Theatre vs cinema

"In my opinion, manga is very cinematic and three-dimensional. When people compose panels, it’s like they’re aware of where the cameras are positioned, whereas illustration in the west is more like a play, with fewer close-ups and the camera at eye level."


Fumio Obata 

This was interesting. It got me thinking about how much cinema has actually influenced the visual arts. I just take it for granted that the influence of cinema is everywhere, has saturated every art form,  but Obata is implying that western visual culture is more static and traditional. More like theatre than cinema? I read this and then looked up at my painting on the wall and, yes, it is at eye-level (strangely, I spend a lot of time taking perspective out as far as possible; eye-level all the way up and down, is how I think about it). And, yes, although I'm primarily influenced by film stills and old paintings, I can see what he's saying about the staticness, at least in my images.
I suppose, I'm thinking; Why don't I want to use the moving camera? The dramatic, expressionistic looking-up or looking-down viewpoints. I don't, do I? The film stills that appeal to me are, as Obata said, at eye-level and not super-close-up.
I have been thinking recently about the quality of film stills as opposed to other forms of photograhy and other images. Why are they so interesting?