This year’s nominations for Best Cinematography at the 2025 Academy Awards make for an especially tight race. While three of the most nominated films of the year made the cut—Emilia Pérez, Dune: Part Two, and The Brutalist—the category also threw a few surprises into the mix, giving Maria its only nomination and celebrating horror with Nosferatu. That being said, it’s still a bit surprising that films like Anora, Conclave, and The Substance were snubbed, especially since they overperformed elsewhere.
But that just speaks to how tight this race is this year, that some of the biggest Oscar films didn’t even earn a spot among the final five. Pretty much any of these nominees would deserve a win here, and that’s rare in any category. With that in mind, this list will rank this year’s Best Cinematography nominees from worst to best, considering their strengths and role in elevating their respective film’s overall quality.
5
’Emilia Pérez’ (2024)
Cinematographer: Paul Guilhaume
Emilia Pérez certainly has its fair share of problems, but one of its more successful aspects is its cinematography—especially in the film’s musical segments. Take, for example, Zoe Saldaña’s opening number, “El Alegato,” set outside at crime scenes or inside a courtroom, or Selena Gomez singing and dancing in a neon-lit club. There’s also some really nice use of usually harsh lights and spotlights in Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón’s big musical number, “El Mal.” Despite its thirteen nominations, at this point, it seems like it wouldn’t be surprising if Emilia Pérez mostly will be remembered for Saldaña’s performance and the often striking imagery, thanks in large part to cinematographer Paul Guilhaume.
Guilhaume is, compared to the other nominees, fairly new to cinematography, having only worked on eight other films prior to Emilia Pérez. Guilaume’s biggest film before his Oscar nomination was also his first collaboration with director Jacques Audiard for 2021’s Paris, 13th District, which was gorgeously shot in stunning black-and-white. While it doesn’t seem at this point that Emilia Pérez will win in cinematography, Guilhaume is definitely a talented cinematographer on his way up.
4
‘Maria (2024)
Cinematographer: Ed Lachman
So much of Pablo Larraín’s restrained Maria comes in watching Angelina Jolie‘s Maria Callas exploring spaces like her beautifully lit Parisian apartment or the cold, intimidating stage that she’s afraid to return to. Even more than Larraín’s other major biopics, Spencer and Jackie, this is a quiet, reflective film that lives or dies by its imagery. Thankfully, cinematographer Edward Lachman gives this film shot after shot of overwhelmingly marvelous locales for Maria Callas, a woman who appreciated true beauty, and this film truly gives this to her.
Lachman is no stranger to sumptuously breathtaking films, having been nominated in this category three times prior, twice for his work with Todd Haynes in Far from Heaven and Carol, and last year for another collaboration with Larraín, El Conde. Additionally, Lachman has shot films like Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, The Limey, and Erin Brockovich with Steven Soderbergh, and plenty of other films by Haynes. Lachman knows how to set a mood with these films, which he absolutely does with Maria. While Lachman, without a doubt, deserves to win an award for his cinematography, it would be a major shock if this ended up being his year.
3
‘Dune: Part Two’ (2024)
Cinematographer: Greig Fraser
In 2021, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune understandably won the cinematography award, earning Greig Fraser an Oscar with his second nomination (he was previously nominated for 2016’s Lion). Fraser is once again nominated this year for his tremendous work on Dune: Part Two, which is bigger, more ambitious, and more visually arresting than the first film. Dune: Part Two expands Villeneuve and Frank Herbert’s original vision greatly, making the world of Arrakis feel gargantuan, thanks in no small part to Fraser’s remarkable camera work. While one could easily argue that Fraser deserved the cinematography Oscar for Dune: Part Two more than for the original, the Academy Awards have never given this award to a sequel, so it seems entirely unlikely that Fraser will take the stage again this year.
But Fraser is a considerable talent, especially in creating films that almost inherently need to be dark yet lit in a way that’s still inviting and breathtaking. Fraser has previously shot films like Killing Them Softly, Zero Dark Thirty, Foxcatcher, Rogue One, and 2022’s The Batman, so he knows how to play with darkness in a way that doesn’t take away from the film but instead adds to it. As entertainment seems to be getting darker and darker in a way that’s almost hard to see on some screens, Fraser’s cinematography shows how to perfectly do darkness the right way.
2
‘Nosferatu’ (2024)
Cinematographer: Jarin Blaschke
Speaking of knowing how to do darkness well, Jarin Blaschke has made a name for himself in recent years, shooting the haunting projects of Robert Eggers, working on all his films since 2015’s The Witch and earning his first nomination for 2019’s The Lighthouse. Yet Nosferatu is arguably the biggest undertaking both Eggers and Blaschke have taken on yet, adapting a film that’s over a century old yet still managing to capture the seething darkness that squirms underneath this story. This film has to live in the shadows, and yet, Blaschke makes the often overwhelming darkness of this story become a gift and not a curse, creating one of the most beautifully shot films of 2024.
Along with The Substance, Nosferatu’s four nominations were exciting, as it showed the Oscars finally embracing horror in major categories. However, it would’ve been truly shocking had the Oscars snubbed Blaschke here, as he’s won Best Cinematography awards from the Critics’ Choice Awards, as well as from the National Board of Review. At this point, this category seems like the most likely for Nosferatu to win Oscar gold, and awarding Blaschke for his contributions to horror would be well-deserved.
Nosferatu
- Release Date
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December 25, 2024
1
’The Brutalist’ (2024)
Cinematographer: Lol Crawley
It may be cliché to say that every frame of a movie looks like a work of art, but that’s absolutely the case with Lol Crawley’s cinematography in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist. Corbet’s film feels almost classic in its approach to epic storytelling but also surprisingly modern in how the story is told, and a major part of that is Crawley’s camerawork. The Brutalist also revived the VistaVision filming process, which hasn’t been used for a complete feature film since 1963. From the opening shot of Adrien Brody’s László Tóth getting off the boat in the United States, it’s hard to understand why this formidable style has been dormant for over sixty years. Crawley’s cinematography remains truly immense throughout its entire 3+ hour runtime, from the way Tóth expands a bookcase in a sun-covered office to the cold but phenomenal architecture that Tóth creates out of nothing.
Crawley has previously collaborated with Corbet on his first two films, The Childhood of the Leader and Vox Lux, as well as shot such films as Ballast, Four Lions, 45 Years, The Devil All the Time, and Noah Baumbach’s White Noise. Crawley has amassed a truly impressive lineup of work since 2008, and it’s actually sort of surprising that The Brutalist marks his first nomination. Crawley has already won Best Cinematography from quite a few regional critic’s groups and is nominated for Best Theatrical Feature Film at the American Society of Cinematographers Awards, alongside many of his fellow nominees in this category. The Brutalist is the type of film that blows people away simply by its look and one of the most jaw-dropping, gorgeous works to come out last year. Crawley deserves to not only win this category this year, but hopefully, this will be the first of many appearances in this category in the future.
