Chloé Zhao has rocketed her way through Hollywood in the past few years. With her directing career starting in 2008, she went on to helm four short films. In 2015, her first feature film came out called Songs My Brother Taught Me, a film centering around an Indigenous family as they deal with grief and loss. Her next film was called The Rider, and is another film centered around grief, this time the loss of one’s passions, and learning how to cope through change, wrapped up with beautiful shots of the art of horseback riding. This film put her on the indie map and led her to her next film Nomadland. Critically acclaimed, it tells the story of a woman named Fern (played by Frances McDormand), a houseless but not homeless traveler who longs for community while searching for freedom and adventure. This film went onto win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and lead Zhao to be the first Asian woman director to win Best Director. After her nominations and wins, Marvel Studios then hired her for their new epic Eternals, with which she breaks the superhero format, creating a cinematic spectacle with a ton of heart.



Now, there is no doubt that Zhao knows how to create a heartfelt story with powerful characters and raw performances, but she has made a name for herself with the power of her visual storytelling as well. Using natural lighting techniques and beautiful shooting locations and partnering with expert cinematographers like Joshua James Richards and Ben Davis, Zhao has made sure the cinematography is character in itself. From stunning silhouettes to complicated composition, here are the best shots in a Chloé Zhao movie, ranked.

8 The Funeral — Songs My Brother Taught Me

The composition in this shot in Songs My Brother Taught Me makes it heart-wrenching. Jashaun (Jashaun St. John) looks off into the distance as her brother Johnny (John Reddy) hugs his girlfriend. This movie centers around Johnny’s indecision over moving to Los Angeles or staying at home on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He does not want to leave his sister, but he wants to find out for himself what else is in the world. The framing of this shot showcases what Johnny is going through: he has his girlfriend and clings to her for support, all while his sister is still with him and is looking for answers. This shot is a story in itself.

Related: Patton Oswalt Says Eternals 2 Is Happening with Director Chloe Zhao

7 Dinner — Nomadland

Zhao’s Nomadland is filled with incredible visuals. Taking place in the Dakotas and the Western part of the United States, the scenery is raw and majestic, allowing the audience to understand why all the characters would choose to live out of vans if this was their view for dinner. Fern and Dave (David Straitharn) look out over a great canyon while they sit in lawn chairs and casually eat their dinner. The juxtaposition in this shot of something so mundane and ordinary with something so grand brings out the theme of living by your own standards to a forefront.

Every Best Cinematography Oscar Winner of the 2010s, Ranked

6 Forgiveness — Eternals

In Zhao’s first Marvel feature Eternals, a great superhero epic, she was both revered and criticized. Many Marvel fans disliked that Zhao broke the MCU formula that had seemed to follow with their movies, and claimed that too much was happening in Eternals. While some of that may hold truth, Zhao broke the mold for a reason and presented the MCU as a moving painting with beautiful imagery and soul. In this shot, Ikaris and Sersi hold onto one another. They have spent so much time together and apart. Ikaris becomes a sort of anti-hero and believes he is doing the right thing, only to end up causing those he loves to hurt. This frame shows Sersi reaching out to a crying Ikaris, almost as a touch of forgiveness, even acceptance. A beautiful moment in the midst of all the action that comes with a superhero movie.

5 Druig Descends — Eternals

One of the most complex characters in Eternals was Druig, the mind-controlling member of the team, who was one of the first to break off from the “family”. In this scene, he descends from the pyramid that the rest of the Eternals have been trying to hide in, and refuses to stand by and watch as humanity succumbs to its weakness’ once more. This shot mixes Zhao’s love for silhouettes and the superhero staple of CGI in a beautiful, dramatic blend. As the Eternals were thought by the humans to be god-like entities, this shot also delves into the theme of Druig becoming more human, descending into the chaos instead of staying with his family.

4 The Fire — Songs My Brother Taught Me

Another staple of Zhao’s filmmaking is the artistic way of using lighting. Working in tandem with a gaffer and a cinematographer, directors have the vision and the team make it happen. Zhao has worked on all but one of her features with director of photography Joshua James Richards to make this wonderful staple in her movies where light highlights or shields in beautiful ways, just like in this shot in Songs My Brother Taught Me.

3 Contemplation — The Rider

Once again, Zhao knows how to use her surroundings well. With each film she makes, there is such a raw and realistic style in each scene, and that is because of the way she uses her landscape to her advantage. Using the lighting of the sunset, or the real sky, there is never a need for any artificial work in post-production. This shot is so majestic as the main character in The Rider is splitting the screen with the great mountain in the distance, showing how small he is in the grand scheme of things, but still framed to be bigger than the mountain.

2 Sersi — Eternals

This is the shot in the trailer of Eternals that immediately lets audiences know that this is in fact a Chloé Zhao movie, and just because it’s a comic book superhero movie and in the MCU, that does not mean she is going to lose her look. And she didn’t. Zhao still used her knowledge of lighting, and there is something so ethereal about this scene with Ikaris and a child, and Sersi in the center, bathed in sunlight. Once could also argue that the sun is coming from directly behind Ikaris, foreshadowing the later events in the film, and could prove that each shot has a purpose.

1 The Sunset — Nomadland

One of the most iconic and memorable shots from the Oscar Best Picture-Winner Nomadland. The beautiful sunset. The simplicity of Fern in her nightgown and lantern strolling through a field of long grass. Zhao knows how to make you feel what the character is feeling, and understand that though people may look to her life and not understand why she lives the way she does, they can at least feel along with her in this moment of beauty and peace.