Visions of Light (1992)

(6.99) based on 48 votes
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
Available in streaming on

Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.

Movies like Visions of Light

Apollo 11

A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.
Search similar movies
7.9
Apollo+11
Amarcord

In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior. Frequently clashing with his stern father and defended by his doting mother, Titta witnesses the actions of a wide range of characters, from his extended family to Fascist loyalists to sensual women, with certain moments shifting into fantastical scenarios.
Search similar movies
7.9
Amarcord
Joe Versus the Volcano

Hypochondriac Joe Banks finds out he has six months to live, quits his dead end job, musters the courage to ask his co-worker out on a date, and is then hired to jump into a volcano by a mysterious visitor.
Search similar movies
5.8
Joe+Versus+the+Volcano
Joe Versus the Volcano

1990

Search similar movies
Won't Back Down

Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Search similar movies
6.1
Won%27t+Back+Down
Won't Back Down

2012

Search similar movies
Raw

In Justine’s family everyone is a vet and a vegetarian. At 16, she’s a gifted teen ready to take on her first year in vet school, where her older sister also studies. There, she gets no time to settle: hazing starts right away. Justine is forced to eat raw meat for the first time in her life. Unexpected consequences emerge as her true self begins to form.
Search similar movies
7.0
Raw
Interstellar

The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
Search similar movies
8.5
Interstellar
Interstellar

2014

Search similar movies
BlacKkKlansman

Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
Search similar movies
7.5
BlacKkKlansman
BlacKkKlansman

2018

Search similar movies
Murder on the Orient Express

Genius Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of an American tycoon aboard the Orient Express train.
Search similar movies
6.7
Murder+on+the+Orient+Express
Murder on the Orient Express

2017

Search similar movies
Green Book

Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.
Search similar movies
8.2
Green+Book
Green Book

2018

Search similar movies
Me Before You

A small town girl is caught between dead-end jobs. A high-profile, successful man becomes wheelchair bound following an accident. The man decides his life is not worth living until the girl is hired for six months to be his new caretaker. Worlds apart and trapped together by circumstance, the two get off to a rocky start. But the girl becomes determined to prove to the man that life is worth living and as they embark on a series of adventures together, each finds their world changing in ways neither of them could begin to imagine.
Search similar movies
7.9
Me+Before+You
Me Before You

2016

Search similar movies
The Truman Show

Every second of every day, from the moment he was born, for the last thirty years, Truman Burbank has been the unwitting star of the longest running, most popular documentary-soap opera in history. The picture-perfect town of Seahaven that he calls home is actually a gigantic soundstage. Truman's friends and family - everyone he meets, in fact - are actors. He lives every moment under the unblinking gaze of thousands of hidden TV cameras.
Search similar movies
8.1
The+Truman+Show
The Truman Show

1998

Search similar movies
Aquaman

Half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry is taken on the journey of his lifetime to discover if he is worth of being a king.
Search similar movies
6.9
Aquaman
Get Out

Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
Search similar movies
7.6
Get+Out
The Revenant

In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.
Search similar movies
7.5
The+Revenant
The Revenant

2015

Search similar movies
The Shawshank Redemption

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
Search similar movies
8.7
The+Shawshank+Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Search similar movies
Venom

Investigative journalist Eddie Brock attempts a comeback following a scandal, but accidentally becomes the host of Venom, a violent, super powerful alien symbiote. Soon, he must rely on his newfound powers to protect the world from a shadowy organization looking for a symbiote of their own.
Search similar movies
6.8
Venom
Pulp Fiction

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
Search similar movies
8.5
Pulp+Fiction
Pulp Fiction

1994

Search similar movies
Avatar

In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.
Search similar movies
7.6
Avatar
Blade Runner

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
Search similar movies
7.9
Blade+Runner
Blade Runner

1982

Search similar movies
Vertigo

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
Search similar movies
8.2
Vertigo
Annihilation

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.
Search similar movies
6.4
Annihilation
Annihilation

2018

Search similar movies
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Thirty years after defeating the Galactic Empire, Han Solo and his allies face a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren and his army of Stormtroopers.
Search similar movies
7.3
Star+Wars%3A+The+Force+Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

2015

Search similar movies
Marriage Story

A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.
Search similar movies
7.7
Marriage+Story
Marriage Story

2019

Search similar movies
Godzilla Minus One

In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.
Search similar movies
7.6
Godzilla+Minus+One
Godzilla Minus One

2023

Search similar movies
Django Unchained

With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
Search similar movies
8.2
Django+Unchained
Django Unchained

2012

Search similar movies
Avengers: Endgame

After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War, the universe is in ruins due to the efforts of the Mad Titan, Thanos. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers must assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe once and for all, no matter what consequences may be in store.
Search similar movies
8.2
Avengers%3A+Endgame
Avengers: Endgame

2019

Search similar movies
Arrival

Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
Search similar movies
7.6
Arrival
A Clockwork Orange

In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to crack down on juvenile crime, gives an incarcerated Alex the option to undergo an invasive procedure that'll rob him of all personal agency. In a time when conscience is a commodity, can Alex change his tune?
Search similar movies
8.2
A+Clockwork+Orange
A Clockwork Orange

1971

Search similar movies
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Rey develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker, who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares to do battle with the First Order.
Search similar movies
6.8
Star+Wars%3A+The+Last+Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

2017

Search similar movies
Fight Club

A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
Search similar movies
8.4
Fight+Club
Fight Club

1999

Search similar movies
Joker

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Search similar movies
8.1
Joker
The Godfather

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
Search similar movies
8.7
The+Godfather
The Godfather

1972

Search similar movies
Gangs of New York

In early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting's inner circle. Vallon's journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people.
Search similar movies
7.3
Gangs+of+New+York
Gangs of New York

2002

Search similar movies
Deadpool 2

Wisecracking mercenary Deadpool battles the evil and powerful Cable and other bad guys to save a boy's life.
Search similar movies
7.5
Deadpool+2
Deadpool 2

2018

Search similar movies
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

In 1926, Newt Scamander arrives at the Magical Congress of the United States of America with a magically expanded briefcase, which houses a number of dangerous creatures and their habitats. When the creatures escape from the briefcase, it sends the American wizarding authorities after Newt, and threatens to strain even further the state of magical and non-magical relations.
Search similar movies
7.3
Fantastic+Beasts+and+Where+to+Find+Them
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

2016

Search similar movies
Soul

Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.
Search similar movies
8.1
Soul
Knives Out

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.
Search similar movies
7.8
Knives+Out
Knives Out

2019

Search similar movies
A Star Is Born

Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers — and falls in love with — struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer — until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.
Search similar movies
7.5
A+Star+Is+Born
A Star Is Born

2018

Search similar movies
1917

At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.
Search similar movies
8.0
1917
Kill Bill: Vol. 1

An assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.
Search similar movies
8.0
Kill+Bill%3A+Vol.+1
Kill Bill: Vol. 1

2003

Search similar movies
The Five Obstructions

Lars von Trier challenges his mentor, filmmaker Jørgen Leth, to remake Leth’s 1967 short film The Perfect Human five times, each with a different set of bizarre and challenging rules.
Search similar movies
6.9
The+Five+Obstructions
The Five Obstructions

2003

Search similar movies
A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner

Born in Berlin in 1896, Lotte Eisner became famous for her passionate involvement in the world of both German and French cinema. In 1936, together with Henri Langlois, she founded the Cinémathèque Française with the goal of saving from destruction films, costumes, sets, posters, and other treasures of the 7th Art. A Jew exiled in Paris, she became a pillar of the capital's cultural scene, where she promoted German cinema.
Search similar movies
8.5
A+Life+for+Movies%3A+Lotte+Eisner
A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner

2021

Search similar movies
Heckler

HECKLER is a comedic feature documentary exploring the increasingly critical world we live in. After starring in a film that was critically bashed, Jamie Kennedy takes on hecklers and critics and ask some interesting questions of people such as George Lucas, Bill Maher, Mike Ditka, Rob Zombie, Howie Mandel and many more. This fast moving, hilarious documentary pulls no punches as you see an uncensored look at just how nasty and mean the fight is between those in the spotlight and those in the dark.
Search similar movies
6.0
Heckler
Cannes : Palmes, scandales et tapis rouge

How could the Cannes Film Festival become the biggest cinema event in the world? For 75 years, Cannes has succeeded in this prodigy of placing cinema, its sometimes paltry splendors but also its requirements of great modern art, at the center of everything, as if, for ten days in May, nothing was more important than it. This film tells how Cannes has become the largest film festival in the world by opening up to cinematic modernity while never forgetting that cinema remains a performing art, a popular art.
Search similar movies
8.0
Cannes+%3A+Palmes%2C+scandales+et+tapis+rouge
Cannes : Palmes, scandales et tapis rouge

2022

Search similar movies
Room 999

In 1982, Wim Wenders asked 16 of his fellow directors to speak on the future of cinema, resulting in the film Room 666. Now, 40 years later, in Cannes, director Lubna Playoust asks Wim Wenders himself and a new generation of filmmakers (James Gray, Rebecca Zlotowski, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, Nadav Lapid, Asghar Farhadi, Alice Rohrwacher and more) the same question: “is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?”
Search similar movies
5.8
Room+999
King Cohen

A feature-length documentary focusing on the acclaimed work and eclectic career of maverick filmmaker Larry Cohen, writer-director of "Black Caesar," "It's Alive," "God Told Me To," "Q," "The Stuff," and many more.
Search similar movies
6.6
King+Cohen
King Cohen

2018

Search similar movies
His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th

A retrospective documentary about the groundbreaking horror series, Friday the 13th, featuring interviews with cast and crew from the twelve films spanning 3 decades.
Search similar movies
6.8
His+Name+Was+Jason%3A+30+Years+of+Friday+the+13th
His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th

2010

Search similar movies
Die Zeit meines Lebens - Dirty Dancing in Ost und West

In 1987, a small film distributor from Frankfurt/Main brings the film "Dirty Dancing" to West German cinemas against all negative odds. The film becomes the hit of the year, in complete contrast to France, where foreign films have a hard time against the local film landscape.
Search similar movies
8.0
Die+Zeit+meines+Lebens+-+Dirty+Dancing+in+Ost+und+West
Die Zeit meines Lebens - Dirty Dancing in Ost und West

2022

Search similar movies
Uma Thurman: Hollywood's Silent Warrior

A portrait of American actress Uma Thurman, muse of legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and courageous voice for the many victims of despotic producer Harvey Weinstein.
Search similar movies
7.3
Uma+Thurman%3A+Hollywood%27s+Silent+Warrior
Uma Thurman: Hollywood's Silent Warrior

2024

Search similar movies
The Dinosaur

Acclaimed Finnish director Rauni Mollberg made several scandalous yet widely appreciated films. Former co-worker Veikko Aaltonen’s eye-opening documentary The Dinosaur looks at the relentless, often disturbing directing techniques behind Mollberg’s art and success.
Search similar movies
6.6
The+Dinosaur
The Dinosaur

2021

Search similar movies
Toutânkhamon, le trésor redécouvert

The legendary treasure of Tutankhamun, which contains over 5,000 objects, including 2,000 pieces of jewelry and goldsmith's work, was discovered in 1922 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter. Now the pharaoh's treasure reveals a new secret: hidden traces of a mysterious pharaohess. In addition, a British archaeologist is said to have stolen some of the grave goods...
Search similar movies
7.9
Tout%C3%A2nkhamon%2C+le+tr%C3%A9sor+red%C3%A9couvert
Toutânkhamon, le trésor redécouvert

2019

Search similar movies
Ballad of a Righteous Merchant

Chronicles the making of director Werner Herzog’s 2009 feature, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, providing profound insight into the director and his craft. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done was inspired by the true story of an actor who committed in reality the crime he was supposed to enact on stage: murdering his mother. With longtime friend Herbert Golder behind the lens, Herzog reveals the privacy and deep solitude that defines the director and his art.
Search similar movies
2.0
Ballad+of+a+Righteous+Merchant
Ballad of a Righteous Merchant

2017

Search similar movies
Boundless

As Hong Kong's foremost filmmaker, Johnnie To himself becomes the protagonist of this painstaking documentary exploring him and his Boundless world of film. A film student from Beijing and avid Johnnie To fan, Ferris Lin boldly approached To with a proposal to document the master director for his graduation thesis. To agreed immediately and Lin's camera closely followed him for over two years, capturing the man behind the movies and the myths. The result is Boundless, a candid profile of one of Hong Kong's greatest directors and a heartfelt love letter to Hong Kong cinema.
Search similar movies
7.5
Boundless
Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature

A documentary that focuses on Hayao Miyazaki’s deep connection to nature and the environmental themes expressed through his films.
Search similar movies
Miyazaki%2C+Spirit+of+Nature
Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature

2025

Search similar movies
Jean-Pierre Léaud: The Child of Cinema

A portrait of the legendary actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, icon of the French New Wave and closely linked to the work of François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Goddard.
Search similar movies
7.7
Jean-Pierre+L%C3%A9aud%3A+The+Child+of+Cinema
Jean-Pierre Léaud: The Child of Cinema

2024

Search similar movies
That Guy Dick Miller

Documentary about veteran character actor Dick Miller, whose career in and outside of Hollywood has spanned almost 200 films across six decades, featuring a diverse range of interviews with directors, co-stars, and contemporaries.
Search similar movies
7.0
That+Guy+Dick+Miller
That Guy Dick Miller

2014

Search similar movies
Andrey Zvyagintsev. The Director

Portrait of director Andrey Zvyagintsev against the background of the filming of his film "Loveless".
Search similar movies
7.0
Andrey+Zvyagintsev.+The+Director
Andrey Zvyagintsev. The Director

2017

Search similar movies
Altman

Robert Altman's life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist. With its use of rare interviews, representative film clips, archival images, and musings from his family and most recognizable collaborators, Altman is a dynamic and heartfelt mediation on an artist whose expression, passion and appetite knew few bounds.
Search similar movies
6.5
Altman
Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental

Pixar director Peter Sohn takes viewers on a humorous personal journey through the inspiration behind Disney and Pixar’s feature film “Elemental.” “Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental” traces his parents’ voyage from Korea to New York, explores his dad’s former grocery shop in the heart of the Bronx, and delves into his choice of a career in animation, rather than the family business.
Search similar movies
7.0
Good+Chemistry%3A+The+Story+of+Elemental
Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental

2023

Search similar movies
The Lot of Fun: Hollywood’s Fun Factory

A documentary about film producer Hal Roach.
Search similar movies
7.0
The+Lot+of+Fun%3A+Hollywood%E2%80%99s+Fun+Factory
The Lot of Fun: Hollywood’s Fun Factory

2014

Search similar movies
Heirs of the Beast

The story of the making and subsequent success of The Day of the Beast, the Spanish cult film directed by Álex de la Iglesia and released in 1995.
Search similar movies
6.0
Heirs+of+the+Beast
Heirs of the Beast

2016

Search similar movies