In the early 1990s, academic B.Ruby Rich coined the term “New Queer Cinema” in “Sight and Sound” magazine to describe the movement of queer independent filmmaking. The term “queer” was used to include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender identities and experiences, along with fluid sexuality and non-traditional understandings of sexuality.

The term has evolved with new trends entering the spectrum of stories told in this genre. If the ‘90s presented fictional or real lives of queer people as outsiders in conventional society, typically dealing head-on with political movements and the AIDS crisis, the 2010s are driving this genre towards universal interest in its viewership.

Thanks to key films such as “Brokeback Mountain,” (2005) “Milk” (2008) and “The Kids Are Alright (2010), the path to presenting complex LGBT characters and experiences is clearer than ever. We’re witnessing the worldwide fall-of-the-curtain when it comes to increasing visibility. The exciting number of stunning inclusive films mark a major cultural shift in what the audience regards as “ordinary” and draws us closer to acceptance through art.

This list intends to underline the variety of characters, genres and representations available to us now in the shape of great filmmaking. The 2010s have been a storytelling paradise, and it is a big deal that these films are a part of it. Women directors, minorities, films of different nationalities and the cessation of the white-straight-male dominance in the industry are also an important part of cinema’s own evolution.

LGBT+ main characters in relevant films are still scarce, so we’ve gathered the ones with singular stories and filmmaking techniques supporting a solid LGBT+ main character and/or their relationships, in the past 5 to 6 years. This means that wonderful features such as Pride (2014) couldn’t be included for its focus on an LGBT group of people.

10. Appropriate Behavior (2014)

With a successful Sundance premiere and critical acclaim comes an interesting take on modern love while being from an immigrant family in the US. This American comedy film written and directed by Desiree Akhavan stars Akhavan as main character Shirin, a bisexual Persian-American woman living in Brooklyn.

In the film’s timeline, Shirin is overcoming the end of her relationship with her girlfriend Maxine (Rebecca Henderson). The breakup leaves her homeless and jobless, and she has to get her life together while getting over Maxine. Eventually, she moves in with strange roommates and finds a job teaching 5-year-olds how to make movies.

One of the film’s most relevant side stories is related to Shirin’s conservative family – specifically her parents. They don’t know she’s bisexual, thinking Maxine was just her roommate, and they don’t understand why their daughter is suddenly moving out.

Considering the rising cliché of 20-somethings roaming around Brooklyn and their difficulties, Akhavan took her approach further with the inclusion of an LGBT storyline that perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to hide her identity from her family.

Doing so, she still managed to make a heartfelt comedy and getting her point across, with something important to say in every scene. It’s unique in a way that no one else could’ve accomplished its final result and begs the question to why there aren’t more bisexual stories being told as successfully as this one.

9. Cloudburst (2011)

When it comes to a full representation of elderly queer love, “Cloudburst” is one of the best films in the 21st century. It carries inexplicable charm, through laugh-out-loud comedy and heart-warming spirit. Director and writer Thom Fitzgerald gathered two Oscar-winning actresses – Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker – to portray two septuagenarian lesbians.

The characters, Stella (Dukakis) and Dot (Fricker) have been together for 31 years, sharing a home in Maine, USA. Their connection is deep and everlasting, but not everyone can see it.

Dot’s conservative granddaughter refuses to accept that they are a couple and visits them with a court order that allows her to take Dot to a nursing home. Stella rescues her and the two leave on an open-road adventure to Canada, after deciding they should finally get married. On their way, they pick up Prentice; a hitchhiker who’s also a young and handsome wannabe dancer, and he too becomes a part of their journey.

“Cloudburst” is a very needed and highly recommended film in the LGBT community, if only for its focus on life-long relationships and the true meaning of family. The actresses do such an amazing job that one would think they were indeed married, sharing the chemistry and affection of a real couple with tremendous ease.

8. Tomboy (2011)

The only title on this list which features a child as the main character is a French drama by Céline Sciamma. Sciamma wrote and directed the story of the Summer of a 10-year-old transgender (whose parents named Laure) who, upon moving to a new Parisian neighborhood and making new friends, introduces himself as Mikäel.

Zoé Héran plays a shy “tomboy” who’s finding the move troubling. At the beginning of the film, he meets a neighbor his age, Lisa, and we’re led to believe he’s a cisgendered boy. It’s not until he’s taking a bath with his little sister at their new place that the viewer gets the confirmation that he has a vagina, and his mother treats them both as “girls.”

When Mikäel steps outside, he’s himself. He plays soccer and makes it seem as if he has a penis just to hide his genitalia. Eventually, Lisa gets closer to Mikäel and develops a crush on him. Just when the boys accept him as one of their own, and his sister learns and accepts that he’s been presenting himself as a boy, his mom finds out and problems arrive.

What follows is what could be a great study on what a more conservative mother’s mentality is regarding this issue: she doesn’t mind that Mikäel (still Laure for her) is a tomboy, but she still wants him to act in culturally-defined feminine ways – which includes making him wear a dress.

Sciamma explores the barriers between gender at such a young age and the creation of an identity unlike anyone else. Her talent in working with young actors is noticeable, and the story vibrates as something that should be more often and better represented in film, but isn’t.

7. Love is Strange (2014)

Openly gay filmmaker Ira Sachs directed and co-wrote this quiet French-American drama about an elderly same-sex couple of men from Manhattan, who get married after 39 years together. George (Alfred Molina) is a music teacher in a Catholic school and is fired when the archdiocese finds out about his marriage.

Without a stable income, he and his husband Ben (John Lythgow) can no longer afford their apartment, and are forced to ask their friends and family to stay with them. When none can take both at the same time, they have to separate. Their issues grow bigger and the film gets darker with the rising struggles of missing each other, and having to live apart after so many years together – not to mention the fact that neither places where they’re currently staying at have enough comfortable room for them.

Ben and George must find ways to be together and, most of all, realize how to be a part of a routine that doesn’t involve the other. As it’s been stated, the film “serves as a graceful tribute to the beauty of commitment in the face of adversity.” Its incredible subtlety is present the whole time, all the way until its sucker-punching ending.

Everything about it is believable and understated, yet superior in emotion. Cinematographer Christos Voudouris marks Sachs’s move from celluloid to digital in spectacular fashion, making it all the while sweeter.

6. The Way He Looks (2014)

Several LGBT-themed short and long features have been made in Brazil lately, but “The Way He Looks” stole the show in 2014 with its gay teen coming-of-age story. If that seems too ordinary, then its main character being blind certainly changes the tide. Daniel Ribeiro’s directorial debut appears after a short-film with the same cast.

In the feature film, Ribeiro kept the story but gave its narrative a different take. It starts with a Summer afternoon, with main guy Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo) and his friend Giovanna (Tess Amorim) talking about how they’ve never kissed anyone. When school starts, a new student arrives and starts getting along with the two friends. Curly haired Gabriel (Fábio Audi) quickly gains the attention of fellow girl classmates but stays close to Leonardo.

What follows is both a story of first love and a profound understanding of the struggles of a disability at such a young age. With outstanding cinematography and performances, Ribeiro brings fresh air to the saturated teenage stories and creates a unique piece, strong enough to reach the minds of any cinephile regardless of sexual orientation.

There’s a reason that only 14 of the approximately 350 people in the legendary American Society of Cinematographers are women, but it’s not a very good one. If the business has enough trouble in giving opportunities to women directors, then the trouble gets bigger when it comes to a job that involves a certain physical aspect.

Among all mind-boggling statistics regarding women, which any film buff has come across at least once and immediately forgot about it because it seems surreal, there’s one thought that anyone can grasp: no woman has ever been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and over 600 men have.

According to statements made by women DPs, the field itself becomes less attractive when you know there’s almost no chance at all you’ll be given opportunities to thrive in it. As long as Hollywood’s white-old-male problem persists at the top of the chain, the industry will remain more sexist than not.

Like many female directors have gone to do, DPs have also found refuge in TV and documentaries. Some of them have been lucky enough to shoot high-quality feature films with well-known filmmakers, and some are now beginning to reveal their talent in recent indie big hits. Whether they can push three trolleys piled with heavy kits or not, these DPs have their own unique way of looking at things and that is one quality anyone can appreciate regardless of gender.

This list includes 10 of the best examples in recent memory, with an emphasis on how good of a film it is and how each cinematographer’s influence made it great.

Note: these films are not ranked in any particular order.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
D.P: Ellen Kuras

Michel Gondry and Charles Kaufman are given the most credit for this film for good reason. Anyone can acknowledge the great minds of both director and writer, appreciating the great script and how it came alive through their collaboration.

Alas, the film’s director of photography, Ellen Kuras, ASC, was a fundamental addition. Working closely with the director, it was her job to create a look that could mix both location shots and the flashy distorted memories in the story. This resulted in several issues, namely the fact that Gondry wished for the film to be shot entirely in available light.

According to the DP, Gondry’s vision would make the memories blend more easily with reality. Two handheld cameras were used to film near-360-degree coverage for most of the shots, and there were no marks and very little rehearsing, making it an almost complete surprise to know where the actors would be. This meant that instead of focusing on the actors, Kuras had to focus on the spaces around them, alternating the key light between characters and rooms.

These unusual methods are explained by the filmmakers’ appreciation for the French New Wave. Gondry was interested in invoking Godard, having Kuras and her team handholding the camera while being in a wheelchair. Although it wasn’t totally smooth, especially on cobblestone streets, its low angle and shaky movement fit what they had in mind for the look. Besides the wheelchairs, they used chariot and sled dollies, setting aside all traditional dollies.

Kuras used the Fuji Reala 500D to shoot, mostly for how smooth the saturated colors and grain were, and for its cyan bias in the shadow areas.

This was yet another unusual choice, as cyan in the blacks is not really “approved” by filmmakers, but Kuras actually built additional cyan into the shadows in the post-production stage, having liked the color palette formed by the mixing of cooler colors with warm yellows. With Zeiss Superspeed lenses, she eschewed correction filters and, on relevant occasions, they let the frame go dark.

If Gondry wanted it to feel like a European film, it was Kuras’ flawless eye for darker shots – where you can only glimpse one thing in the frame – that made it possible. Kuras handled the job perfectly, capturing different moods from different times, to dreams and erased memories, making it all in tune with the story and its characters.

Additional Work: Kuras shot Gondry’s 2008 film “Be Kind, Rewind” and found work with other great directors such as Martin Scorsese for the documentaries “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan” in 2005 and “Public Speaking” in 2010.

2. Fruitvale Station (2013)
D.P: Rachel Morrison

Director Ryan Coogler has recently worked with another D.P featured on this list (Maryse Alberti, “Creed”), but his directorial debut deserves to be mentioned here as a primarily stunning film. Winning big at Cannes and Sundance is recognition enough, but anyone could argue that its cinematography was a big part of turning it into such an emotional and captivating motion picture.

As the subject matter regarded the true story of Oscar Grant, a man shot by police in a Bay Area rapid transit station, D.P Rachel Morrison and Coogler had to make a lot of right decisions to best capture the tone and feel required. Early on, they settled for the gritty feel of the Super 16’s grain. The other option would be 35mm, except it’s not so grainy anymore, and the Super 16 was smaller and easier to move around.

Knowing they wanted it to be mostly handheld, that was a point in their favor – giving them the opportunity to try out different approaches with a single camera and moving through space while being closer to the actors. They received a donation from Arri: an Arri 416 camera body and Zeiss Ultra 16 lenses, adding the much-needed bonus of the lenses being sharper at the wide-open end. Facing low light situations all throughout the film, maintaining sharpness was a big deal.

Coogler wanted to separate the digital footage from news broadcasts and bring Oscar Grant back to life with the “organic qualities of celluloid,” in order to have a more intimate feel and draw audiences in. 16mm film grain is usually associated with old documentary footage, and that certainly did the trick.

Regarding the lighting, Morrison often matched cinema lights to the existing color temperatures in the space, shaping and heightening contrast. In smaller spaces, there was a special need to augment existing lights by rigging them above cabinets and behind doors, pushing for extra light to come through available windows. This emotional and realistic approach helped make the look integral to the story.

Additional Work: Morrison’s latest effort in the 2015 film “Dope” was also remarkable, with the bonus of it being a great homage to ‘90s culture.

3. Frozen River (2008)
D.P: Reed Morano

Reed Morano has had a lot of good filmmaking options availabe to her, and is the youngest member to ever be admitted to the American Society of Cinematographers.

Among her body of work, among which she has directed and shot her own feature film “Meadowland” (2015), this is perhaps the most well-known. Courtney Hunt’s low-budget thriller is one the best feature debuts in recent memory. Set around the Mohawk reservation located partly in upstate New York and southern Quebec, marked by the St. Lawrence river.

There’s a certain level of intimacy required to fully comprehend the impact of this film, and it’s important to pay attention to apparently small but fundamental details. While Morano has since then developed a different, more saturated look, in this film she captured what was needed for the story – lingering just about long enough on every right thing.

The praise for this film was highly influenced by how personal it felt, and that had everything to do to how Morano shot it. Morano’s visual signature includes handheld, naturalistic lighting, extreme wides and tight close-ups.

Additional Work: Morano has directed and shot her first feature film in 2015, called “Meadowland.” She’s also known for her incredible contribution as DP for TV shows like HBO’s “Looking” and “Vinyl.”

4. Holy Motors (2012)
D.P: Caroline Champetier

As one of the best European cinematographers, Champetier has an incredible resume. She has worked alongside Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Lazmann, Benoît Jacquot and Xavier Beauvois, among many other successful directors. With Beauvois, she earned the César for Best Cinematography, and her work has been very frequently selected for competition in Cannes. Léos Carax’s first feature-length film in over a decade allowed her to be selected once again.

If watching “Holy Motors” is a unique enough experience, then understanding how it was made is an even more rewarding one. For once, most of the film was shot at night-time. After a few tests with a different camera in the inside of an actual limo, director and DP reached the conclusion that it would be impossible to achieve what they wanted that way.

The inside of the limousine was ordered and built to make it more spacious and allow room for the shambles that it was supposed to be in. The light inside the limo came from sources that belonged to the set and little LEDs that were brought in on purpose.

Despite being considered a fan of technological challenges, “Holy Motors” marks the first feature that Carax shot digitally. They decided to use the Red Epic 4K HD camera with Panavision Alga equipment, for its excellent restitution of dark colors and skin tone. Champetier used old Zeiss T2.1 lenses, which she often used in her work with Godard.

While Carax did not embrace the digital shooting willingly, it worked wonderfully with the film’s statement: It is both a love letter and a goodbye to traditional cinema. Carax’s films often feature incredible cinematography, yet nothing is quite as lush as what he’s achieved with the help of Champetier.

Additional Work: Champetier’s genius is also evident in Xavier Beauvois’s 2010 film “Of Gods and Men.”

5. Tracks (2013)
D.P: Mandy Walker

The story of a woman who sets off on a 1,700-mile journey across Australia was evidence enough that the photography would be an essential character in the film. The director, John Curran, preferred to shoot 35mm anamorphic, mostly for the harsh conditions in the desert and because he wanted to capture the “dynamic range and color rendition.”

Australian cinematographer Mandy Walker, who previously worked in Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia,” had the necessary experience and qualities to make this film stand out through the visuals. Largely relying on natural light was a given when shooting on location in Southern Australia, and the camera moves often varied from frantic to smooth.

In specific shots, Walker opted for close focus and a low depth of field lens in order to pay more attention to the main character (played by Mia Wasikowska) and make the audience notice her emotional state instead of the incredible landscape behind her.

Walker has mentioned she photographed “Tracks” having in mind the ‘70s setting, and was inspired by important films of that decade as well as the paintings of fellow Aussie Sidney Nolan. Working through dust storms might seem impossible, and the budget wasn’t considered big. The equipment was smattering, and the director wanted the film to look exceptionally neat, not grainy at all or documentary-like.

It was a huge challenge to manage to make a beautiful movie without any generator or lighting setup, shooting it on film and anamorphic, but Walker succeeded. On some night scenes in the desert there was hardly any light available, so she had to figure out how to make it look real while being able to tell what was going on and keep telling the story with the images. This included a real fire to light the background.

Curran wanted the landscape to become a character, and this was well achieved, with every shot of the Outback perfectly composed by one of Australia’s leading cinematographers.

Additional Work: Besides the already mentioned “Australia,” Walker more recently shot “Jane Got a Gun” (2016) directed by Gavin O’Connor and produced by Natalie Portman.

When words fail, visuals speak. That is the case of some of the films listed here, but not all. For some, the fact that its cinematography and overall scenery stand out doesn’t mean that they’re incomplete. It only shows how not too often in the film industry we get to see powerful visual storytelling.

Arguably, the cases here presented show that their final result simply wouldn’t be nearly as good if they didn’t have the amazing visuals that they do. A few names listed are established household names in filmmaking, and more specifically in cinematography. In those cases, one can only expect that their work often surpasses the quality of the rest of the film.

However, in general, the idea is to appreciate the infinite details they added, the intrinsic value they created, the techniques and miracle solutions they came up with in the making of these films.

The verifiable truth that this list includes four titles from 2015 supports the cause of how much cinema has been gravitating towards a stronger tendency to make films look better than ever. If only they had more potent narratives, in most cases, these films would immensely grow in quality. For now, let us appreciate what the visuals alone have achieved from 2010 to 2015.

Note: This list is in no particular order because there is no search for the best example out of all. Each film has different reasons for being listed here and they are all fine examples.

1. Sicario (dir. Denis Villeneuve, 2015)

D.P.: Roger Deakins

“Sicario” is cinematographer Roger Deakins’ second collaboration with director Denis Villeneuve after “Prisoners.” With an astounding 13 nominations for “Best Cinematography” at the Academy Awards, Deakins still hasn’t won.

For his most recent nomination, Deakins framed every shot with incredible precision, using the ARRI Alexa digital camera almost as an extra character. The audience becomes intimate with the action thanks to it, and the cinematographer’s work adds layers of throbbing intensity that otherwise wouldn’t be achieved.

The artistry displayed here includes creating silhouettes in the desert, embracing shadows and using as much possible natural light simply to raise tension. The Infrared shots managed to bring the audience even closer, seeing the action with the character’s eyes and experiencing the entire nightmare directly.

Something about the rest of the film explains why it’s been said to “lack a higher purpose” and “too cramped in the argument,” which is how the cinematography really stands out as its most imminent quality. Deakins is a household name for film fans everywhere, and it’s understandable that a film he works on might, most of all, underline his talent.

2. War Horse (dir. Steven Spielberg, 2011)

D.P.: Janusz Kaminski

Directed by Steven Spielberg, “War Horse” is based on the Award-winning play (based on Michael Morpurgo’s book) about the friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man who tames and trains him called Albert (Jeremy Irvine) during WWI. Polish-born and Oscar-winning Kaminski has an impressive career, having shot all of Spielberg’s films since 1993. He prefers film to digital for the sole belief that it produces a better image, yet doesn’t dismiss that shooting in digital gives him more “ownership of the image.”

While a few moments are unequivocally a combination of director and cinematographer, this film is a rare variation of anything else they’ve made so far. Purposefully old-fashioned in style and shot mostly on exteriors, the feature allows the audience to fully appreciate the environment around the characters, using natural techniques.

With five minutes to shoot the sunset, Kaminski risked it, the same way he risked in locations all over England using a complete lighting kit and a camera package from ARRI Lighting Rental and ARRI Media. The dare went on to almost completely exclude CGI and shoot widescreen to play up the landscape of Devon, aiming to turn other similar shots as part of the story.

Of course, the most important part of the film, and the reason why its visuals stand out is its central character: the war horse. The horses had to be constantly lit, and the filmmakers had to place the light in correct positions to make their skin reflect the light to make glints in the horses’ eyes noticeable. Making the horses stand out from the rest of the environment was a goal, and they had to have this unique look.

One of the few opinions of this film’s cinematography remain that the first scenes have strange lighting, and this is because Kaminski wanted those scenes were meant to suggest innocence, so the lighting was more idealized, with deep blue skies and white clouds, and the actors were front-lit so to appear glorious against the landscape. This film, albeit a nice film, is live photography at its best, with the luck of having John Williams to orchestrate it.

3. Ida (dir. Pawel Pawlikowski, 2013)

D.P.: Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal

Unlike other films on this list, “Ida” stands out because its cinematography is its major storytelling medium. At first, veteran DP Ryszard Lenczewski took about 3,000 stills in the countryside to find a way to better express loneliness and nostalgia, therefore setting the tone for the film. However, Lenczewski became ill and was replaced by camera operator Lukasz Zal after 10 days of shooting, and Zal was promoted to DP.

There wasn’t enough time for rehearsals or changes, so they stuck the director’s intent to make a “photographic” film in which the camera hardly ever moves. For this to be achieved, 90% of the film was shot on a locked-off tripod in order to capture exquisite static frames.

The cinematography is part of the film’s statement, revealing something about the lead character with each new shot. Shooting in black and white in the very demanding 4:3 format allowed the filmmakers to capture the state of mind and the drama without spoken words.

It was fundamentally relevant to the director, Pawel Pawlikowski, to get rid of ornaments and make it as simple as austere, with soft lights and avoiding sunlight altogether.The elimination of color and camera movement helped keep the essence of the scene and added tension, making an expressive use of silence.

While the initial images show the main character in the lower half of the frame, conceding to empty space in the upper part to suggest that Ida’s powerless and isolated, towards the end the camera starts to move alongside her as she comes to grips with her identity.

Whoever watches this keeps expecting there’s one shot that isn’t perfect, but that never happens. The characters are small compared to the history, and this is strengthened visually.

4. Meadowland (dir. Reed Morano, 2015)

D.P.: Reed Morano

The fact that Reed Morano was also the director of this film, the entire feature can never be divided by her work as a cinematographer. Morano is one of the 14 females only to be a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (the number of males is over 300).

For her directorial debut with a female-led film, she tells the story of a couple (portrayed by Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson) who loses their son. Being mostly an aftermath, it’s a quiet and thoughtful piece and later dark and disturbing, which gave the visuals a lot of responsibility.

While the director and D.P. herself has said that the film is “not focused on the visuals,” the cinematography worked so well with the story because the camera was actually a tool to tell stories. It was a fairly spontaneous job, allowing her to not overthink the cinematography and strictly stick to enhancing the story with it.

This led to the use of handheld, because there wasn’t a dolly or a Steadicam to use, and this approach led to the audience being as close to the characters as possible, as a documentarian would. Morano is in every scene, physically, participating in some way or another.

Originally, she hoped to shoot on film, but with very few days to complete the film, it wasn’t a viable option. She used the Alexa Plus to shoot wide open, not just for having a very small lighting package but for some powerful aesthetic reasons, too. These visuals stand out because they make the story and the lead us through it – the camera is the narrator.

5. The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (dir. Ben Stiller, 2013)

D.P.: Stuart Dryburgh

Ben Stiller directed and played the main character of this latest take on James Thurber’s 1939 short story, although Stiller has said that this is more of a remake of the 1947 version than the original story itself. This is further reinforced by its striking cinematography, which made it its own modern narrative come to life.

Natural lighting was a definite element, as much of the film is based outdoors – yet in many indoor scenes the lighting is largely between high and low key. Stiller and Dryburgh shot “Walter Mitty” entirely on celluloid, unlike most big-budget recent Hollywood productions.

Dryburgh worked closely with the art department, from the 60s workspace design to the cool color palette employed, generating a range of gray hues. All of Walter’s actual adventures contained more color saturation and bigger contrast, shooting on location in Iceland – a country appreciated by the DP for its natural rich greens, dark browns, and clear blue skies. The rest of Walter’s destinations were also shot there.

He chose Kodak film and shot the picture on Arricam SP and LT cameras, using Hawk V-Lite lenses to make the powerful but very minimalistic landscape shots. This helped create a stronger effect, along with the score. There’s no doubt that the film is interesting, its characters likable and the adaptation well-done, but the cinematography makes it far more enjoyable and inspiring.

At first, in the initial phase of the Academy Awards, the Oscar for “Best Cinematography” was attributed only to cinematographers, followed by the titles of the work for each nominee in the qualifying period of time. This was immediately regarded as an error, and the category was corrected.

In the second year, there wasn’t a single nomination in the category. And in its third year, films were nominated, instead of cinematographers, and the final award didn’t include the cinematographer’s name.

At last, in the fourth year, the modern system was implanted to what it still is today, as the cinematographer is nominated for one film. Following these changes, came the years of color.

In 1936, for its 9th Edition, the pictures and consequent awards were divided by “Black-and-white” and “Color” (although until 1939 the colored pictures were considered “Special Achievement”). 1966 marked the end of that distinction, turning them into one category that included both.

In 2016, nearing the 88th Academy Awards, the nominees are well-known faces in the cinematography world. Among them, Emmanuel Lubezki – the currently favored and winner of the last two “Best Achievement in Cinematography” awards – and Roger Deakins for his 13th nomination, still without a win.

The rest of the category is already a sign that cinematography just gets better and better in film, from Edward Lachman’s entry for “Carol”, three-time Oscar-winner Robert Richardson for “The Hateful Eight” and veteran John Seale for his flashing work in “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

With the array of possibilities and techniques now available to this specific area of filmmaking, by getting inspiration from older, more traditional solutions and merging ideas with some of the greatest directors of our time, the amount of cinematographers that deserve recognition are plentiful.

This list aims to shine a light on some individuals and work they’ve done that was dismissed by Academy voters in past selections for this category.

Often, it was just too hard to choose the best one, and there have been times where the most obvious choice didn’t get the win, but there were also times – a lot of times – where the ones that really deserved the award in a particular year just didn’t get it. From the past 15 years, starting in 2000 and ending in 2015, here are the top 10 films that were somehow wronged.

Note: For a better understanding of each cinematographer’s work, the chosen films are followed by a video regarding that matter, varying from conversations, panels and interviews, to certain scenes in the film that truly stood out.

1. The Man Who Wasn’t There – Roger Deakins (74th Academy Awards, 2002)

Shot in color and later transferred to black and white adds to the traditional 1949 setting of the story. Deakins then printed on Kodak 5269, a black and white stock designed particularly for film titles. The shots are made mostly at eye level and a long depth of field, lighting is high contrast but low key, adopting the noir style as a film possibly can. Smoke is an important matter, as well.

The main character, played by Billy Bob Thornton, is seen smoking an unfiltered Chesterfield cigarette in almost every scene, making both the rising smoke and the shadows come together to make it look even more classic.

This vastly underrated film won Deakins his second ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) Award, but it wasn’t enough to win the Oscar, losing to “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”.

2. Far From Heaven – Edward Lachman (75th Academy Awards, 2003)

In the light of the recent “Best Achievement in Cinematography” nomination for director Todd Hayne’s film “Carol” (2015) this year, this other film of his failed to get the recognition it deserved in the 2003 ceremony.

The same cinematographer was responsible for both films’ dazzling imagery, but “Far From Heaven” went further. Watching it, one wouldn’t think it was a 2002 film – and that’s just how great of a tribute it was to 1950s pictures, specifically Douglas Sirk melodramas. Lachman gave meaning to each use of color, adapted to each subject of controversy in the film.

This alone deserves its own . Creating a saturated “Technicolor” look without digital methods meant that Lachman had to expose the film stocks above the recommended exposure in order to create a dense negative.

Like Sirk’s films, this one portrays the social, racial and sexual issues of post-war America in the most sincere tone, making the spectator fully absorb the cruel reality of such time. Mark Friedberg’s production design is of utter importance to complement Lachman’s cinematography, and they’re both elevated by Mr. Bernstein’s intense music.

The film lost to Conrad Hall’s cinematography in “Road to Perdition,” a posthumous award. While Hall deserved the awards he got for his work in “American Beauty” (1999) and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), his last one was seen as more of an homage to his career and his 7 nominations that didn’t get a win. Hall also remains the oldest winner in the category to this day.

3. House of Flying Daggers – Zhao Xiaoding (77th Academy Awards, 2005)

Chinese director Yimou Zhang’s entrance at the 2005 Oscars received only one nomination, and it didn’t win. The Academy granted it a seat among the “Best Cinematography” nominees, and deservingly so. Best described as an exotic visual experience that combines overwhelming action scenes and intense romance, its extraordinary cinematography is full of exquisite imagery and superb special effects.

Despite being regarded by critics as yet another member of the “martial arts” category, this brings another level of spirituality and poetic human emotions to the table. There’s an unspoken lyricism in the unusual camera movements, framing, and editing, as well as its vivid contrasts. Being representative of ancient times (Tang dynasty), the attention to detail is of major importance to make for the perfect replica of that time.

One could say the director builds the minimal story around its visuals, strengthening dramatic effect and using color and peculiar composition to bring out the desired feel.

The cinematography is, all in all, incomparable. Yet it lost to a more obvious choice, “The Aviator” (2004), which was criticized for its “could be better” CG. Being a Martin Scorsese film, other things were of bigger value, but the Academy allowed it to sweep 5 of the 11 categories it was nominated for.

4. Good Night, and Good Luck. – Robert Elswit (78th Academy Awards, 2006)

Elswit, a common collaborator of the director of this film (George Clooney), is a big fan of analog and usually refuses to work with digital cameras. “Good Night,” a historical drama portraying the conflict between radio and TV journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator of Wisconsin Joseph McCarthy, mostly regarding the Senator’s anti-Communist actions.

Similar to other projects with the same approach represented on this list, it was filmed on color film stock on a greyscale set, later being corrected and transferred to black and white in post-production. Overall, this was a hard film to get made. Clooney had to mortgage his own house just to get it done, and so a lot of the production process was also restricted.

Most scenes, such as the ones representing CBS offices and studios, were all sets on a soundstage. When it came to the choice of color and direction for the cinematography, it was decided when Clooney and producer Grant Heslov settled for archival footage to depict the Senator.

It being in black and white, the color scheme was meant to blend with it. The harmony created in the shades between bright lights and shadows, the peculiar close-ups and reverse zooms, make it a fantastic-looking reel.

Elswit eventually won an Oscar two years later for the film “There Will Be Blood,” which has been called a solution for voting members that weren’t able to decide between the two films in the category that were cinematographed by Roger Deakins.

However, in the 2006 ceremony, Elswit lost to Dion Beebe for “Memoirs of a Geisha.” Perhaps it would’ve been better to give this one to him instead.

5. The Dark Knight – Wally Pfister (81st Academy Awards, 2009)

Pfister and director Christopher Nolan – usual collaborators – did something particularly special in this film, which was the use of IMAX 70mm cameras to film four major sequences having in mind its release in IMAX theaters, making it the first time they had been used to partially shoot a feature film.

This brought tremendous issues to production, having in mind that the cameras were larger and far heavier than standard ones, made a lot of noise while recording, had short film loads (from 30 secs to 2 minutes only) and its film stocks cost way more than standard 35mm ones.

The cinematographer got inspired by Chicago and London’s urban textures, and searched for a realistic tone, keeping the lighting natural. As Pfister said regarding going digital, “Film just gives you so much more latitude than digital cameras have.

IMAX, on the other hand, has a physical impact that is really unparalleled. Chris and I have always felt – and been able to prove! – that IMAX is an immersive format which is endless, and has much more impact than three dimensions or stereoscopic.”

What is still considered one of the best films of the 2000s, as well as one of the best superheroes film ever, was nominated for 8 Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards.

It won two, for Achievement in Sound Editing and for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – posthumously attributed to Heath Ledger. However, that was the year of “Slumdog Millionaire,” which took home Best Picture, Best Director and 6 other awards including “Best Cinematography.”

What defines a movie as classic is a familiar discussion to be had by cinema fans. There isn’t an authoritative definition for it, although many institutions have shared their own insight on the matter, making it a fairly personal opinion in today’s postmodern age. However, some points have been made that were coincidental in opinions.

For once, a film must tear our expectations as viewers, adopting an entirely different approach, or including memorable performances that push boundaries and pull off unexpected but great results. Also mentioned is the fact that the film must be so captivating that it demands to be watched again. It does not, however, have to be a box-office hit. In fact, many of the currently named classic films were unpopular at the time of their release.

Sometimes, a film is ahead of its time, which means it will probably become more impressive and treasured as time passes. In addition to these elements, a film must also be quotable – as incredible performances are usually associated with specific scenes and masterful line delivery.

Although it might be too soon to tell, several films from this demi-decade have already given us the sense of potential that is required in the making of a classic. Here, in chronological order, are 10 of them.

1. The Social Network (2010)

Known to most as “The Facebook Movie,” it is the perfect example of what we’re going to remember years from now when the next genius, the next major sociological and/or technological advances come into play. Mark Zuckerberg was only a Harvard undergrad when he first started the war on face-to-face contact. In 2004, at Harvard, there were only a few hundred users. By the time this film was released, it became half a billion worldwide.

As the director, David Fincher makes it obvious that he’s behind the camera, pulling visual stunts that make it even more captivating than it was to begin with. But his work here can mostly be seen as a great adaptation of Aaron Sorkin’s script (which won the respective Academy Award) and brilliant, original shot at a facts-based story that makes the film unforgettable as a perky metaphor for this decade.

2. Dogtooth (2010)

Dysfunctional families have nothing on this film. For many, it was seen as a dark comedy. For others, a psychological family horror. The story of a father, a mother, their 20-something son and two daughters, all characters with no given name, who live in a large home behind a great wall and a gate and aren’t allowed to leave it – except for the father, who goes to work. The children have no clue of the outside world and submit to their parents’ version of things, obliging to their truth of things and unusual requests.

In an art-house manner, Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos shoots most of the film with a fixed perspective. The colors are bland but each character framing is effective, giving it an extra appeal. Taking home-schooling to its most bizarre possibilities, Dogtooth appeared as one of the most special European efforts of the last 5 years, and there’s no way that it won’t be remembered years from now by its viewers.

3. Drive (2011)

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn makes his Hollywood debut with this slick sensation, reminiscent of an 80s LA noir in character build, visual effects, and soundtrack. He keeps it simple, too, which adds a lot to the feature.

Ryan Gosling plays The Driver, an unnamed protagonist who participates in robberies at night and works as a stuntman by day, doing the same job in both – driving. He’s quiet and enigmatic, and seemingly untainted by emotions at first. Later supported by an array of incredible performances by the likes of Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks and Bryan Cranston, violence and a fair share of intrigue are thrown into the mix, making this a magnetizing experience.

Aside from the visual mastery and compulsive eye for detail now associated with films by the same director, “Drive” has divided viewers from the start. Liked or disliked, it constitutes the definition of iconic in its use of image and sound as pure storytelling techniques.

4. The Tree Of Life (2011)

The epic naturalism of Terrence Mallick is something no avid film fan is a stranger to, nowadays. The story of a family in the 1950s in Waco, Texas, portrayed by Brad Pitt as the father, Jessica Chastain as the mother, plus their three boys, has been compared by critics to Kubrick’s “2001”.

At its premiere in Cannes, the film’s final moments were nearly eclipsed by the multitude of spectators booing and giggling, calling it a boring Christian movie. This was a story about a tormented middle-aged man, and that itself might not seem fascinating, but the comparisons it earned were triggered by its bold vision of our universe. It’s as personal as it gets in filmmaking while comparing family life to the creation and evolution of our world.

Emmanuel Lubezki has one of his greatest achievements as a cinematographer in this film, capturing both passionate and more serious moments with equal grace. Mallick conducts five editors and Alexander Desplat’s spiritual score with a sincerity that was clearly too strange to the brutal eyes that first saw it. It became one of the most well-regarded films of this demi-decade and its magic is perpetual.

5. Shame (2011)

The portrayal of sexual addiction in films is limited in quality, but this demi-decade has already graced us with the story of Brandon (Michael Fassbender) as an unequivocally sad man in his early 30s, who works in a cubicle in front of a computer and happens to be a sex addict. It isn’t ever a joyful thing. Brandon turns sex into just another chore, another part of his routine. He doesn’t show any emotion or particular pleasure in it, but his emptiness is overwhelming.

Exploring the dark corners of human nature comes easily to Steve McQueen, the director of this film as well as of the earlier feature “Hunger” (2009). He guides Fassbender into apathy, but underneath it is the title of the film. It’s a tough watch, and one won’t easily repeat it, precisely because it causes such deep impact. As a seemingly simple however complex human story, it succeeds in leaving a mark for this generation and the next to come.

It’s been written before, in the form of “the greatest collaborations of all time”, but we’re now watching the rise and/or continuity of several great partnerships worth of our time as cinephiles. It’s time for modern-day director-actor teams to show what they’ve been doing and what they’re still capable of. What can we expect from people who’ve worked together on more than one occasion and insist on doing it again?

Here are ten choices, mostly from the 2000s, of talented and interesting projects made by at least the same director and actor, more than once. While some have had a long run and continue giving signs of work ahead within the same duo, others are just starting out – but have already offered us hours of great cinema, and left us hoping for more.

10. Tim Burton & Johnny Depp

Perhaps the most mainstream, well-known collaboration between director-actor. Their collaboration is so well-established that viewers almost instantly associate one’s work with the other’s. When Burton made the choice to cast Depp for “Edward Scissorhands,” it came as a surprise: the actor was then known for being a hearthrob in the television series “21 Jump Street.” The two had an instant connection based on mutual interests and similiar childhoods.

Nowadays, anyone can argue that Depp plays Burton in all of their films together (something Burton refutes but Depp agrees with). Besides having an unmistakable bond, their partnership is by far one of the most successful in cinema history, with “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005) and “Alice in Wonderland” (2010) grossing together over $1,5 billion worldwide.

While other actors, specifically Helena Bonham Carter, are also usual participants in Burton’s films, Depp takes the role of inseparable. And while it was a wonderful revelation of potential when “Edward Scissorhands” came out, their most valuable work is perhaps in “Ed Wood” (1994), where it’s plain to see and better understand the theory of Depp playing Burton. In that film alone there’s proof of their togetherness, the unison there is when an actor and director understand each other perfectly.

9. Christopher Nolan & Michael Caine

Nolan, the director who has rebooted the blockbuster – or just an auteur who thinks big – met Michael Caine when he went to the actor’s house with a copy of the script for the first film in his Batman trilogy. Caine thought the man on his doorstep was a messenger, until he presented himself. After the actor accepted such role, he went on to accept all following five films of the same director. The respected British actor often plays an adviser, a wise older man.

While Nolan certainly has a habit of calling an actor for a second or third film, as is the example of Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Anne Hathaway and Cillian Murphy, it’s been made clear that Caine’s presence is now a requirement. Nolan has called Caine his “good luck charm,” so we’re bound to continue seeing him in following projects.

8. Richard Linklater & Ethan Hawke

This director-actor collaboration can be summed up with a quote from Linklater himself at Hawke’s Hollywood handprint and footprint cerimony: “He’s the greatest collaborator in my life, the greatest collaborator that anyone could have.”

Knowing each other for over 20 years, they have worked together in a total of 8 films, starting in 1995 with the first of the ‘Before Trilogy’ – one of their most celebrated collaborations. Shooting three parts of the same story by the same director in three different times over a span of 18 years is effort enough, but then the world found out about “Boyhood” (2014).

Ultimately, Linklater made us see Hawke age onscreen, presenting us one of the best – if not the best – performance of his career, along with his undeniable loyalty. Hawke committed to a 12 year project, and above that, he was to take over as director in case Linklater died. When a director and an actor share this level of trust and are both as talented as these two are, great achievements are more than assured.

7. Pedro Almodóvar & Penélope Cruz

This pair has worked together on five different full-length films and are one of the best things to come out of modern Spanish cinema. Director Pedro Almodóvar is known to direct women particularly well, and that happened first with previous muse Carmen Maura. When that collaboration came to an end in the early 1990s, he watched Bigas Luna’s “Jamon Jamon,” which starred 17-year-old Penélope Cruz.

Although he couldn’t initially find her a role due to her young age, an opportunity came with “Live Flesh” (1997) where she played a teen prostitute giving birth on a bus. After that, she started a healthy journey of significant roles, portraying a young nun who was HIV positive and pregnant with a transvestite’s child.

After Hollywood took Cruz away for a couple of years, she returned to work with Almodóvar to grant him some instant success, and together they made “Volver” (2007) and “Broken Embraces” (2009). In Almodóvar’s latest, “I’m So Excited!” (2013) she has a worth-the-watch cameo.

While Cruz certainly opened some doors for the director, “Volver” is still arguably her greatest performance, getting the Oscar nod for it and having shared the Best Actress at Cannes with the rest of the cast. And as she once said: “In terms of personal experience, being in his films have been some of the best times in my life. Growing and learning. I don’t just see them as movies. I feel he could give his life for a movie, and so could I.”

6. Quentin Tarantino & Christoph Waltz

Until Quentin Tarantino had the wit and luck of casting himm as SS Colonel Hans Landa in “Inglorious Basterds” (2009), Christoph Waltz was but a respected talent in Germany and Austria, focusing mainly in TV roles to support his family. From the first, captivating opening scene of that film, every cinephile knew that this actor was unique and clearly had an extensive comprehension of the director’s script.

Their second collaboration in “Django Unchained” (2012) happened because, as Tarantino mentioned, he found himself writing a role specifically for the Austrian actor. In this film that he had been wanting to make for so long, there wasn’t a German dentist/bounty hunter until he met the actor – and the character just came out of his pen.

While there’s still only two collaborations between them, both earned Waltz an Academy Award for Actor in a Supporting Role and the latest earned Tarantino the Best Writing in an Original Screenplay. Tarantino has said it happened with Waltz as it happened in “Pulp Fiction” (1994) and “Jackie Brown” (1997), among others, as it’s simply the result of when a writer-director deeply enjoys the way his words come out of such performances. And with Waltz, “it’s a bingo”.

Ever since the advent of cinema, as well as any other form of storytelling, the moral of a story equals its purpose. Viewers search for meaning, something they can explain as a consequence of what they have seen. Happy endings are incredibly more common than sad or morbid ones, yet there are exceptions that often impact us and stay with us for much longer.

These stories include crime, psychotic characters, taboos and, most of all, little reason. In cinema, it’s the kind of films that succeed in portraying the countless real-life terrorists that never get caught, people who escape the law and morality standards in hateful ways.

While the film industry focuses on producing tons of movies with happy endings, showing heroes overcoming their weaknesses and coming out as winners, there are notable examples of when the situation is reverse. Here 10 films where the immoral gets away unpunished.

10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Jack Nicholson plays R.P. McMurphy, who pleads insanity in order to escape prison, finding himself in a mental hospital. He meets a range of interesting and, obviously, insane people, along with the oppressive Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher).

McMurphy makes an effort in trying to make the hospital a more pleasant place, much to the nurse’s disdain, and is always taken down by her. At one point, she manipulates a younger patient to confess what happens and rat McMurphy out, and this leads to the suicide of the younger patient, ultimately causing McMurphy to go wild and attack Ratched.

What makes this film earn a spot on this list is that the villain – this hateful, controlling and manipulative head nurse – wins over the carefree, fun-loving and rebellious main character. McMurphy ends up lobotomized, with no memory of what happened, while Nurse Ratched simply acts her way out as a helpless victim.

9. Se7en (1995)

Two homicide detectives, Sommerset and Mills (played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, respectively), pursue a serial killer who targets people who have committed one of the seven deadly sins. He uses inventive and genius ways to kill them, starting with Gluttony, as the detectives find the body of a morbidly obese man who was forced to eat to death.

The killer, John Doe (Kevin Spacey), commits all but two murders before handing himself into the police covered in blood. He agrees to confess on one condition – if the detectives take him to the next two bodies.

At the arranged site, a van arrives with a mysterious package to be delivered at that location and time. Sommerset opens the box, recoiling in horror and shock for what he finds. He rushes to Mills and urges him to put his gun away, but Doe reveals that he has killed Mills’ pregnant wife. Outraged, Mills executes him. Doe, who was playing the role of envy, finds an end to his masterpiece when Mills takes the role of wrath.

8. Memento (2000)

An ex-insurance investigator named Leonard Shelby suffers an assault, where his wife is raped and killed and he takes a hard knock on the head which stops him from ever creating new memories.

As a mostly unchronological film, an usual characteristic of director Christopher Nolan’s work, Memento shows two storylines: one in color, going backwards from the moment Leonard kills his friend Teddy, and the other showing a phone conversation Leonard has with a mystery person in “normal” time. As the two stories grow closer together and eventually collide, Leonard has killed the man he believes killed his wife.

In this film, the bad guy goes unpunished when we realize that Leonard has framed his own best friend for the rape and murder of his wife; even though he knew that he wasn’t responsible. His memory disability is therefore used to create a game for himself, to help him fulfill his wish for revenge. Ultimately, turning the likeable protagonist into the bad guy is the main twist in this quest for immorality.

7. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Horror films constantly tell stories where evil gets away (another great example would be “Saw”), but Roman Polanski’s classic is too good not to mention.

The film revolves around a young couple who move into a new apartment with the sinister reputation – another common practice in horror films – that it was once possessed by cannibal murderers, Satanists and witches, along with other ordeals. Creepy neighbors soon join the story, and as Rosemary becomes pregnant, she starts suspecting that they might have plans for her child.

Rosemary’s baby is, indeed, a spawn of the Devil, and all of her neighbors shout “Hail Satan” upon its sight. Unbelievably so, Rosemary reluctantly gives in to her maternal instincts and cradles the baby, in what is a mind-boggling immoral ending.

6. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

This cult film tells the story of a time where a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill was killing and partially skinning women. FBI trainee Clarice Starling is sent to visit Hannibal Lecter, an infamous cannibal and serial killer, and seek his help in understanding and finding more about Buffalo Bill’s identity.

Hannibal and Clarice develop a “quid pro quo” relationship, where he offers her information on the case and she offers him personal information about herself. The urgency of the case skyrockets as the loose killer kidnaps a senator’s daughter. While in custody to offer information to the senator, Hannibal ingeniously escapes by killing two security guards and wearing one of the dead men’s faces.

After Clarice realizes the purpose Buffalo Bill gives to the murdered women’s skin, she accidentally finds his house and the man himself, shooting and killing him almost immediately. She gets promoted to FBI agent and gets a call from Hannibal, who’s preparing to kill the doctor at the prison where he was held for eight years.

Born November 6, 1970, Ethan Hawke’s debut as an actor was in the 1985 film “Explorers”, alongside River Phoenix as teenage schoolboys who build a spacecraft to explore outer space. His breakthrough, though, wasn’t until four years later in “Dead Poets Society”, which granted him numerous roles in following years. In the 90s, he became Generation X’s sweetheart by taking roles in the dramas “Reality Bites” and “Before Sunrise”, both granting him critical praise.

Now, having been nominated for four Academy Awards, both as a writer and actor, he has directed two feature films, one documentary and three Off-Broadway plays. After dropping out of college to pursue an acting career, he published his first novel “The Hottest State” in 1996, about a love affair between a young actor and a singer.

One director’s name is, as usual when it comes to Ethan Hawke-related pieces, particularly associated with some of the actor’s best roles. In 2001, he participated in two different Richard Linklater films: “Tape” and “Waking Life”.

For being an animated single scene shared with former co-star Julie Delpy continuing conversations begun in “Before Sunrise”, the film “Waking Life” was kept from this list and, instead, the real-time drama “Tape” was found more adequate – being regarded as Hawke’s “first adult performance” and well noted by famous critic Roger Ebert for his “physical and verbal acting mastery”.

Here are the 10 films where not only we can enjoy various engaging performances by the actor, but also delight with the incredible projects he’s been envolved in for the last two and a half decades.

10. Lord of War (2005)

Andrew Niccol’s crime war film, which he directed and wrote, was co-produced by and starred Nicolas Cage at its core. Cage plays an arms trafficker and, due to this, the film was officially endorsed by the human rights group Amnesty International – as it highlights the subject of arms trafficking by the international arms industry.

With similarities to post-Soviet arms dealer Viktor Bout, we watch Cage’s character – Yuri Orlov – in its rise and decline, meaning it takes many predictable and cliché narrative steps. It’s also not a strong film when it comes to character development, and upon meeting most of them, they seem almost like planned caricatures.

Hawke plays idealistic Interpol agent Jack Valentine, who refuses to fall in Yuri’s bribing schemes and always follows the law to the letter. While it might carry resemblence to Hawke’s character in “Training Day,” his role here doesn’t get as much development, but is convincingly steady and worth mentioning.

In the end, it’s an original satire, provocative when exploring violence and leaving us with a haunting note.

9. Predestination (2014)

Michael and Peter Spierig directed this film based on Robert Heinlein’s celebrated 1959 short story “All You Zombies”, where Ethan Hawke plays a Temporal Agent who travels in time to prevent future killers from commiting their crimes.

First appearing to be a classic noir, soon enough the story welcomes a more subtle tone, but to go deeper in the story would be to enter in unwanted spoiler ground. Its central performer, Hawke, holds the success of the film by making for an ideal choice in guiding the mysteries it holds.

The actor gives acute genuine emotional weight to a storyline that, falling into the genre of time travel could blatently fail, guaranteeing a high level of interest to grab the audience’s attention. His co-star, Sarah Snook, also offers a knockout performance – especially is scenes that could’ve easily provoked bad laughs, wasn’t it for the actors’ masterful delivery.

8. Reality Bites (1994)

This Generation X drama, directed by Ben Stiller, opens with badly-shot footage of college friends on top of a Houston skyscraper on their graduation day. The person holding the camera is Lelaina (Winona Ryder), the center of the film and of its romantic triangle. She’s an aspiring filmmaker who is making a documentary about her friends, which include her roommate Vickie (Janeane Garofalo), Sammy (Steve Zahn) and Troy (Ethan Hawke).

Troy is a slacker, the unemployed friend who asks Lelaina for a place to stay but still mocks her ambitions. Hawke’s performance as the glassy-eyed guitarist who pines for Lelaina is subtle but strong, and film critic Roger Ebert said about him: “Hawke captures all the right notes as the boorish Troy.” The New York Times noted, “Mr. Hawke’s subtle and strong performance makes it clear that Troy feels things too deeply to risk failure and admit he’s feeling anything at all.”

Lelaina herself won’t admit her feelings for Troy until another guy comes along, Michael (Ben Stiller) – Troy’s rival, a good-hearted yuppie who works for a network called In Your Face TV, aiming to resemble MTV’s style. There’s a thin line between satire and reality, but this film plays with it and the result is as funny and easy as it intended.

7. Training Day (2001)

In 2001, this cop action-drama was Hawke’s biggest film, a huge hit that earned him his share of recognition: a first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Denzel Washington, Best Actor winner at the Oscars that year, played the lead as extreme cop Alonzo Harris, who stepped away from his usual likeable roles and appeared as a near villain, the meanest narcotics cop in the city.

The story follows him teaching Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) in his first day of training. Hoyt is a young cop who dreams of getting a promotion in order to move his wife and child to a better house. He’s been placed in the hands of Alonzo, who shows him what really happens on the streets, but this quickly becomes a shady move.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua (“Bait”) and written by David Ayer (“The Fast and the Furious”), there’s a certain fantasy feel to it, which becomes more evident throughout the film. Hawke is well cast as the determined, almost naïve cop who wants to “serve and protect”, while trying to accept Alonzo’s own style of doing just that.

6. Dead Poets Society (1989)

The story, set in 1959, occurs mainly on the grounds of the “Welton Academy” in Vermont, an elite prep boarding school for boys that has a tendency towards tradition and English literature. John Keating (Robin Williams), who was once a Welton alumnus, returns to teach English.

When doing this, he chooses to teach in unconventional manners – starting by ordering his class to tear out the introduction to a poetry book. His enthusiasm for poetry is contagious, and he soon begins to mold the minds of his various pupils.

They include, among others, Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), a devoted honors student who dreams of becoming an actor despite his father’s wishes of him going to Harvard to study medicine; and Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), the new student, who who wants to be a writer but is filled with fear when asked to speak in front of others.

Standing up on a desk made made for a great breakthrough appearance for the actor, a haunting performance that resulted in many critical opportunities offered to him due to the film’s success. Having quit college to be in the film, he then went back – only to quit again to pursue other roles after he realized this monumental accomplishment.

The 1990s were a decade of money, mega-spending and special effects, but it was also the time for different approaches opposing to this paradigm. The digital revolution led to experimentation in digital-video films and imagery, aided by famous actors and a boost in eccentricity.

Some filmmakers, such as the ones on this list, were an exception to the rule when coming up with such projects. They looked for shelter in more traditional filmmaking tools and methods, sometimes as true artistic homages to classic monochrome cinema, and other times for low-budget reasons only.

Either way, they stood out for both their style and storytelling, for their simplicity and ultimate prowess. Here are the most notable efforts on this unfortunately limited category to the general public.

Particularly, these films weren’t necessarily as lucrative as other long features from the same decade that included scenes, shots or characters that actually had some color – see “Schindler’s List” (1993) or “American History X” (1998). This list pays only attention to films fully in black and white.

Note: these films are not ranked in any particular order, as all of them offer unique qualities when using B&W.

1. The Institute Benjamenta (Stephen Quay & Timothy Quay, 1995)

“Institute Benjamenta” can be described as a Kafkaesque fairy tale with a surreal sense of humor. The title refers to the imaginary academy that is the setting to the Quay Brothers’ first live-action film, a training ground for butlers placed in a forest in central Europe. Jakob von Gunten (Mark Rylance), aspiring butler, enrolls to learn “the divine duty of servants” along with very few other students.

The rituals installed by the school’s founder Herr Benjamenta (Gottfried John), and his sister, Lisa (Alice Krige), involve the firm belief that none of the characters will amount to anything in life, and instead will live as true subordinates.

The visuals are poetic, and the story relies on them to really bring out a mood, carrying a resemblance to expressionism. Although the story might seem weak, the cinematography is exquisitely powerful when it comes to a symbolic and metaphoric sense. The mystery brought in black and white adds tension and keeps the viewer intrigued, though being more suitable for the artistically-inclined.

2. The Girl on the Bridge (Patrice Leconte, 1999)

In this case, black and white strives to underline the beauty of places such as Paris, Athens, Istanbul and Monaco, resembling a collage of foreign cinema-sets from famous directors like Godard, Truffaut and Fellini.

It’s not by accident, either, that the film has this new wave romantic feel: shooting in monochrome was the perfect way to bring out the story of Adele (Vanessa Paris), a young woman on the brink of suicide. She meets Gabor (Daniel Auteuil), a philosophical man who approaches her by saving her life and persuading her to follow him in his knife-throwing business. Together, they conquer European casinos and cabarets.

The film states that these free-spirits, this kind of melancholic, unsuitable love, belongs in the past – it’s nearly outrageous, even, when aiming to portray knife-throwing as more sensual than sex. The continuously gorgeous shots and framing certainly complement the splendor of great storytelling, and it’s perfectly evident here.

3. Pi (Darren Aronofsky, 1998)

In his directorial debut, Aronofsky wrote and presented the story of Maximillian Cohen (Sean Gullette), who believes that mathematics can be found anywhere, being the ultimate language of the universe.

Max, who lives alone and lacks no real social skills, spends his day locked in a fully equipped room, programming and looking for patterns in everything. He believes he can find the key to God, the weather, the future, baseball scores and, obviously, the stock market. The plot revolves around his genius and, therefore, his madness.

The rough black and white joins what can only be called an excellent camerawork, and the editing is brilliantly maneuvred in making everything tie together effortlessly. The fact that this was the director’s first feature film may have influenced his use of b&w for finance reasons, but the high-contrast was a big help in making it exactly as grim as it is.

4. A Midwinter’s Tale (Kenneth Branagh, 1995)

It is well known that Branagh understands and loves Shakespeare seemingly more than any current filmmaker, but that is best represented in this particular film. As a comedy piece, it’s brilliant, and it’s well represented as a mild melodrama, too.

Following the failure of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), one could argue his ability as a director, but he finds solid ground when portraying England in a low-budget, Shakespeare-inspired production. It’s a story about characters, and the true love for performance as opposed to a paycheck.

Filled with contrasting images and shadows, this black and white feature is a stylistic accomplishment in all kinds, putting to best use the memory of British comedies from the 1950s.

5. Clerks (Kevin Smith, 1994)

On a tight budget for his debut, Smith resorted to black and white – cameras were cheaper than color cameras – and it really didn’t have any artistic purpose at all. Also good for a limited budget: 16mm film with natural light only, and shot at the store where Smith worked in New Jersey. The result is a cult film to an entire generation of slack-offs who hated their job but don’t know what else to do with their lives.

“Clerks” follows a day on the job of hero Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran), a clerk in a convenience store, and Randal (Jeff Anderson), his friend from the video store next door. Smith, who plays a minor character as drug-dealer Silent Bob, shot the entire movie in and around the convenience store but managed to keep it fresh in terms of set-ups, showing great invention in smaller aspects.

The simplicity of film, which may be harder to watch for some for its extensive dialogues, culminated in a great partnership with its ingenuous use of black and white.

When Marlon Brando spent an entire month in a bed at the Birmingham Army Hospital in Van Nuys, California, just to prepare for his debut role as a paraplegic veteran in “The Men” (1950), he became on of the first and best examples of the extremes an actor goes to when preparing for a character.

For Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” (1976), De Niro spent days at a U.S. Army base in Italy studying how the men talked and walked, then learning how to shoot a gun and returning to New York to learn how to drive cabs.

This wasn’t the only time the actor went to such lengths, as his physical transformations are often mentioned and connected to his intense devotion to preparing for roles – as was the case of his body transformation in “Raging Bull” (1980) and his move to Sicily before “The Godfather Part II” (1974), where he perfected various Sicilian accents.

Method acting is not the same for every actor; “method” refers to the specific techniques used by actors to best understand the thoughts and feelings of their characters. It is a continuous process, and it’s constantly changing as new acting tools and techniques are being developed.

Nowadays, it’s rare to find occasions where an actor goes to such depths, being considered too difficult and, as it’s frequently called, the opposite of acting. When one does, though, it ends up quickly dismissed as tabloid sensationalism.

This list takes a look at cases from the last 15 years where we got to watch films with full character immersion by some of the generation’s finest actors. Note: as “method acting” carries different meanings for the actors mentioned here, the list does not have a specific order.

1. Lincoln (2012)

Daniel Day-Lewis is, in this category, incomparable. His method has become legendary, and the results are evident: he’s the only person in film history to win the Academy Award for Best Actor three times (two of them in this century), along with other countless awards.

Being one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, he had a traditional actor training, but chose to constantly devote to his roles and always research as much as possible. What’s impressive is the actor’s slow work rate compared to most over the last twenty years.

On “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992) he became a survivalist, learning how to make canoes and refusing to eat anything he didn’t kill; for “The Boxer” (1997), he trained for a year and a half with former heavyweight champion Barry McCuiga; sat in a wheelchair during his portrayal of Christy Brown in “My Left Foot” (1989), and took apprenticeship as a butcher for “Gangs of New York” (2002) – sharpening his knives during breaks and ending up with pneumonia for refusing to wear modern coats, as they “wouldn’t have existed in the 19th Century”.

For Steven Spielberg’s biopic, “Lincoln”, the actor allegedly spent an entire year reading about the president, going to the extent of sending text messages to his cast mates as “The Commander in Chief” or just signing “A” in the end, ignoring every conversation about current events on set.

For the same film, his on-screen wife Sally Fields, playing Mary Todd Lincoln, also immersed in research, reading five biographies and visiting the former First Lady’s home, and reportedly gaining 25 pounds for her role.

2. The Dark Knight (2008)

Much has been said of Heath Ledger’s performance as Joker in “The Dark Knight”, as it is often connected to his death from an overdose just ahead of the release of the film.

Before said role, the actor had already revealed his potential as one of the greatest of his generation in Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), but he went to another extreme when playing Joker, earning a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His preparation for the part, as told by the actor before his death, included sitting around in a hotel room in London for a month, creating a diary and experimenting with voices and laughs in order to come up with something truly iconic.

It wasn’t until several years later that his incredulous devotion really came up, when his father allowed a team of filmmakers to access details of the actor’s preparation for the Joker, revealing actual footage of the abovementioned diary – which contained writings, clippings, drawings and, on the last page, a “bye-bye” in the Joker’s handwriting.

During filming, Ledger reportedly kept character to such a degree that crew members were said to be disturbed by his approach, claiming that he ignored them if referred to as someone other than the Joker. While Ledger’s death, ruled an accidental overdose of different medications and sleeping tablet, may be unrelated to his method, there’s no doubting that the actor’s commitment made him transcendent.

3. The Pianist (2002)

Adrien Brody’s method acting is not as well-known as most because he’s usually more discreet about it, but it won him the Academy Award for Best Actor for Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist”. To prepare for the role of a concert pianist, the actor practiced the piano for four hours a day, as well as losing about 30 pounds.

Furthermore, playing a man living in a Warsaw ghetto wrecked by the war, he told the BBC he made a bigger effort to understand the struggles of his character and those who lived through the Holocaust, giving up his apartment, selling his car, disconnecting the phones and moving to Europe with two bags in his hands – apparently also leaving his girlfriend behind.

After this film, he embarked on another method-acting adventure in the 2005 thriller “The Jacket”, in which he spent several hours a day on set locked in a straight-jacket and refusing to talk to anyone and, to prepare for scenes where he was in a mortuary drawer, he asked the director to keep him in the drawer during filming breaks.

4. The Machinist (2004)

After his breakout role in “American Psycho”, where Christian Bale spent hours in the gym each day and refused to talk to anyone to perfectly portray his character, his method went to the extreme when he played Trevor Reznik in “The Machinist”. Trevor was, to the public eye, the real beginning of Bale’s famous weight win and loss over the following years.

In order to look alarmingly unhealthy, he ate simply an apple and a can of tuna every day and smoked avidly. It’s been often argued how much weight he actually lost, but the most agreeable is 63 lbs. Fearing for his life, the producers intervened and stopped him from losing even more weight.

As soon as the film wrapped, he gained the 60 pounds back in six weeks, in order to play the role of Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins”. After that, the actor immersed once again in deep method-acting, losing 30 lbs to play a boxer-turned-drug addict in 2010’s “The Fighter” and for his latest role in “American Hustle” as a ’70s con man, Bale packed on 43 pounds by eating lots of doughnuts and cheeseburgers.

5. Nymphomaniac (2013)

The usual trouble associated with Shia LaBeouf is often related to the unconventional way he thinks and speaks his mind, which ultimately results on some interesting – to say the least – methods when choosing certain roles and building his characters.

For the American-Romanian psychological romantic comedy-drama “The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman” (2013), LaBeouf reportedly tripped on acid to, according to him, really get into the head of his character.

To audition for his role in Lars von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac,” he sent the director a number of sex tapes featuring himself and his girlfriend, as the film was expected to feature unsimulated sex. In fact, during the film, he opted to method-act for some of its more intimate scenes, allegedly having actual sex with his co-star on screen.

Furthermore, for his recent portrayal in “Fury” (2014) (according to co-star Logan Lerman), his antics were said to involve self-mutilation – as the makeup didn’t seem real enough, he repeatedly cut his own face with a knife in order to make his war wounds look authentic. Besides, the actor apparently also refused to shower for several weeks, as to better understand his character’s life in the trenches.