This is an article I’ve been thinking about writing for a while but wasn’t sure how to categorise it. It concerns points I've noticed in movies where a particular scene just transcends everything else in the film and cinema as well. The visuals, music and dialogue can occasionally combine perfectly to give a scene that's just out of this world. Although it usually happens near the end of films, it does occasionally take place during the film and in some films it just continues weaving in and out throughout the narrative usually culminating in a film I’d consider to be excellent.
If movie-making is an art then these are my guiding principles as to what I would like to accomplish were I ever to undertake the same feat. Sometimes I find that if a film has one of these moments in, it usually has several - a sort of dreamy theme weaved into the film that gives it depth. All of the films on this list definitely make it into my top 100, even if it is just on the strength of one scene which I consider to be cinematic perfection.
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – this film is definitely dreamy throughout – most of the film takes place purely in Jim Carey’s mind so you’d kind of expect that. The visual effects are subtle and yet if you think about it, quite complicated at the same time. This film is definitely one that bends reality and has an ethereal quality throughout.
9. Memento – Another mind bending film from Christopher Nolan, told entirely from the perspective of the damaged protagonist. The score and constant scene shifting of this film makes it a little confusing to really follow what’s going on but as the pieces start fitting together, the films dreamy setting begins to take on a new twist. An excellent film and one that also has an ethereal quality throughout.
8. The Butterfly Effect – This one only really has a dreamy sequence near the end where Evan finally manages to find a way to fix everything that he broke. The score and tragic way he does this always work a sort of magic I find. Even though the directors cut ending is harsher and probably makes for a better film, I always preferred the happy theatrical ending.
7. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome – I liked all the Mad Max movies to be fair and even though I consider this to be the weakest instalment in the trilogy, I find that moments in this film have a quality that is superior to the other two. Some of the scenes from crack in the earth are tragic but the ending is where it hits home most.
6. The Adjustment Bureau – the most recent release on this list but it instantly become one of my favourites for a number of reasons. The dialogue and chemistry between the characters is strong as is the general plot of the film that personifies fate as a force that physically interferes with the lives of the characters. The haunting musical score also works strongly to the films advantage.
5. The Jacket - It’s difficult to sum this film up but the cold, bleak and disconnected feel of the film has a beauty unto itself. It’s also pretty haunting and has an ethereal quality throughout. Included is the scene where the protagonist stands over his own grave as he struggles to find out how he died, all set with the haunting Sidottu soundtrack that plays throughout the film.
4. Sunshine – My least favourite film on this list but the ending sure is haunting. Firstly the main character stares face to face with a nuclear explosion (which is slowed down for dramatic effect) and then it cuts to earth where we see that the Earth’s climate has been suffering – evidenced by the snow on the ground around Sydney, Australia. All of this takes place with Underworld’s To Heal playing in the background. Perfectly executed.
3. Meet Joe Black – this film is generally weird throughout but the ending sure is touching. I’m not sure whether you’d have to watch the rest of the film or not to get the context. I imagine you probably would but the final scene really brings home what the film has been building up to.
2. Vanilla Sky – everyone I know hates this film and I really think it’s unjustified. Sure 90% of the film is kind of slow and doesn’t make much sense but then the film just thunders to quite a climatic and really existentially crazy finale which suddenly brings into context why the rest of the film doesn’t make sense. I always find the journey of awakening that this film presents at the end to be one of the best scenes in cinematic history. Everything about it works including the brilliant Nothing song by Icelandic artist Sigor Ros and subsequent life review that the character undergoes. A very clever piece of cinema.
1. Blade Runner – Had to do it but this film isn’t my all time favourite for no reason. The film is brilliantly atmospheric and haunting throughout, all the while offering a lot of philosophy and existentialism and a dark dystopian vision of the future. There were a few scenes from this film I could have presented such as Rutger Hauer’s Tears in Rain speech at the end but in the end I settled for Morning at the Bradbury which highlights Roy’s sense of despair and loneliness, all the while with the amazing Vangelis score playing in the background.
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