They’ve Got a Look--and Possibly the Nods

From the haunting dreamscape of “Sleepy Hollow” to the suffocating suburban landscape of “American Beauty” to the pristine Northwest beauty of “Snow Falling on Cedars,” myriad films this year have had an extraordinary look--which means cinematography should be another hotly contested Oscar category.

This Academy Awards season brings with it an array of films that not only deliver delicious treats for the eyes--like the upcoming “Anna and the King” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley”--but also seek to push the envelope of film technology in movies like “Three Kings,” “The Matrix” and “Bringing Out the Dead.”

The dramatic images are, in part, a result of the digital age, where filmmakers can do wonders creating images from nothing. They also benefit from films like “The Blair Witch Project,” which proved that audiences--particularly younger moviegoers--are not turned off by the rawness or jerkiness of the images.

With such contrasting styles and varied themes, the cinematography category is certainly one of the more intriguing categories this year and could prove a daunting task for members of the academy. How does one choose, for instance, between Michael Seresin’s work in “Angela’s Ashes,” with its muted greens and browns and charcoal grays, and Tom Sigel’s in-your-face, hand-held camera techniques in “Three Kings?”

Or John Seale’s rich palate of colors that bring the Italian coast to life in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” versus the computer-created fantasy world shot by David Tattersall in “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace?”

Or Freddie Francis’ poetic, picturesque portrait of Midwestern wheat fields and deserted highways in “The Straight Story” versus “Miss Julie,” in which cinematographer Benoit Delhomme, working with director Mike Figgis, using two hand-held cameras on their shoulders, shoot simultaneously from different angles.

The list of possible Oscar contenders is rich, indeed. They include:

The haunting look Emanuel Lubezki gave to “Sleepy Hollow,” the pageantry captured by Caleb Deschanel in “Anna and the King,” the sumptuous English countryside portrayed in “Mansfield Park” by Michael Coulter and the dreamy seascapes and wintry woods photographed by Robert Richardson in “Snow Falling on Cedars” or Richardson’s very different work on “Bringing Out the Dead,” one filled with chaotic camera shots of urban mayhem.

Then there is the almost surreal suburbia captured by Conrad L. Hall in “American Beauty,” or the tense realism of Dante Spinotti’s cinematography in “The Insider.”

And, one can’t overlook Larry Smith’s diffused tones that gave “Eyes Wide Shut” its impressionistic look, Tak Fujimoto’s photography that gave “The Sixth Sense” its supernatural realism and Bill Pope’s futuristic gray images in “The Matrix,” or Affonso Beato’s bright cityscapes in “All About My Mother.”

But there is one film that likely won’t be mentioned come Oscar time, and that is unfortunate because Neal Fredericks’ work on “The Blair Witch Project” probably had more of an effect on filmmaking in 1999 than any other picture.

“One would not dream of nominating it under any conventional terms,” film writer David Thomson said, “but you could make an argument that its rawness and jerkiness were absolutely essential to that film.”