American Cinematographer - April 1989 - 55

Far left: In

Tequila

Sunrise, Mac (Mel
Gibson) and Nick
(Kurt Russell) meet
at Jo Ann's styl¬
ishly lit restaurant.

Left: Conrad Hall,
on the set of

ASC

Tequila Sunrise. Be¬
low: Michelle
Pfeiffer

DFruahnacmoeisl

as

Jo Ann.

scene," he has said. "I can't really
predict where the wonderful mo¬
ments are going to be because it's all
in the performances. Only the dra¬
ma can

mandate how the

camera

is

to be used."

The Unbearable

byPhot

Lightness of Being
Sven Nykvist, ASC
Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt
Russell and Raul Julia are the sort of

Academy and ASC Nominee

people

Sven

an audience enjoys being
close to and Conrad Hall has the

Nykvist's cinematography in
Lightness of Being
helped to transform a very literary
novel into a breathtaking cinematic
experience. He emphasizes the ar¬
The Unbearable

artistry to present them at their
best.
The romantic

equation is

emphasized by the

warm yellows,
tans and browns that the title sug¬

gests. These colors are paramount
in the daylight exteriors and in the
most prominent interior set, a res¬

tistic

was

afraid that obvious

dolly moves

taurant

would call attention to the

bert

technique instead of the perfor¬

The

designed by Richard Sylin similar sunny-sandy hues.
night scenes form a striking

contrast, with rich blacks dominat¬

ing instead of the trendy blues
punctuated by flashing red and
blue lights that have become a cop
show cliche.
The

mances.

"I used movement to

try to
get to know someone better by
moving closer to them, as you
would in real life," he said. "The
words

are

what is

For the

setting is the beach¬
South Bay area below

camera

important."
same

reason

he

avoided

haze from the ocean," he said. The

unusually deep-focus
shots and shifts of focus. Focusing
upon the subjects central to the
scene, he avoided sharpness in the
rendering of background action be¬
cause "we shouldn't be
looking at
things in the background. It's one
thing to see a person and it's anoth¬

wanted desaturated look

er

front of the

Santa Monica, California. Hall was
anxious to

keep the daylight scenes
blindingly bright and show the
characteristic "dazzle of light cre¬
ated by things like smog and aerial
hanced

by subtle

was

en¬

overexposure

of

the film, both in the camera and in
the printing.

There

parallels or
grids in the restaurant set, which
was

built in

warehouse,

a

were no

vacant Santa Monica

so

it

was

necessary to

light everything from the floor.
There is

a

minimum of

camera

movement in the set because Hall

to look at

him," Hall said. "I

am

looking at the people I am involved
with. I am feeling the ambiance
rather than

seeing it."
important reason for
the superiority of Hall's contribu¬
tions can be traced to his sensitivity
An

to

the other elements of

can
era

a

movie. "I

the technical in his ap¬
and draws on his years of

over

proach,
experience

as

cameraman

to

Ingmar Bergman's
bring an instinctive
grace to the projected image. His
long and distinguished credit list
includes Persona, The Magic Flute,
Scenes From a Marriage, Fanny and
Alexander, Cries and Whispers, and
The Postman Always Rings Twice.
Since The Unbearable Lightness of Be¬
ing, Nykvist has added Another Wo¬
man

and New York Stories to the list.

He is

a

two-time

The

story sweeps across

Europe and touches America, with
the 1968 Prague Spring as its cata¬
lyst. It follows the intertwined lives
of three Czech citizens, examining
the blurry line between friendship
and love against a background of
political unrest. The cinematogra¬
phy plays a major role in telling the
story - there are many long
stretches with little or no dialogue
that are directly and inextricably
tied to character and story develop¬
ment. The Prague street riot scenes

only think in terms of the cam¬

and intercut shots

after I have

white

how

they

April 1989

seen

are

the actors and

performing the

Academy Award

winner.

are

in

a

black and

documentary style. They
ring frighteningly true with immeAmerican

Cinematographer

53
American Cinematographer - April 1989

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