This is it. Our final entry in our annual Year in Review series the #2017Rewind. We’ve saved the best for last especially for our readers and followers who have long adored the work of One Perfect Shot. In the year-plus that we’ve been in charge of the One Perfect Shot brand, we’ve learned a great deal about what these followers love, hate, and believe in when it comes to celebrating the beauty of cinema. It’s important to recognize that this list below belongs as much to our wonderful followers — many of whom made suggestions for this list — as it does for us.
That said, it was up to the FSR/OPS team to finalize this list and we’re very happy with the results. Below you will find shots that represent standalone beauty in cinema, shots that recall specific emotions from some of the year’s most powerful films, and a few that you may not have seen before. We dug deep. But we also have a few disclaimers and stray observations:
- Each film is limited to one shot for the purposes of this list. Otherwise, it would be a bunch of shots from Blade Runner 2049 drowning out everything else. That movie is beautiful.
- We did not see every movie in 2017, so this is by no means a perfect representation of everything. We did see a lot of movies though, so it’s pretty comprehensive.
- There are films from which the best shots aren’t currently available. For example, there’s a shot we love from The Last Jedi that is both not available to us and a massive spoiler. You know the one. We couldn’t have that one, so we picked another shot we love, instead. Phantom Thread is also in this category.
- We are aware that a number of these shots include visual effects elements. Shout out to all the VFX wizards who made them possible.
- The list includes plenty of the cinematographers we’ve long admired — Roger Deakins, Bill Pope, Larry Fong, Darius Khondji, Rachel Morrison. But it also includes a bunch of exciting newcomers, including Toby Oliver, Alexis Zabe, Elisha Christian, and Matthew Jensen. We can’t wait to see what these DPs do next.
- We also can’t wait to chat with you about all of these picks. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, where we’re be sharing them all individually in the coming days.
- We’re sure we missed a few and we know you’ll all be more than happy to tell us about it. 😉
47 Meters Down
DP: Mark Silk ⏐ Director: Johannes Roberts
A Cure for Wellness
DP: Bojan Bazelli ⏐ Director: Gore Verbinski
A Fantastic Woman
DP: Benjamin Echazarreta ⏐ Director: Sebastian Lelio
A Ghost Story
DP: Andrew Droz Palermo ⏐ Director: David Lowery
Baby Driver
DP: Bill Pope ⏐ Director: Edgar Wright
The Beguiled
DP: Philippe Le Sourd ⏐ Director: Sofia Coppola
Beauty and the Beast
DP: Tobias Schliessler ⏐ Director: Bill Condon
Blade of the Immortal
DP: Nobuyasu Kita ⏐ Director: Takashi Miike
Blade Runner 2049
DP: Roger Deakins ⏐ Director: Denis Villeneuve
Call Me By Your Name
DP: Syombhu Mukdeeprom ⏐ Director: Luca Guadagnino
Coco
DP: Matt Aspbury, Danielle Feinberg ⏐ Director: Lee Unkrich
Columbus
DP: Elisha Christian ⏐ Director: Kogonada
Dave Made a Maze
DP: Jon Boal ⏐ Director: Bill Watterson
The Devil’s Candy
DP: Simon Chapman ⏐ Director: Sean Byrne
Dunkirk
DP: Hoyte Van Hoytema ⏐ Director: Christopher Nolan
The Florida Project
DP: Alexis Zabe ⏐ Director: Sean Baker
Foxtrot
DP: Giora Bejach ⏐ Director: Samiel Maoz
Get Out
DP: Toby Oliver ⏐ Director: Jordan Peele
Good Time
DP: Sean Price Williams ⏐ Director: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
DP: Henry Braham ⏐ Director: James Gunn
It
DP: Chung-hoon Chung ⏐ Director: Andy Muschietti
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
DP: Thimios Bakatakis ⏐ Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Kong: Skull Island
DP: Larry Fong ⏐ Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Lady Bird
DP: Sam Levy ⏐ Director: Greta Gerwig
The Lost City of Z
DP: Darius Khondji ⏐ Director: James Gray
Loving Vincent
DP: Tristan Oliver, Lukasz Zal ⏐ Director: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman
mother!
DP: Matthew Libatique ⏐ Director: Darren Aronofsky
Mudbound
DP: Rachel Morrison ⏐ Director: Dee Rees
Raw
DP: Ruben Impens ⏐ Director: Julia Ducournau
The Shape of Water
DP: Dan Laustsen ⏐ Director: Guillermo del Toro
Spider-Man: Homecoming
DP: Salvatore Totino ⏐ Director: Jon Watts
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
DP: Steve Yedlin ⏐ Director: Rian Johnson
Super Dark Times
DP: Eli Born ⏐ Director: Kevin Phillips
T2 Trainspotting
DP: Anthony Dod Mantle ⏐ Director: Danny Boyle
Thelma
DP: Jakob Ihre ⏐ Director: Joachim Trier
Thor: Ragnarok
DP: Javier Aguirresarobe ⏐ Director: Taika Waititi
The Villainess
DP: Jung-hun Park ⏐ Director: Byung-gil Jung
War for the Planet of the Apes
DP: Michael Seresin ⏐ Director: Matt Reeves
Wonder Woman
DP: Matthew Jensen ⏐ Director: Patty Jenkins
