Avatar (2009) Pandora at NightJake is rescued by Neytiri and led through the bio-luminescent
Pandoran landscape. With every touch the flora and fauna, and the ground itself, is lit up.
This is a literally breathtaking introduction to a new world.
Battle Royale (2000) Welcome to the GameKinji Fukasaku takes reality television to its ill and (il)logical conclusion. A class of school-children are shown an instructional, educational video - about how to kill and survive. The scariest thing is when terror wears a cute face. You can taste the sweaty dread throughout.
Chocolate (2008) Building Ledge FightA highly contrived situation, I admit, but what a contrivance! Our heroine, played by Jeeja Yanin, has a ferocious yet approachable tomboyish charisma that elevates the scene to a celebration of danger and broken bones.
The Company (2003) My Funny Valentine
Great post. Many here I haven't seen though some are upcoming in my 21st century series. Of the action sequences I've seen, Revolutions I thought a total dud (though the way you describe the sequence compels me and makes me want to revisit - though perhaps just that scene!) and Sith, while I liked it more than the first two prequels, still didn't quite match the resonance of the original trilogy for me.
ReplyDeleteBut I loved that sequence in War of the Worlds, and am delighted you included it! I was mystified as to how unresponsive critics and even many audience members seemed to be to Spielberg's old-fashioned sense of showmanship and entertainment, yet how ready they were to accept the lugubriousness of Peter Jackson. Go figure...
Btw, why no picture from the dinner scene in 4 Months? Kinda breaks up the visual pattern here...
On a last note, isn't it fun to make lists (particularly with pictures)? Offers a break from the rigor of analytical pieces, allows one to express the breadth of cinematic experience (which is one of the main draws for me), and reminds one to focus on the elements rather than the totality, which is often where much of the pleasure lies. Good stuff.
I'm gonna second support for War Of The Worlds; it's such a strange, beautiful horror film. I loved that scene in Knowing too (is it all one shot? I can't remember), it literally took my breath away in the mostly empty theater I saw it in. Also agree with The Company and Inland Empire, too of the most moving moments of the decade.
ReplyDeleteSome great choices here, Stephen. I've long loved that lecture scene from Notre Musique, one of my favorite later Godards. It's a startling moment where the director suddenly steps into the film and discourses, as much to us as to the audience in the film, about the things that are important to him in terms of imagery and ideas. It's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI also love the scenes you pick from Eastern Promises and INLAND EMPIRE. The former is really a great moment, this unexpected burst of tenderness and near-spirituality in the midst of this hard, cold movie. And pretty much any isolated moment from Lynch's surreal opus is worth picking out.
"On a last note, isn't it fun to make lists (particularly with pictures)? Offers a break from the rigor of analytical pieces, allows one to express the breadth of cinematic experience (which is one of the main draws for me), and reminds one to focus on the elements rather than the totality, which is often where much of the pleasure lies. Good stuff."
ReplyDeleteThanks MovieMan. Absolutely, I've always loved lists and finding the little diamonds in the rough.
"Btw, why no picture from the dinner scene in 4 Months? Kinda breaks up the visual pattern here..."
I can't find my DVD and there's no sign of a photo of that scene on the internet. It's frustrating but I'll remedy it in the near future.
"I loved that scene in Knowing too (is it all one shot? I can't remember), it literally took my breath away in the mostly empty theater I saw it in."
ReplyDeleteIt is all one shot, Doniphon.
Thank you, Ed.
ReplyDeletere Notre Musique I thought about going with the opening 'Hell' montage, which is also brilliant. To me it's the best Godard and whets my appetite for 'Socialisme' somewhat.
That Sprited Away train scene!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only one who loved it so much. I played it several times over, and came to the conclusion that I liked it so much because the real face and the reflection actually have two completely different expressions.
The first couple of incredible scenes for the decade that come to mind:
ReplyDelete-The El Silencio club in Mulholland Dr. Incredibly intense, dreamy stuff.
- The train robbery sequence in The Assassination of Jesse James
- The death of Pocahontas that closes The New World
- I don't know the name of the actual scene (I don't have the DVD handy at the moment to look), but the scene in The New World when John Smith goes out to trade with other tribes and the chief begins animatedly talking with him. The editing is incredible, as Smith becomes visibly shaken as his mind begins flashing to encounters with Pocahontas.
- Also, while most reading this (besides Doniphon) probably don't think much of the film, the shootout sequence that leads to the discovery of the severed body in The Black Dahlia is also really impressive.
Great idea for a post by the way, Stephen!
The Hell montage is equally stunning, Stephen, especially when seen as an outgrowth of Godard's work on Histoire(s) du cinema and related short films like the sublime On the Origin of the 21st Century. I also love the Heaven finale, which envisions Heaven as a place of beauty that is nevertheless protected on all sides by war and aggression: maybe an oblique comment on Israel, creating this supposed holy haven and then waging endless war to ensure its survival. It's a comment, too, on the fragility of aesthetic beauty.
ReplyDelete"The El Silencio club in Mulholland Dr. Incredibly intense, dreamy stuff."
ReplyDeleteDave, I may get shot down for this but I also love the Rebekah del Rio scene in Southland Tales (a film that like an awful lot) - that odd version of the Star Spangled Banner.
I still haven't got round to seeing The Black Dahlia. I should.
"Great idea for a post by the way, Stephen!"
Thanks. It also helps to shine a light on the great bits of weak films, so that the baby doesn't get thrown out with the bathwater. Nothing can be entirely dismissed out of hand. There's always something in a film that stays with you ,for good or ill.
"That Sprited Away train scene!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only one who loved it so much."
Ronak, if I had to choose a #1 it would be that.
Ed,
ReplyDelete"The Hell montage is equally stunning, Stephen, especially when seen as an outgrowth of Godard's work on Histoire(s) du cinema and related short films like the sublime On the Origin of the 21st Century."
The last decade or two of Godard's work can really be seen as one giant opus, ever growing and deepening - variations on a theme if you will. I love 'Dans le Noir du Temps' and Histoire(s) du Cinema sparked more thoughts than any other work of his. Endlessly stimulating.
"I also love the Heaven finale, which envisions Heaven as a place of beauty that is nevertheless protected on all sides by war and aggression: maybe an oblique comment on Israel, creating this supposed holy haven and then waging endless war to ensure its survival."
Oh indeed. But didn't you get the impression that this heaven was not only a cramped place (on that sliver of a beach) but a shallow one - skipping and beach balls and bohemian living.
Stephen,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous set here. Haven't seen many of these but couldn't agree more with Notre Musique and Battle Royale (What a quintessentially Japanese scene that is!)
As usual, wonderfully sorted, keenly observed and eloquently written.
Thank you very much, JAFB.
ReplyDelete"What a quintessentially Japanese scene that is!"
Absolutely!
Sorry for this abrupt deviation, but anyone knows how to subscribe to new posts in blogspot through email? I don't seem to find any way. And it really sucks.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Prior to this year, I've never seen so many different ways people were looking at films.
ReplyDeleteThe 1st scene that comes to my mind, because it was the 1st film to make any impression on me as a youngster, was Cocteau's Beauty And The Beast: when she cries, her tears turn into diamonds. Or, as she walks through the halls of the castle, every few feet arms swing out with candles on them, and as she passes they return and go out.
Sadly, not to many film sequences stay in my mind like those.
Maybe I'm getting too old ; )
Cheers!
My pleasure, Coffee Messiah.
ReplyDelete"The 1st scene that comes to my mind, because it was the 1st film to make any impression on me as a youngster, was Cocteau's Beauty And The Beast"
I haven't seen this. It sounds great. I've only seen Cocteau's 'Orpheus'.
very well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous.
ReplyDelete