I was happy to see Alfonso Cuaron take home the Best Director Oscar for his work on Gravity, even if it’s only his third or fourth best film.

I’ve been a Cuaron fan since 2001’s Y Tu Mama Tambien, and an even bigger one after Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (the best book and film in the series) and especially Children of Men.

In all of those films, his fondness for long takes deepens the drama and heightens the viewer’s emotional connection with the characters. He did it on the shoestring budget of Y Tu Mama Tambien as effectively as he did with the next-generation VFX tech of Gravity.

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