Wave hello to Andrea Arnold. I took your advice and saw Wuthering Heights which was directed by her. And I agree. The photography was superb, all that movement and shallow depth of field, close focus and darkness. But doesn't it get a bit irksome after a while? Especially the hand held look. It ends up becoming the focus of the film at the expense of plot and character. Good photography should compliment and enhance a story, not dominate it. But perhaps it's what cinema audiences want these days: style over substance. It was the same with Tinker Tailor, and you only have to watch Guinness's performance in the original version to recognise that photography does not alone make a great movie (despite coming close in The Third Man).
Look at Carlos Reygadas's Silent Light as an example. A perfect balance between character, story, and photography.
