|
Post by pacinoyes on May 7, 2020 9:36:54 GMT
The "wrap-around" or "bookend" film ending where the first scene is repeated but with context altered or adjusted as it is elongated - we see more - and maybe best exemplified to me by Pulp Fiction (1994) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)Both very memorable endings to great films imo that also have things in them you might miss and if you miss them.....well they STILL work anyway: In the first - the most profound moment - is actually not in the dialog. It is in our realization that one of the two lead characters will not be alive much beyond this scene - because one character does NOT make a choice that the other one does make. In the second film, the connections to "the present" are even more subtle and in some ways cruel - the lead character - in the expansion of the scene at the end - sees the whole future go by him (yeah Bob Dylan was that great, he was the whole future, still is ) and the Coens mock Llewyn with a cruel joke and maybe a touch of sympathy too: His last words in the film are "Au revoir" - Dylan plays "Fare thee well" at the same time.....it's not a coincidence.
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on May 8, 2020 18:57:15 GMT
People often say that when a gun is pulled in a film's ending it's a cop out.....but I say when the ending is as memorable and cinematic as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) who really cares? .......but it's complex too: a civil war graveyard where nothing of the carnage we have seen in the movie can compare to the carnage of what a war does. This point is explicitly made and never has to be said - the silences speak volumes. Someone's gonna die here - which is sort of convenient:
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on May 9, 2020 11:25:14 GMT
It's a testament to movie lovers snobbery and our need to re-evaluate the consensus that The Usual Suspects (1995) hasn't been mentioned really in this thread. A movie that in the general population would be a top 5 pick - and maybe rightfully so - since it defines the swerve ending and actually without the ending the movie wouldn't amount to that much. First of all the "twist" ending does make sense - it is not ludicrous or trite (I'd argue The Sixth Sense which came 4 years later is those things far more). Secondly the ending makes even more sense on rewatch even as the movie itself lessens - you can't find a hole in the script to invalidate the ending. The fact that it's obvious and popular and the movie itself is somewhat flawed (very good, not great imo) isn't the point or problem of the ending - movies aren't meant to be watched TWICE after all - if a movie lessens for you on re-watch that's a you (and me) problem after all.
|
|
|
Post by DeepArcher on May 9, 2020 18:16:15 GMT
The Royal Tenenbaums
Wes Anderson is a master at pulling off a very specific type of ending -- the cherry-on-top purely satisfying, "this is just right" final scenes and shots. Rushmore is another great, maybe even better example of this, but I've always been partial to The Royal Tenenbaums anyway.
This ending is nothing fancy or complex, so there's no super in-depth analysis needed. Just a perfect combination of a great needle drop, a nice slow-motion final shot, hitting the right level of emotion for a final scene that is the only way that this story could have ended. The reveal of the tombstone gets me every time -- now that's just perfect.
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on May 10, 2020 14:40:38 GMT
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) & The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)One ending not covered yet - and there are a lot that could be that fit - is the "ironic ending that rewards evil". That is quite the opposite of just an ironic ending - this ending is "the world is an unjust place and those who survive should know that" conclusion and when done right they can be absolutely chilling. Investigation of A Citizen Above Suspicion and The Talented Mr. Ripley - one Italian film, the other set in Italy - are two marvelous examples one lead already knows it for sure (and likes it) and one who is finding it out (and doesn't?). Each film has various plot strands that could lead to multiples resolutions - but their endings - ironic - even baffling and against logic set their lead characters at odds and in tune with the very random chance of the universe.
|
|
|
Post by DeepArcher on May 10, 2020 21:14:06 GMT
A Brighter Summer Day
It's no easy task to end a 4-hour epic -- after ALL THAT, what could possibly be a fit note to end on? Well, Edward Yang masterfully concludes A Brighter Summer Day with an ending that is one of my absolute favorites for being a one-two punch -- it's the last two scenes, one right after the other, that stick the landing by just hammering home the devastating impact that this story leaves. (spoilers ahead) First, there's the discarding of the radio by the prison guards, which hits with a shock, the ruthless loss of innocence and childish wonder at the hand of an authoritarian system no less. It's an utter gut-punch that's so perfect for the story, and you barely recover from its impact before the real final scene, the familiar image of hanging laundry, though this time remembering what has been lost as the names of the new students admitted to university are read off on the radio ... if the penultimate scene is a harsh stab wound, this is a cruel twist of the knife, left with such a sorrowful image and its lingering melancholic impact. It's one of my ten favorite films ever. Nothing I've seen rivals it as a realization of an epic tragedy, and it's how it concludes that truly overwhelms you with the tragic nature of the whole thing. If you didn't know it already, by the time the credits roll it couldn't be more obvious that you've just watched something really special...
|
|
|
Post by pacinoyes on May 11, 2020 17:58:07 GMT
Diabolique (1955)We should also keep in my mind the classic movie ending - typified by Diabolique (1955) - the "double" double cross. This ending can be tricky because to pull it off you maybe have to cheat the audience on a writing level. In this film though the script is kept simple and precise - you don't feel ripped off because it ties up and you were able to follow it clearly. All the great mystery/suspense directors subsequently steal from this film in some way and at some point this ending too - Hitchcock and Chabrol are obvious fans and why not they were working in this same era - and the ending is nasty, cruel and ultimately morally just too. Hitchcock - who was very restrained in endings - must have aspired to this in many ways.
|
|
|
Post by DeepArcher on May 11, 2020 22:20:16 GMT
Stalker (1979)One of the best ever final scenes/images ... and another "wtf how has it not been mentioned yet?" pick. Tarkovsky is an intuitive artist, a poet by nature whose films are always based almost entirely in emotion and feelings to the point that trying to assign "interpretation" to his films with logic or some sort of investigation is the wrong way to approach them. You could analyze a film like Stalker for days but ultimately it's a film where the analysis should not matter in the way that the experience does -- and the experience really is something else. It's hard to explain in words or with logic why this ending scene is so perfect, it just feels right in a way that you know when you watch it. Focusing on a character who has hung over the entire film as something of an enigma, putting forth this element of the story that only deepens its ambiguity -- it's a quiet, haunting note to leave us on, and a truly unforgettable moment both for the shock of seeing it for the first time and the hypnosis it leaves you under long after.
|
|
|
Post by DeepArcher on May 15, 2020 22:52:00 GMT
In the Mood for Love
Maybe I am just a negative person ... since (clearly) I love it for a movie to leave me absolutely devastated. I think my most used adjectives throughout this thread have been "haunting," "melancholy," "devastating," and "heartbreaking" -- and holy shit is this ending maybe the most heartbreaking of them all.
Ending with a whisper of the long buried secret sort of in the vein of Lost in Translation in a way -- the two films are actually quite similar in a lot of ways when you think about it -- though in this case it's not a whisper into the responsive ear of the lost lover but into the cold of nature itself, an ancient place to repress your history and put your lost hopes to bed. We've spent the entire film waiting to see if this developing romance, this growing mutual attraction will ever be expressed or acted upon, and we are so endeared to these two characters that we come to root for the happiness that we know they could have. And yet -- there is simply too much in the way, too many barriers of separation acting against them -- and the hope slowly evaporates and all we are left with is this. A final gesture of discarding all that hope. Breathtaking ending to a masterful film:
|
|
Lubezki
Based
the social distancing
Posts: 4,332
Likes: 6,554
|
Post by Lubezki on May 16, 2020 1:22:34 GMT
In the Mood for Love
Maybe I am just a negative person ... since (clearly) I love it for a movie to leave me absolutely devastated. I think my most used adjectives throughout this thread have been "haunting," "melancholy," "devastating," and "heartbreaking" -- and holy shit is this ending maybe the most heartbreaking of them all. Ending with a whisper of the long buried secret sort of in the vein of Lost in Translation in a way -- the two films are actually quite similar in a lot of ways when you think about it -- though in this case it's not a whisper into the responsive ear of the lost lover but into the cold of nature itself, an ancient place to repress your history and put your lost hopes to bed. We've spent the entire film waiting to see if this developing romance, this growing mutual attraction will ever be expressed or acted upon, and we are so endeared to these two characters that we come to root for the happiness that we know they could have. And yet -- there is simply too much in the way, too many barriers of separation acting against them -- and the hope slowly evaporates and all we are left with is this. A final gesture of discarding all that hope. Breathtaking ending to a masterful film: This film is a masterclass in being able to deploy sheer alchemy of two character's ultimately doomed but yearning desire for each other. Wong's control over his framing, composition and most importantly the actor's subtle expressive faces spawn a truly poignant, almost tragic narrative. Whilst their respective spouses go off for increasingly lengthy passionate interludes, Mr. Chow can only say to Mrs. Chan "We won't be like them".....because the probity of their own relationship just doesn't allow it. By the end of the film, we know everything about these two without quite knowing absolutely everything, making for a perfectly fitting, ambiguous and enigmatic conclusion. Gorgeous , mature work from Wong Kai-wai; absolutely one of my all time favourites.
|
|
|
Post by DeepArcher on Feb 23, 2021 2:01:31 GMT
Thought I might as well bump this thread and post this here: Vulture's Top 101 Best Movie Endings. For once, a movie list I actually like! Certainly don't agree with all their choices and there are the inevitable wtf? omissions (how is The Graduate not on here? or Chinatown?? ) but I like that they don't go for the obvious choices and showcase more unconventional picks. They get #1 exactly right and highlight a lot of my other favorites as well (Phoenix, POALOF, Heat, Last Temptation, etc etc) ... and Another Round totally deserves to be the most recent entry on this list
|
|
|
Post by ireallyamsomething on Mar 31, 2021 6:33:07 GMT
Last year's horror film Relic had a great ending. Was a decent movie anyway, but that ending definitely elevated it to a whole new level. It was not just about a plot point but a character choice which is sometimes the hallmark of a great ending. Also, it encapsulated the themes of the movie so well which is a big factor for me in reevaluating the movie (See also: Five Easy Pieces, Night Moves). Also, that Another Round ending! I flip flopped a lot about this ending. With each viewing, it went from terribly bleak to wonderfully joyous and then back again. After many replays (LOTS and LOTS of it) I have reached a kind of satisfactory conclusion. I tend to not be hyperbolic about very recent releases but that ending was an all-timer for me.
|
|
|
Post by ireallyamsomething on Mar 31, 2021 7:12:23 GMT
Bicycle Thieves
An unquestionable classic with an ending that packs a tremendous emotional punch. One of the greatest feats of the ending (and the movie as a whole too) is how it binds the social themes to the personal. And one can see the title of the movie in a whole new light at the end. There are probably so many good movies and directors that wouldn't exist without this.
Memento
This film was a towering achievement for a director only making his second film and has an ending that not only lives up to but also enhances the rest of the film (especially on repeated viewings). It has often been called a gimmick or a puzzle movie, or even a cold one (a criticism against Nolan's film I very much disagree with - I find some of his films intensely moving)....but once you strip away the plot, structure and other (ingenious) tricks played throughout the movie, what you are left with is a terribly sad story of a man whose grief (or guilt?) doesn't heal and one who is constantly on the search for purpose and meaning in his life.
|
|
Nikan
Based
Posts: 2,915
Likes: 1,435
|
Post by Nikan on Mar 31, 2021 7:28:18 GMT
And now for something completely different.
|
|
|
Post by ibbi on Apr 1, 2021 13:35:30 GMT
I think Sound of Metal has about as sobering, and quietly cathartic an ending as I've seen in a good long time. The sound of metal, the bliss of silence, the look of relief in reaching acceptance, and then that fucking song. A pitch perfect song for that moment, continuing the escalation of those feelings the movie conjured up at the conclusion.
It reminded me a lot in its combo of final images, draining of sound, and song as The Wrestler, only I think it managed it all even better.
|
|
|
Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Aug 23, 2021 19:50:49 GMT
Point Blank (1967)Just watched this film for the first time and my immediate response to the ending was not quite knowing what to make of it. But after thinking about it for a while, I went back and rewatched the last scene and realized how thematically on point it is. Going into the film, I think I was expecting it to end in a more explicitly downbeat way (in typical noir fashion), so the lack of a clear resolution either way for the main character felt somewhat jarring at first... but the film's thematic ideas wouldn't be as well served if it had ended in a more straightforward presentation of success or failure. The film instead concludes on a note of existential anxiety through its ambiguity, making it hard to shake. Much of the film is about the tension between the old and the new. Walker is a man out of time - a small-time crook alienated by the modern world, oblivious to the inscrutable corporate machinations of the criminal organization that he is trying to navigate but fails to understand. By the end, it becomes clear just how insignificant Walker's goal is in the grand scheme of the system that is much bigger than himself and where he serves as a mere pawn. Uncertain of his place in this new world, Walker is left to fade into the shadows.
|
|
franklin
Badass
Posts: 1,704
Likes: 846
Member is Online
|
Post by franklin on Aug 24, 2021 15:28:03 GMT
Sorry, I'm just making a list:
Once Upon A Time In America The Irishman There Will Be Blood Silence Shame Seven Once Upon A Time In The West Chinatown One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Whiplash Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Shutter Island The Last Temptation of Christ
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Likes:
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2021 16:57:48 GMT
Sublime. This was Tom Stoppard's ending.
|
|
Nikan
Based
Posts: 2,915
Likes: 1,435
|
Post by Nikan on Sept 29, 2021 19:52:33 GMT
will they... won't they.... what happens next?... ( Days of Wine and Roses)
|
|
|
Post by Lord_Buscemi on Aug 18, 2023 13:31:53 GMT
I've been watching Melville's films and thought Army of Shadows (1969) was a bleak masterpiece. It's that austere, cold style and fatalistic tone he's known for, applied to the complex justifications for survival under occupation. Moral ambiguity is often a cop-out for tiptoeing around that idea that "both sides are right", but truly conflicting, human drama stems from the realisation of making tough decisions that you would know you too would have to make given the circumstances.
Mathilde is faced with an impossible, heart-wrenching choice: name her associates in the resistance or let her daughter suffer the consequences of her silence. Mathilde's comrades, too, face a brutal choice they already know the answer to: spare her and ultimately sacrifice themselves or kill her and continue the struggle. There can be no other option but to kill Mathilde, as Luc wisely suggests, under the pressure of her daughter's life hanging in the balance, the Nazis can bleed her dry of any information she has with this looming fate worse than death. It would be one thing to end as an unromantic, powerful statement about the resistance becoming shadows of their former shelves, killing a friend to fight another day, but it makes for an another entirely different perspective on their choice by including the greatest ending title cards I've ever seen - a gut-punch. One by one, we learn of their eventual demise and we're left thinking: was it worth the cost? It closes with that magnificently eerie final shot, heading towards the Arc de Triomphe, mirroring the film's opening image of brutish German soldiers, marching synchronised and unquestioningly following orders, very much like the dehumanising nature of war requires us to fight on an idea and not a principle.
|
|
|
Post by Joaquim on Aug 18, 2023 15:55:29 GMT
I watched Tar last night. Fantastic, audacious ending
|
|
Nikan
Based
Posts: 2,915
Likes: 1,435
|
Post by Nikan on Aug 18, 2023 20:35:59 GMT
Melville is a boss at ending his films (among other things) I've come to believe... Lord Buscemi's post above reminded me of Le Cercle Rouge which I watched last year and man I can't tell you how many times I've replayed this bit ever since.
This story may not have the, err, "prestige" of Army of Shadows and this is an ending we've seen a million times before: it's in DNA of genre, globally - bad guys will go down. From The Public Enemy to Heat to Breaking Bad this has been the case... and yet, in his hands, I feel a fresh feeling of existential angst I don't get much from this kind of movie anymore. Is it the sound of wind (also used fantastically in Shadows) and gunshots in between? the music briefly whispers in? or the irony of it all: if everything went according to the plan (and it did) just to come to this, what is the point in all of it? Ledger's Joker said "in their last moments people show you who they really are" and with Corey, what you get is running till your last dying breath. Ice cold baby, Ice cold...
|
|
|
Post by TylerDeneuve on Aug 19, 2023 22:18:00 GMT
I've been extremely reticent to return to Brokeback Mountain since Heath Ledger's death - I just thought it would be way too painful. But I'm so glad I gave it a recent re-watch. As pacinoyes has pointed out elsewhere, the film is often written so sparsely (by design - Ennis Del Mar is an incredibly taciturn man) that if it weren't for Ledger's performance being as brilliant/special as it is, it just wouldn't have the same emotional impact. (Not to mention the score by Gustavo Santaolalla - deceptively beautiful and haunting in its simplicity.) My god. What a punch straight to the gut. It genuinely takes my breath away.
|
|
|
Post by stabcaesar on Aug 20, 2023 16:35:10 GMT
This ending clinched it as the most underrated BP winner in my book. Super smart writing, and best closing soundtrack of all time. It's magical.
|
|