The Most Visually Stunning Films of the Past Five Years
Tara Hussein
1- Laurence Anyways (2012)
Laurence Anyways is to be considered one of the most stunning achieved films. The film is an awesome intense, emotional and triggering piece of cinema. It demonstrates Queer’s topic in an interesting way through the nice harmony between the image and the sound, tackling a powerful und an affective love story, presenting a dynamic and a complicated relationship. Although the film is visually stunning, style does not overbear the substance. The strength of the visual is what enriches this film. An example of this is the sequence of the colored clothes raining from the sky. Such strong visual images are created to carry the audiences through and to be stuck in their minds.
2- Life of Pi (2012)
Life of Pi is regarded as a visually stunning 3D film and an extraordinary technological achievement, through the use of the visual effects and the use of the 3D. However the film does not rely only on the technology but also the character, soul and emotion, which are not less important than the visual pyrotechnics to enhance the story. Technology has been used in this film to bring the animated animals to life and to create an ocean environment. Natural elements such as the sunlight have also been taken advantage from as a visual effect. Furthermore the awesome use of the balance 3D allows the depth of the water to look like extended into the screen, as if the waves are wrapped around us audiences, splashing against the glasses. The use of such impressive visual effects is the best example of the digital animated elements and animals that work alongside a human actor.
3- The Great Beauty (2013)
4- Her (2013)
In Hoyte Van Hoytema’s Her the visual storytelling is a very important element, through the strong idea and narrative presented. One of the most interesting features also is the color scheme Van Hoytem brought to the film; by using the blue color he portrays the technology as a to be set in the future. Van Hoytema created a worm environment to bring out the most emotional aspects of the story through the complete dismissal of the color by using minimal lighting and LEDs in order to be added to certain scenes.
5- Gravity (2013)
Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity is one of the most stunning films, through the use of the visual effects and the use of the 3D. It won an Oscar, including the Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects. It also won four BFTA awards, including Best British Film. Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity throws audiences into space. Gravity is not a fantasy film and the sense of realism is being kept through planning all the scenes in great detail by animating all basic actions and camera moves in order to create a “pre-visualization (pre-vis)”. Furthermore, this film is considered as one of the most technologically outstanding movies ever made. Digital and live actions are combined to produce “eye-popping visuals”. Also the camera direction is as genius as the visual effects. The way that the camera is being used makes the audiences feel like floating in space and seeing through Bullock’s eyes. They also hear all that she hears and when she loses oxygen and her hearing, the audio blurs also in the film. The visual and audio effects hold the audience captive for the entire film.
6- The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
The Grand Budapest Hotel is visually stunning through the use of color and form to develop the relationship among the characters. Each shot is being framed like a photograph conceived perfectly. The use of design, lighting, space, composition, costume, makeup, acting, film stock and aspect helped achieving this. The bright intensity of the filmed landscape and the snowy mountains of a fictional European country are of stunning sights. An extraordinary attention has been paid to every single detail in the film to keep the required level of precision.
What makes the film visually stunning is the way the protagonist’s chasing of the crime world in Los Angeles for a TV station in the darkness is being captured. The film is visually impressive and greatly exciting which makes it impossible to look away. The breakdown of the car chase reveals some impressive digital skills that are applied to everything from changing the color of a traffic light to replacing the positions of the cars in such rush chase.
What makes Gone Girl visually beautiful is the light and darkness which work together to praise and contrast the story. Using this combination makes the watcher see more deeply the reasons behind Nick and Amy Dunne’s problematic marriage.
Choosing a big house with an open backyard gives the viewer a better sense of crime fiction and makes us more attached to the story of a missing wife. Additionally, what is more visually stunning is the quick ghost alike movements of the husband who is accused of murdering her.
9- Ex Machina (2015)
Alex Garland’s Ex Machina is a story of a computer programmer called Caleb who spends time with tech CEO, Nathan. At Nathan’s house, Caleb meets Ava an artificially intelligent humanoid. Ava is imagined in the film as a machine with a striking humanistic appearance and robotic parts which is being brought to life.
What is very visually impressive for me is Eva’s character who is a mixed of organic and inorganic parts that appears in her flesh and mesh design.
Furthermore, the setting of Ex Machina inside Nathan's house which is an insulated building in the mountains and made of glass walls gives the film its uniqueness.
10- La La Land (2016)
La La Land takes the watcher back to the dreamy time of Old Hollywood that will make him/her smile. The film is amazing with talented cinematography. The 1950s style of shooting, makes us feel an intense connection to the epoch of musicals. Moreover, it's truly a visually striking film in using the technicolor style.
The classical musical film of 2016, La La Land is a fairytale masterpiece made entirely about everyday life experiences, the ups and downs which everyone passes through, the joy and pain of chasing the dreams in a beautiful and full of colors musical scenes.
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