Annette Bening and Julianne Moore star in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right. Photo: Suzanne Tenner
Lisa Cholodenko on the set of The Kids Are All Right. Photo: Suzanne Tenner
Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson star in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right. Photo: Suzanne Tenner
Annette Bening and Julianne Moore star in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right. Photo: Suzanne Tenner
The Kids Are All Right, nominated for four Oscars®, is director Lisa Cholodenko’s paean to family life, with a twist: the parents in this family unit are both women. Complicating matters, the adolescent children track down the man whose anonymous donations made their conception possible. The parents are played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, and the laid back restaurateur who enters their world is portrayed by Mark Ruffalo.
Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon, Cavedweller, High Art) wanted the main character in the story to be the family unit. Their relations are warm and loving, but far from perfect. Their surroundings, as imagined by production designer Julie Berghoff, were designed to have a similar ring of truth. The entire movie was filmed at practical locations in the Los Angeles area. The cinematography dovetailed with this approach.
Cinematographer Igor Jadue-Lillo was born in Chile and raised in Argentina and Mexico. He studied journalism and crewed for Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC before moving to the U.K. to earn a master’s degree at the London Film School. He began his professional career as a cinematographer by shooting dozens of music videos before moving into features and commercials for major clients like Nike, Toyota, and Nintendo. His feature credits include Valparaiso, Passengers, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and The Low Down, which netted him a British Independent Film Award for Best Newcomer in 2000.
Jadue-Lillo says that he and Cholodenko, who were recommended to each other by mutual friends, bonded immediately upon meeting. “After ten minutes, she looked me in the eye, and despite the fact that I was the first person she had interviewed for cinematographer, offered me the job. We immediately left the office and began studying the script and the world in which the movie unfolds. That instinctual trust was very refreshing.”
Initial conversations centered on how emotion and drama is created in classic films like The Graduate (1967), photographed by Robert Surtees, ASC. “Then we discussed The Kids Are All Right, and planned out how we could apply those lessons to this story,” says Jadue-Lillo.
“We wanted our cinematographic choices to recreate the feeling of a real family home in the San Fernando Valley. We wanted to be truthful about the sun, the light and the vibe of Los Angeles. We stayed with wider lenses to draw the audience in and make them feel as though they are in these spaces. Camera movement was done smoothly, with a dolly, except for a couple of scenes where we wanted to communicate tension or unease.”
These considerations led the filmmakers to choose 35 mm film in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio as the origination format. “Lisa and producer Jeffrey Levy-Hinte are classic filmmakers who love the organic look and feel of film,” says Jadue-Lillo. “Also, from a practical standpoint, we only had 21 days, and 35 mm film allowed us to shoot very efficiently. We had to recreate sunlight in many practical locations to consistently get that feeling of sunny Los Angeles out the windows. Film helped us do that quickly and realistically.”
The film stock was KODAK VISION2 Expression 500T Color Negative Film 5229. Jadue-Lillo says that a digital format was never seriously considered. “I knew I was working with filmmakers who appreciate celluloid – the grain and the organic feeling of film,” says Jadue-Lillo. “No video or HD format can equal what film can do visually. Film images, especially portraits of actors, are unique and magical. Film brings so much latitude into the post process. Digital tools are evolving, but when it comes to what is possible photographically, film is still the best.”
Most scenes were filmed with a single camera, usually an ARRICAM LT, and Zeiss prime lenses with 20, 21 or 27 mm focal lengths used most often. The film was planned for an optical, photochemical post path, but interest from Sundance and other opportunities that necessitated digital projection put time pressure on the filmmakers and led them to a digital intermediate. Because Jadue-Lillo has photographed with a traditional post path in mind, the DI took merely three days.
“When you have a movie that is based on emotions and characters, you don’t need to do much manipulation of the images in post,” says Jadue-Lillo. “The important thing is the connection between the actors and the audience, and that connection is primarily the achievement of Lisa and the cast.”
Acknowledging the film’s Academy Award® nomination for Best Picture, Jadue-Lillo says, “The Kids Are All Right is a tiny little movie that has now become a big movie, thanks to the hard work of Lisa, Jeffrey and the terrific cast. It’s a great story, and I’m very happy to have been a part of it.”
