22 December 2011

Films of the Year 2011: Cinematography, Music, Male & Female Cameos/Small Roles

Until the Worst films, Best films and Female and Male Performances posts, here are four brief Tens for cinematography, music and best male and female cameos/small roles. As I was making my acting top tens recently, I noticed a a lot more smaller performances - slightly more substantial than your normal cameo appearance, but not necessarily solid enough supporting roles - that I enjoyed this year. (In some cases the actors' contributions made the film for me.) I wanted to, in some small way, acknowledge that I enjoyed the performances on the peripheries of some films. Also, I selected music and cinematography contributions of all the technical/crew achievements as there were many exemplary examples of these filmmaking attributes during the past year.

Best Cinematography (in alphabetical film title order):

Black Swan Matthew Libatique
Drive Newton Thomas Sigel
How I Ended This Summer Pavel Kostomarov


Julia’s Eyes Óscar Faura
Melancholia Manuel Alberto Claro
Midnight in Paris Darius Khondji
Snowtown Adam Arkapaw
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Hoyte Van Hoytema


The Tree of Life Emmanuel Lubezki
True Grit Roger Deakins

Best Music (in alphabetical film title order):

Another Earth Fall on Your Sword
Black Swan Clint Mansell


Brighton Rock Martin Phipps
Cold Weather Keegan DeWitt
Drive Cliff Martinez
Last Night Clint Mansell
Rubber Gaspard Augé/Sébastien Akchoté/Quentin Dupieux
The Skin I Live In Alberto Iglesias


Snowtown Jed Kurzel
Stone Jonny Greenwood/Jon Brion

Male Acting: cameo/small role (in no order):

left-right: David, Stoll, Lee

Christopher Lee The Resident
Colin Farrell Horrible Bosses
William H. Macy The Lincoln Lawyer
James Franco The Green Hornet
Adrien Brody Midnight in Paris
Andy Serkis Brighton Rock
Corey Stoll Midnight in Paris
Jon Hamm Bridesmaids
Keith David Meet Monica Velour
Hugo Weaving Captain America: The First Avenger

Female Acting: cameo/small role (in no order):

left-right: Mendes, Dern, McGillis

Minnie Driver Conviction
Christina Hendricks Drive
Jennifer Ehle Contagion
Lin Shaye Insidious
Kelly McGillis Stake Land
Eva Mendes Last Night
Frances Conroy Stone
Alison Pill Midnight in Paris
Laura Dern Everything Must Go
Charlotte Rampling Melancholia

Next: Worst films, Top Ten Male & Female Acting and Best Films of the Year.

1 comment:

  1. So glad to see Brody's under-appreciated performance on this list. Admittedly, it's very slight in terms of screen time, but he knocks it out of the park.
    Also happy to see some love for Alberto Iglesias. The music and production design of The Skin I Live in were brilliant and so definitive for the film.

    I'm not sure if you've gotten around to seeing these yet, but your cinematography list is missing both my favourites of the year: Gokhan Tiryaki (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) and Robbie Ryan (Wuthering Heights). It's a strong list on its own but nothing came close to those two for me.

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