ROBBY MŰLLER

4 Jul

(4 April 1940 - 3 July 2018)

The Dutch cinematographer, who has died aged 78 from vascular dementia, had a preference for black-and-white photography as he believed that “the absence of colour can be a stronger factor than the presence of colour.” Known as the Master of Light, he worked often with such directors as Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Lars von Trier. Starting his film career in 1965 he shot some shorts and TV movies until Jonathan (1970), Hans W. Geissendörfer’s adaptation of a Bram Stoker novel. For Wenders he shot Summer in the City, The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty, The Scarlet Letter, Alice in the Cities, The Wrong Move, Kings of the Road, The American Friend and Paris, Texas. Műller also worked with other directors including Peter Bogdanovich on Saint Jack and They All Laughed, Alex Cox on Repo Man, with Jim Jarmusch on Down By Law, Mystery Train, Ghost Dog, Coffee and Cigarettes and Dead Man, and with Lars von Trier on Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark, among many others. In his fifty-year career, Robby Műller won many awards for his cinematography: in all nearly thirty nominations and fifteen wins.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

ROBBY MŰLLER

CLAUDE LANZMANN

LILIANE MONTEVECCHI