Born in Armagh in Northern Ireland, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey has been a majorly-in-demand cinematographer in Hollywood for the past few years.
He’s been nominated twice for Academy Awards, worked on huge blockbusters and critically adored Oscar-magnets, and his new movie Life is in cinema now, which essentially looks like someone said “lets make Alien meets Gravity”, and if you’re going to make a sci-fi movie, you may as well pay homage to two of the best ever made.
Clip via Sony Pictures
His cinematography in this new film is exceptional, with the camera floating around the International Space Station in long, seemingly unbroken takes, and the action being presented in full 360 degrees. It can be dizzying just watching it, so we can only imagine how much work must have gone into making it look this good.
So in celebration of his new movie hitting cinemas, we’re going to take a look at the ten movies that put him on the map.
High Fidelty (2000)
Clip via TinMachine08
Seamus kicked off his career in cinematography working on short films from around 1990 onwards, and while his early career found him working with the likes of Michael Winterbottom, Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver, it wasn’t really until this hit comedy that his career took off. And like any cinematographer worth their salt, he didn’t get too showy, he just let the funny people do their thing and made them look good doing it.
The Hours (2002)
Clip via MovieClips
And so begins the Oscar-y path. While Seamus himself wasn’t nominated for his work here, he did bring a beautiful, distinctive look to the multitude of stories on show. Plus he had to light Nicole Kidman’s fake nose, which can’t have been easy. But she went on to win the Best Actress Oscar, so all’s well that ends well.
World Trade Centre (2006)
Clip via MovieClips
Dealing with something as monumental as 9/11 is a massive undertaking for anyone, but McGarvey was teamed with Oliver Stone, who is known for being somewhat volatile in his movies whenever it involves anything even remotely political. Here though, there is a much needed element of restraint, as the attacks and the aftermath are given an intimacy and claustrophobia that might have otherwise been lost in the epic scale of the events themselves.
Atonement (2007)
Clip via Rati Kharatishvili
Oscar nomination #1 for McGarvey came from this, and all you have to do is check out the single-take Dunkirk beach scene to understand why. He would lose to Robert Elswit’s work on There Will Be Blood (2008 also had No Country For Old Men, The Assassination Of Jesse James and The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, so it was a uniquely amazing year for cinematography), but we feel any other year McGarvey would’ve taken the gold home.
We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)
Clip via Chocolataja
Another very touchy subject dealt with a very light touch, McGarvey goes back and forth between the stark reality of the life of living with a possibly murderous child, and Tilda Swinton attempting to move on with her life, best visualised by the amazing La Tomatina sequence at the beginning of the movie. His ability to be a bit of a visual chameleon would serve him very well in the years to come.
Avengers Assemble (2012)
Clip via Richard Parker
Sometimes it would be easy to just step back and allow the larger-than-life characters and big explosions do all the work on a film like this, but McGarvey doesn’t rest on his laurels. There’s an incredible tracking shot through the streets of Manhattan during the epic finale that follows character to character as they fend off the alien invasion that is giddy in it’s energy and also feels like McGarvey is enjoying showing off a little bit.
Anna Karenina (2012)
Clip via Elena .Fairy
Oscar nomination #2 arrives when McGarvey reteamed with the director of Atonement (we feel they should continue to work together, because very good things happen when they do), but this time he lost out to Claudio Miranda’s work on Life Of Pi. However, Anna Karenina has been somewhat overlooked, with the full breath of its undertaking and unique visual style is definitely worth a revisit.
Godzilla (2014)
Clip via Cameron Sims
How do you even begin with a project like this, trying to film a creature that (A) isn’t really there, and (B) is bigger than most buildings? Well, you start from the ground, and work your way up. McGarvey and director Gareth Jennings cleverly keep Godzilla out of view for the majority of the movie, only giving terrified glimpses of the monster until the big reveal. And we mean BIG.
Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015)
Clip via ZedTV
Obviously the film isn’t great, but you can’t pin that on McGarvey, who was clearly trying to give it the same sexy, shiny, steel-y surface feel that we got from Basic Instinct a quarter of a century earlier. The clinical approach to the rich, cordoned off world of Mister Grey looks cold to the touch, but immediately enviable. And while the chemistry between the leads isn’t exactly top notch, McGarvey does make their sexy-time scenes seem somewhat… well… sexy.
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Clip via Movieclips Coming Soon
In a just world, McGarvey would have at least been nominated for his work here, under the eye of Tom Ford – one of the world’s most visually exacting human beings – you know this movie had to look incredible. And it does. From the caustic, icy reality of Amy Adams, to the dirty, humid world of the book she’s reading with Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead, McGarvey conjurs up a visual palette to help us better navigate through these two very different, but equally dangerous stories.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
