CineTributes: Peter Suschitzky
Some careers just speak for themselves... but I wouldn't be much of a blogger* if I didn't have something to say regardless. Peter Suschitzky is a modern-day titan of cinematography, yet arguably the best-known fact about him is that he's never once been nominated for the Best Cinematography Academy Award. Chalk that up to his eclectic filmography and highly idiosyncratic style, plus his apparent lack of concern for appealing to Oscar voters, but it's a snub that only gets snubbier the more you look at it.
Suschitzky has served as DP on all of David Cronenberg's features since he began to move away from out-and-out horror in the late 1980s. He's also collaborated multiple times with John Boorman and Peter Watkins, alongside providing the lensing for two of Ken Russell's '70s biopic extravaganzas, cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and none other than Star Wars Episode V. His imagery is among the most iconic in cinema history, yet he's rarely cited as among the leading figures in his art. So this CineTribute is a fitting one, to truly one of the most underrated cinematographers in that very same cinema history.
*Yes I know, I'm not much of a blogger
Films featured
The War Game, 1966
The Gladiators, 1969
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975
Lisztomania, 1975
Valentino, 1977
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, 1980
Krull, 1983
Dead Ringers, 1988
Where the Heart Is, 1990
Naked Lunch, 1991
M. Butterfly, 1993
Crash, 1996
Spider, 2002
A History of Violence, 2005
Eastern Promises, 2007
Cosmopolis, 2012
Maps to the Stars, 2014
Tale of Tales, 2015