ALL HAIL THE NETFLIX KING AND CINEMATOGRAPHIC WIZARD

Four Ways Adam Arkapaw Showcases His Cinematographic Genius

Featuring examples uncovered from True Detective, unearthed from Macbeth, and won from The King

Robin Nemesszeghy
11 min readNov 28, 2019

--

The young King Henry V (Timothée Chalamet) preparing his troops for battle in The King (2019)

The fact of Adam Arkapaw being a cinematic master? The case was closed with True Detective (2014). If you’ve ever feasted your eyes on this brilliant HBO drama with its bleak, barren landscapes and cutting edge shots (including the famous six minute single-take tracking shot), you’ve already had your mesmerizing introduction to the cinematic artistry of Australian cinematographer Adam Arkapaw.

Chances are, you may have already seen some of Arkapaw’s former works: Animal Kingdom (2010), The Snowtown Murders (2011), Macbeth (2015), The Light Between Oceans (2016) or Assassin’s Creed (2016). But Netflix recently released his newest masterpiece: The King (2019). It’s certainly well worth the watch (even a re-watch) if you enjoy movies that patiently break down character behaviour and motivation in insightful and methodical ways. Both True Detective and The King expertly examine different character philosophies, delving deep into character psyches to showcase what lies within their minds. The characters either possess or are introduced to bleak…

--

--

Robin Nemesszeghy

Little Red Bird, flitting around to deliver words to the page | Creative Thinker & Writer | MBTI Specialist & Personality Coach | Editor & Book Coach