Nikan
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Post by Nikan on Jan 4, 2024 11:56:57 GMT
There are overall great movies that are either considered great for one or more elements (Citizen Kane) and there are those where you can point out this scene, that scene there and after a dive the ending - the most important high note arguably - is a blast again... think of the "pause" with the French in Apocalypse Now before encountering Kurtz.
But there is a rare breed where the film starts OK and then surprising you, and just gets more surprising and better and better to leave you on a high you'd frankly think you were never going to experience again... or anytime soon...
What are your examples?
(tiny clarification: of course I don't mean on re-watches but a during a single viewing.)
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Post by ibbi on Jan 4, 2024 13:10:04 GMT
Past Lives. I was sure I was in for another Brooklyn, or another Mogul Mowgli, and while it is certainly vaguely Brooklynesque, the great thing about it is how effectively it manages to go its own unique way.
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Post by stephen on Jan 4, 2024 13:13:38 GMT
Titane. It's like Ducournau took her Raw cred and said "Okay, I'm going to make a Cronenberg-esque body horror film... but because everyone's expecting it to be well and truly fucked up, I am also going to add a heartbreaking storyline about familial loss and desperately clinging to an avatar of that loss no matter what logic says."
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 4, 2024 13:44:05 GMT
Anything starring Denzel Washngton apparently because you racists can't even judge how great he is until you've watched The Preacher's Wife 113 times. He's like Cary Grant....like Cary Grant dammit in a part in a remake that Cary Grant played. What, not funny? No it isn't because neither is he......anyhoo: * Obviously Mulholland Drive but less obviously - Gene Hackman in 1975's meisterbrau / Wienerschnitzel Night Moves. The mystery is (mostly) "unsolvable" - that's the point - the POV - what Hackman is told and how he perceives it, what he knows is true and the way he misconstrues what he thinks to be true - right down to its irresolute ending ...fnck....right down to that tagline (what the fnck does that even mean?) are a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an impossible to open wrapper. No, not exactly but it's kind of like that - it's REALLY great but that wrapper is a motherfncker to get off.....it's one of the few movies where I say if you've see it just once - you haven't seen it even......and since this is very much a guy's movie, in a guy's genre I suggest you get out of here you half a sissy before I give you a slap   |
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Post by Martin Stett on Jan 4, 2024 14:49:51 GMT
I don't quite understand. You talkin' about movies that start slowly and build to an awesome finale?
Perhaps the big one for me is Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring - it builds and builds until it can't get any more tense, and then SNAPS. And that's just the first half! The second movie does something similar, building towards a tragic ending - the difference being that this finale is inevitable, a domino effect consequence of decisions made throughout the two movies (and even decisions made before the narrative of the first film began).
Other movies of note include Star Wars and Amadeus
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Nikan
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Post by Nikan on Jan 4, 2024 15:21:57 GMT
I don't quite understand.  |
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Post by themoviesinner on Jan 4, 2024 17:04:53 GMT
The first one that comes to mind is Satantango (1994) and not because of it's sheer length, but it slowly builds it's sense of dread and the realization that you're witnessing life in a small town that has no future.
Another one is Alexander The Great (1980), a film that slowly develops it's themes towards an incredibly rich and unforgettable ending.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 4, 2024 17:40:23 GMT
Also - 2 recent ones - my #2 and #3 of 2022 - Tár and Decision To Leave which a lot of people will say suck but come on - did you see that body in the back corner of the frame in Tár? I mean I'm not saying little things like that make the movie better but that movie has a lot of visual cues that are quite hard to process even on 2 sittings.......and when you see them all - you're like "Wow" Both movies play with your expectations - of villains and heroes, guilty and innocent - and "no kissing" love story in the case of Decsion To Leave which is in effect much more about Death more than it is Love....like I used to think DtL was an underrated Park film - now I think it's one of his very best best  Both films have dazzling, puzzling endings - which I wasn't sure how I felt about at first and now think those endings make both of them tbh  |
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Post by TylerDeneuve on Jan 4, 2024 17:49:50 GMT
I'd say this applies to a film that I watched for the first time (!) today, 2011's Crazy, Stupid, Love. It's overstuffed and overlong, for sure (I think the babysitter subplot could have been cut entirely), and initially it seems to be confused as to what its message actually is, but the all-star cast is uniformly excellent and and their performances totally elevate it.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Jan 4, 2024 19:32:37 GMT
This was Skinamarink for me. While I was down with its experiment from the jump, I could feel myself in the early proceedings getting antsy for it to develop. Then it continues to put forth crumbs of story beats and fully envelops you in its dread before building to a last 20 minute stretch that is heartbreakingly terrifying.
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Jan 4, 2024 19:40:40 GMT
Burning
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Post by ThisIsNotAnID on Jan 5, 2024 1:04:13 GMT
It's what I consider the best crime movie White Heat. It just kept upping the ante, with criminals and law enforcement alternately finding more sophisticated ways to outsmart each other until the explosive ending.
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Nikan
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Post by Nikan on Jan 5, 2024 1:13:31 GMT
I watched Meek's Cutoff tonight for the first time... and while I wouldn't call it a great experience - those first 20 something minutes felt like Forever, and I was uninvolved to some degree throughout the first half... but once the overall picture is complete and you've witnessed that (surprising?) conclusion, you have to admit that was at least somewhat interesting. Ah, her works improve with second viewings usually. themoviesinner any thoughts on this? |
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Post by themoviesinner on Jan 5, 2024 7:40:32 GMT
I watched Meek's Cutoff tonight for the first time... and while I wouldn't call it a great experience - those first 20 something minutes felt like Forever, and I was uninvolved to some degree throughout the first half... but once the overall picture is complete and you've witnessed that (surprising?) conclusion, you have to admit that was at least somewhat interesting. Ah, her works improve with second viewings usually. themoviesinner any thoughts on this? It's among my all time favorites and a very interesting experience. In my opinion, the film is deliberately shot and paced that way so the viewer can feel and experience what the characters are, the exhausting treck through the vast desert, the pitch black nights where the moon and stars are the only sources of light, the increasing restlessness brought by the decreasing supplies and the doubt about a very uncertain future. The viewer can feel everything the characters feel because the movie gives only the information that the characters already have, so we are also questioned by the dilemma's they are facing. Can we trust Meek? Does he really know the way, or does his pride make him not admit that he is as lost as everyone else is? Can we trust the Indian that we can barely understand? And when the film ends we, the viewers, are faced with the biggest dilemma yet, what would we do, or how would we react when faced with a similar situation. The film wants us to be a part of the group of travelling settlers and perfectly achieves that goal. Masterful film. |
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