A big part of the Christopher Nolan appeal is the visual quality of his movies, and that makes collaborating cinematographer Wally Pfister a major part of Nolan’s rise to the upper echelon of contemporary Hollywood directors. He deserves enormous credit for making the dark Gotham envisioned by Nolan a reality, a city that felt alive, and dark, and on the brink of chaos. The use of light in the entire Dark Knight Trilogy, particularly the increasing use of light as the series progresses until the final installment which almost all takes place in the light of day, is an inspired concept, and executed to perfection.
The other Christopher Nolan pictures he has shot are equally impressive, maybe even more so. Memento, their first project together, stitched two distinct-looking storylines that we eventually realize are on the same timeline. The Prestige doesn’t work nearly as well if the look of the film doesn’t feel every bit as magical as the narrative it’s trying to represent. And Inception relies on completely different looks so the audience is clear which depth of dream we’re meant to be looking at at any given point of the movie’s hectic climax. What I’m saying is that without a well-executed visual style, Chris Nolan ain’t quite Chris Nolan, and we have Wally Pfister to thank for that. Plus, his work on Moneyball reminded us all how beautiful baseball can be.
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