At the age of 18, Christopher Doyle, left his birth country – Australia. He traveled the world on a merchant navy ship for the next three years. Then, he became a drifter, living in India, Thailand and Israel till he landed in Taiwan. Here he got acquainted with a group of intellectuals, one of whom – the director Edward Yang – asked him to cinematograph his film. The result, ‘The Day On The Beach’, won the best cinematographer plaque at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival. This beginners luck scared Doyle.

So, off he went to France to study cinematography. But he realized that the only way to really learn is by working, making mistakes and learning from them. He left the course midway. It is the creation that comes from this frankness of spirit, the alacrity to throw away rules books that has gives Doyle a rare edge over contemporaries and ensured his place in cinematic history.

Christopher Doyle is the man behind some of the most stunning cinematic images of the past two decades, be it in the mood evoking action sequences of ‘Hero’ starring Jet Li, or the pastiche of colours oozing melancholy in ‘In The Mood For Love’. If there is one guy who can make an audience’s mood dance to colour and light on screen, it is him. 

For Doyle, breaking norms is as much a personal habit, as it is cinematic. An outspoken man with a dark sense of humour, he is known to light up any conversation with his sarcasms and wit. Unlike his contemporaries, he rarely watches films.

Doyle’s best works, that gave the world some of the most visually stunning cinema ever, came from a unique friendship. This is the man the world knows as Wong Kar Wai. Together the two have lit up the cinematic screen for scores of films in over a decade and a half, beginning with the awe-inspiring visual splendour of ‘Chungking Express’, and continuing it with films like ‘Ashes of Time’, ‘Happy Together’, ‘In the Mood For Love’ and ‘2046’. These internationally awarded movies are known today, as much for Doyle’s masterful cinematography, as they are for Wai’s direction.

Doyle’s international acclaim hit the rooftops with worldwide commercial success of the Chinese martial arts spectacle, ‘Hero’, starring Jet Li. Outside Asia, Doyle has worked for director Gus Van Sant in the colour remake of ‘Psycho’ and the latest Cannes winner ‘Paranoid Park’. He has also shot with Jon Favreau in ‘Made’ and Barry Levinson in ‘Liberty Heights’.

Doyle considers his job to be that of a word killer, to show emotions and moods using images, colours and visuals. Hence, when the directorial bug hit him in 1999, he aptly named it ‘Away With Words’ – a visually stunning mélange of thoughts, emotions and images, with expectedly, very few dialogues.  

With some of the most visually captivating body of work, Christopher Doyle has become the first cinematographer in history, to often have a name bigger than the directors he works with. Yet, what he would be remembered most for, is lending the southeast Asian Film movement, the emerging new wave of Asia cinema, his frenzied and blurry images made of saturated colour and often filled with grandiose historical vistas.

© Palador Pictures Pvt. Ltd., 2008