Caleb Deschanel (IMDb) begins:

Sixteen years ago, Mark Johnson called me to tell me about a terrific young cinematographer who was photographing “The Little Princess,” a movie Mark was producing. The cinematographer was Emmanuel Lubezki, aka “Chivo.” Mark was right. The film went on to earn Chivo a well-deserved Academy Award nomination, but was just the beginning of an extraordinary career.

He followed “The Little Princess” with a body of work that is breathtaking in its expressiveness, experimentation and beauty. The films have ranged from the grand scale to the intimate — always surprising and inventive but with powerful imagery supportive of the story.  Read more.

Javier Aguirresarobe (IMDb):

Lighting makes a d.p. the creator of his own universe. We can make the sun’s rays pierce a window to bathe a room in warm luminosity, or have moonlight move amongst the shadows, instilling mystery and the fear of the dark. I still recall the bedroom from “The Sea Inside,” which I shot for Alejandro Amenabar, built as a set, in which, each morning, we could decide whether it would be sunny or nocturnal.

“The Tree of Life” takes the opposite course. Terrence Malick’s film looks for the light that nature herself gives us. And if a room needs dusk, he orients his space so that the warm rays of the actual sun flood the scene with its truth. To me, the work of Emmanuel Lubezki on this unforgettable film is an extraordinary, impassioned demonstration of this. It’s the hunt for the sublime moment, nearly impossible to manufacture. It’s the patient waiting for the best moment of light, in the face of losing everything.  Read more.

Hagen Bogdanski (IMDb):

His camera is constantly moving (operated by Jorg Widmer and by himself), forever reframing in search of the moment — not for the sake of itself but for the definition of the film’s impressionistic manner. [...]

It is the overwhelming emotional journey which pushed me into the cinema seat: the beautiful natural light, the uncompromising attention to all the details, the wonderful art direction and the almost unimaginable crispness and luminosity of the cinematography that makes me hope there are more films to come.  Read more.

Emmanuel Lubezki has previously received nominations for Academy Awards in the category of Best Cinematography in recognition of his work on Children of Men (2006), The New World (2005), Sleepy Hollow (1999), and A Little Princess (1995).

Gravity lead Sandra Bullock told recently told the same newspaper:

God help us all when my face comes rushing at you with no makeup on. I’m going to apologize now, but Alfonso, in a brilliant move, said, ‘No makeup.’

Our vain little heads are going to be some massive 17-foot image. You are going to see details because it’s shot on this digital film that shows everything. It’s so scary. There are scenes where you say, ‘This is where you have to let go and let God.’ And, thank God, there are no nude scenes.

Via: Collider and Indiewire

This past month, the American Cinematheque invited cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki to the Egyptian and Aero theatres for a two part series, Poetry in Motion: The Cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki.  An audience of six hundred strong came out to see Terrence Malick’s critically-acclaimed Tree of Life on December 11th and our man Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también on the 18th, with an opportunity to see a reel of highlights from Lubezki’s career and the man himself.

One Jon Frechette has been so kind as to share a recording of the December 11th Q&A online (via All Things Shining: The Terrence Malick Blog).  You can stream or download it from SoundCloud below (Happy Christmas!).

Since it’s premiere at Cannes earlier this year, other behind-the-scenes players of The Tree of Life – including producers Dede Gardner and Sarah Green, editor Mark Yoshikawa, and special effects masters Doug Trumbull – have been speaking at screenings in place of the reclusive Malick.

This series was put together by Grant Moninger and Gwen Deglise and the program notes were written by Jim Hemphill, with additions by Beth Hanna.  If anyone can share a copy of that program, or notes from the December 18th event, I would be very grateful.

Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone–tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness.

The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left.

But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

See /film for other quotes on the production.