American Cinematographer - May 2003 - 47
A stern chess
master
(Ben
Kingsley)
lectures his
reluctant but
prodigiously
gifted pupil (Max
Pomeranc) in
Searching for
Bobby Fischer
(1993), a family
drama that Hall
ranked among his
best efforts. His
luminous
cinematography
was
honored
with both
an
Award and
ASC
an
Oscar
nomination.
the
of her eyes -
she has no
conception of light in her mind. So
when she opens the door, wham! The
two men are blinded by the sun. We
see nothing but blank film; she's
sun
out
there, but
we
can't
see
her. Then
suddenly she steps in front of our
blinding light and is revealed
perfectly lit."
After finishing Jennifer Eight,
Hall went
on
to
shoot two films
with
distinctly different styles, both
stand as outstanding
examples of the master's touch.
With Searching for Bobby Fischer
(1993), Hall and writer/director
of which
Steve
Zaillian
embraced
wonders of childhood
the
they told
touching tale of a young chess
prodigy (Max Pomeranc) who
confronts the pressures of his own
excellence with the help of his father
(Joe Mantegna). And with Love
Affair, directed by Glenn Gordon
Caron, Hall proved that he could
recapture the kind of old-fashioned
glamour favored by his early photo¬
graphic mentors; in addition to
gorgeous footage of Hall's native
the
as
Tahiti, the film boasts
a
romantic
ambience that is
rarely seen in
modern films. The former film
much
out,
light that it would blow things
but other scenes
are so
dark that
coming down a hallway where there's
so much light they seem to be float¬
ing. I used 20Ks and just blew out the
you're almost struggling to see. Of
course, such an approach has to be
integrated so it doesn't distract from
the story."
In summing up the rich arc of
his career, Hall suggested that cine¬
matography, like every other art
form, can only be satisfying if the
practitioner is open to exploration in
the purest sense of the word.
Alluding to the Zenlike sense of
fulfillment he felt while shooting
Bobby
Fischer, he
asserted,
"Filmmaking is about finding things
out, it's about examining, it's about
discovering. You should approach
your work in the same way that a
child discovers new aspects of the
world. I draw inspiration from
absolutely everything around me,
the end of the hall. It's
and what I observe from life. When
earned Hall his seventh
Award
Academy
nomination, along with
another ASC Achievement Award;
the latter
picture earned
an
ASC
Award nomination.
Hall
particularly fond of
Bobby Fischer, for which he created a
style he dubbed "magic naturalism."
He explained, "Prior to this film, I
had been moving towards natural¬
ism on several other pictures -
naturalism being, to me, 'the way it
is.' The magic consisted of stylistic
touches to heighten the atmosphere.
A good example of this approach is a
was
shot in which the father and
windows
at
those little
sense
things that give
of 'I've
and that's the
never seen
son are
you
that
this before,'
of what
magic
Throughout Bobby Fischer, I used
light in both exorbitant and under¬
stated ways. I'd occasionally use so
is.
essence
you get to be a visual
learn to watch how
storyteller, you
people behave
things - to study the
light, to watch a field as you're
driving by it in a car. It's like making
movies 24 hours a day."
■
and
to see
American
Cinematographer 43
American Cinematographer - May 2003
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