The 2010 RyMickey Awards - Best Cinematography

Once again (and this is somewhat of a broken record for me when it comes to these awards), 2010 just couldn't compare to 2009 for me in the Cinematography category.  There was some beautiful work in 2009 -- Bright Star and Antichrist were simply stunning -- and nothing this year really blew me away.  Still, there was some good work from 2010 and those stand-outs are listed below.

Best Cinematography 2010

Runners-up

#8 -- Robert Richardson - Shutter Island

#7 -- Wally Pfister - Inception

#6 -- Roger Deakins -- True Grit

And the Top Five Are...

#5 -- Danny Cohen - The King's Speech

Even in a simple three-shot, there's always something interesting to look at onscreen.  Credit in part must go to director Tom Hooper, but I remember thinking that nearly every shot of The King's Speech looked really cool thanks to lighting, set design, and the placement of the actors on the screen.

#4 -- Pawel Edelman - The Ghost Writer

Perhaps the richest looking of all the selections, The Ghost Writer contains some beautiful shots like the one above.  The last shot of the film (which may or may not pop up in the Best Scenes of the year category) is another stunning set piece.

#3 -- Matthew Libatique - Black Swan

As time has passed, my feelings for this film have lessened even more than the lukewarm response I initially gave it.  That said, the film looked great.  Personally, I loved the grainy look that was achieved and I found the lighting in nearly every scene (those that featured the characters onstage and off) was particularly spot-on.

#2 -- Benoît Debie - Enter the Void

Apparently, slot #2 of the Cinematography Award goes to the weirdest film I see in a given year.  Last year, this spot went to Antichrist, and this year, the strange Enter the Void takes the runner-up spot.  Dark, edgy, and grittily urban, this movie falters in its script, but succeeds in everything it attempts visually.

#1 -- Martin Ruhe - The American

Like #2 above, The American is not going to be everyone's cup of tea.  It's slow-moving and oddly paced, but Martin Ruhe manages to take the most simplistic of shots and make them look great, helping to keep the eye visually stimulated while the story takes its time to unfold.