Kenji that End of Summer might be the prettiest of the bunch.
Bad Education
A Double Tour
contempt
ali: fear eats the soul
empire of passion (just saw it, amazing film!)
talk to her
barry lyndon
juliet of the spirits
in the mood for the love
the river (j. renoir)
bottle rocket
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957); some of Joe MacDonald’s best cinematography.
The Girl Can’t Help It (1956); Tashlin got great DP’s
also: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001); possibly the best use of color in the last 20 years.
Three American Beauties (1906); love the look of hand tinting.
and, though it’s been mentioned: Floating Weeds (1959); Ozu tackled color like a champ.
Chinatown (1974), no explanation needed.
Solaris and Blue Velvet
Solaris and Blue Velvet
Darjeeling Limited and Pierrot Le Fou. I’m sorry, but I don’t see Blue Velvet as colorful at all.
I will add Scenes from a Marriage – something about the 16mm color that is b.e.a utiful
Chungking Express – even more breathtaking on blu-ray.
already mentioned – Pierrot le Fou, The Double Life of Veronique, Contempt
I have yet to watch, Floating Weeds (damn it missing on Netflix) and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (next in q)
Apocalypse now
The conformist
Red Desert
The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and Her Lover
Mishima
Seven
Blade Runner
Chungking Express
Stalker, The Sacrifice, Nostalghia
Street of Crocodiles (the brothers Quay)
The early animated Superman series (1940’s?)
Amelie
The City of Lost Children
The Last Emperor
Zentropa (manipulation of color, I don’t remember if it’s that great)
With Ozu, as Petrocephalon says, it’s worth looking for little subtle repetitions of colours and placements. But no love here for Mizo’s 2 in colour?
Barry Lyndon
Contempt
Pierrot le Fou
Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate
2001
Clockwork Orange
Justin Vicari
Youth of the Beast
Written on the Wind
Pierrot le Fou
Contempt
Ride the High Country
Exodus
Bonjour Tristesse
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
Lola
Du cote de la Cote
Johnny Guitar
Blue Velvet
Lola Montes
I’m thinking mainly of blue skies, blue oceans, furnishings and room decors, details (pops of color), and special lighting.
I haven’t seen any of Ozu’s color films but they probably belong on this list.