Cinematography is a vital aspect of great filmmaking.

This is nirvana for cinephile nerds and remains a stunning achievement to this day.

Cillian Murphy’s silhouette against an explosion in Oppenheimer

Image via Universal Pictures

A young woman under a parasol in Memoirs of a Geisha

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

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Nitta Sayuri reveals how she transcended her fishing-village roots and became one of Japan’s most celebrated geisha.

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Paul Bäumer, played by Felix Kammerer in All Quiet on the Western Front

Image Via Netflix

All Quiet on the Western Front

Two warriors fighting among the trees in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Image via Sony Pictures Classics

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Movie Poster

A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.

Jack Aubrey on a ship looking to the distance in Master and Commander

Image via 20th Century Studios

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During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.

Gary Oldman as Mank in Mank.

Image via Netflix

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1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane (1941).

The faun talking to Ofelia in Pan’s Labyrinth

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

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In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

Hugo and isabelle in a movie theater in Hugo (2011).

Image via Paramount Pictures

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In 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

Dev Patel as Jamal, looking surprised while confetti falls around him in Slumdog Millionaire.

Image via Pathé Distribution

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Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes leans on a plane in The Aviator

Image via Miramax Films

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A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s.

Oppenheimer