Cinematographer Edward Lachman is perhaps best known for his collaborations with the filmmaker Todd Haynes. Across their decades-long creative partnership, he has lensed Haynes' films Far From Heaven and Carol — for which he received Oscar nominations in 2003 and 2016 — as well as I'm Not There, Wonderstruck, and The Velvet Underground.
Haynes is just one of the many revered filmmakers that have enlisted Lachman's eye; the DP has shot films for everyone from Werner Herzog (La Soufrière) and Wim Wenders (Tokyo-Ga) to Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides) and Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich). However, Lachman had been hoping to work with Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín ever since he saw 2008's Tony Manero.
"I've always been fascinated by how Pablo's films portray and examine Chilean society in the '70s," he says. "Even his films set outside of Chile, the psychological, female-led stories of Jackie and Spencer allow him to still examine the kinds of societies that those women lived in."
Lachman finally got the opportunity to work with Larraín on El Conde, a black-and-white film about the notorious Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet. It is not a biopic, though. El Conde is a comedy that reimagines Pinochet as an immortal, 250-year-old vampire. "It's a film that looks at how metaphorically and literally the blood was taken politically, culturally, and socially out of Chile and its people by Pinochet," notes Lachman. "It's an allegorical, satirical comedy."
For his work on El Conde, Lachman received his third Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography at the 96th Oscars. He and Larraín have already reteamed on their second collaboration, a biopic about opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie.
Below, Lachman shares with A.frame five films that he hopes will introduce viewers to new voices. "I'm always looking for films that are off the radar a little. I travel a lot, and I try to see films wherever I am when I can," Lachman explains. "I go to a lot of smaller festivals, because they're all interesting. They have films that can excite people, even if they exist outside of what they might usually look for or see."
Directed by: Ena Sendijarević | Cinematography by: Emo Weemhoff
During the pandemic, I started to really look at films from all over the world. I work as much in the U.S. as I do outside of it, so I know a lot of European directors, but I'm always interested in looking at new work from younger, up-and-coming filmmakers. They always inspire me. I thought that I would name some movies with that in mind, and the first one is Take Me Somewhere Nice, which is the first feature film from this young Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker named Ena Sendijarević. It's an absolutely remarkable first film from a really interesting director.
Directed by: Savanah Leaf | Cinematography by: Jody Lee Lipes
Earth Mama is a beautifully made film that came out last year and was written and directed by Savanah Leaf, a first-time filmmaker. Jody Lee Lipes shot it, and it's just a beautifully told film. The camera is very present in an unobtrusive way, but stylistically it's also very rigorous in how it tells the film's story. The movie is exquisite, and I think people are going to keep discovering it as the years go on and Savanah keeps making films. More people will find out what a beautiful, well-realized movie it is.
Directed by: Juraj Lerotić | Cinematography by: Marko Brdar
Safe Place is Juraj Lerotić's first feature film, and there's something really remarkable about it. The movie is about Juraj's brother's real-life suicide attempt. That sounds depressing, I know, but when he was casting the film, he could never find someone to play himself, because it's about his actual relationship with his brother. So, Juraj cast himself in the role. You follow the two characters, and throughout the film, you get to really see their entire relationship. You watch Juraj, playing himself and trying to save his brother, and it's remarkable. It's beautifully, simply and exquisitely realized and brought to life through the camera.
Directed and Cinematography by: Gianfranco Rosi
Notturno is one of the more recent films from this incredible Italian filmmaker named Gianfranco Rosi. He's like a one-man crew, because he shot the film and did the sound himself. He spent three years in the Middle East making it, and the movie is very much about the Middle East, but it's also about much more than that. He often finds characters that represent the world he's depicting, and the portraits he paints always end up being extremely varied.
Directed by: Adam Curtis | Cinematography by: David Barker and William Sowerby
The Century of the Self is a compilation documentary that was made in England by Adam Curtis. He's made a number of remarkable films, and he's just a brilliant filmmaker. He makes these incredible compilation movies about society and cultural movements, and I think all of his work is really interesting.
