My new top 10 scenes list
One of my first blogs, was a list of my top 10 scenes from movies I had seen. I didn't know what to write about, and thought of penning down a list of some moments in movies which I enjoyed.
Now, almost 6 years after that list, I thought of revisiting it to see how much that has changed.
Well, here goes.
10)
The Michael-Vito Corleone conversation in the garden(The Godfather). This hasn't changed and still finds it way into my top 10. To me, this is a showcase of Brando's genius. Even after multiple viewings, I still find something new to marvel at each time I see this particular sequence. I am sure - almost positive - all the nuances which Brando puts into the character of an aging and concerned Don Corleone could have been in the shooting script. Much of the work was his own. Which is why it remains timeless.
9)
Vijay coming home from jail after his mother has been shot and killed(Shakti). It was in the last 3 years or so when I have come to appreciate the genius of this sequence. In the world of Hindi movies, where overacting and hyperbole are the order of the day, a performance like this from the most definitive leading man of the time is in itself a joy to watch. The sequence is one where Bachchan's character is given permission to attend his mother's funeral (he is imprisoned at the time). When he gets home, he manages to share a quiet moment with his father with whom he shares a very difficult and strained relationship. No words. In an amazing moment of virtuoso acting, Bachchan and Dilip Kumar convey (or rather don't convey) what they have been keeping buried within themselves.
8)
Goopy Gyne discovers he can sing (Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne). I don't know why this was not there in my first list. This has been a sequence I have been fascinated with ever since I remember. I first watched Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne when I was, maybe 4 years old, at Nandan in Calcutta. Ray's genius (not that I knew anything about it at the time) left such an impact on me, that I remember small details about the movie experience even today - like the lights in the hall going off in the middle of the final sing in the film. I remember that we were sitting somewhere to the front of the hall towards the left, as I had to lean a bit to the right to see behind the heads of the people in front of me. This particular scene has Goopy singing furtively to find that the king of Ghosts has indeed gifted him with a voice that can bring joy. The expression on his face speaks a million words, as it is something that all of us feel at those very rare and special moments in our lives - when we get something we really have wanted. Absolute Poetry.
7)
Girl in the red dress (Schindler's List). This is one from the old list. In all the darkness and depression of the holocaust, Spielberg introduces an unnamed little girl, walking aimlessly between the SS and German troops. She is the only piece of color in this dark tale shown to us in monochrome. I guess it's Spielberg's way of giving a name to the millions who died there. There - he shows - this could be a girl you knew. So profound is the impact of the girl, that no one I have spoken to till date who has seen the film, has missed the sequence, when the girl is shown for a fleeting moment in a pile of bodies ready to be interred. In my mind - that is cinema. Never has an Oscar been more deserved than for that kind of thought.
6)
Apu throws the necklace into the pond (Pather Panchali). I probably did not have the mindset required to appreciate this sequence when I first made up my list. One needs to realize how difficult it is to sometimes face the truth to know the beauty of what Ray shows us here. Years back, Apu's sister Durga, was accused of stealing a neighbor's necklace. No one (including the audience) believed she had stolen it. Many things happen after that, like Durga dying of pneumonia and the family house being reduced to ruin forcing them to migrate to take the tough decision to migrate to Varanasi, and this necklace thieving is lost to everyone's memory. On the day when the family is moving, Apu digs into a high shelf and topples a small container from which the necklace tumbles out. It's a moment where we see Apu's innocence disappear, as he throws the necklace into a pond, which swallows the memory. Completely wordless, this is a sequence which is something of a case study for students of cinema.
5)
Kuribayashi's death (Letters from Iwo Jima). Very few movies are made about the 'enemy'. The few that are, eventually show one among the enemy as a good guy, while showing that he reluctantly falls in line which the larger 'bad' agenda of his lot. I remember McNamara once saying in an interview that if the Allies had lost the war, all the generals would be have been tried as war criminals. Anyway, during WW2, it was evident to all but Japan and Germany that they were in the wrong. The tragedy of the story is that the heroism of Japanese soldiers was very like the heroism of the American ones - something that director Clint Eastwood brings out in his film. My favorite sequence in the movie is when General Kuribayashi asks his junior soldier with his last breath 'Is this still Japanese soil ?'. The futility of the question brings to mind Leo Tolstoy's Pahom running around for land, when all that he needed was six feet of earth. When the soldier answers 'Yes, this is still Japan', you can see the light in Kuribayashi's eyes (played brilliantly by Ken Watanabe for his much less powerful performance in The Last Samurai), as he shoots himself. The scene with the junior soldier's expression, who has come to accept the horrors of war, makes the viewer do a quick introspection. Nothing major - just a nagging feeling of worry that those who we see on the television firing weapons while we sip coffee, are actually real people.
4)
Are you talking to me ? (Taxi Driver). Cliched though it is, this scene really is a spark of genius. To me, this is what loneliness is. In a later film (Heat) DeNiro would say the line 'I'm alone, I'm not lonely'. But in Taxi Driver - he is LONELY. And crazy. The film is made to suck the viewer into the lonely hell in which Travis Bickle (DeNiro) resides. He talks and thinks to himself as he goes through the dark underbelly of 1970's New York City in his yellow cocoon. He has an opinion about everyone, and soon the viewer is living with him in his utterly aimless existence in which he is trying to find meaning. Many of us film fans took life for granted till we saw Taxi Driver, after which we get creeped out when we find we are talking to ourselves at any time. DeNiro of course, stepped into the shoes of the Taxi Driver living on the edge of reason and brought out the thoughts in his troubled brain to perfection in this chilling sequence.
3)
Gift of a thistle (Braveheart). This is one from the old list, and something whose charm hasn't faded away. And after all these years, I must say it is one of Mel Gibson's oddities. Nothing else he has made has had anything like the impact of Braveheart. And in that movie, this particular sequence, towards the beginning of the film sets the tone for the film. That no matter what violence one saw later, most of that would be overshadowed by this one moment of silent humanity shared between two young children. Historical inaccuracies and gore aside, this sequence, with it's beautiful backdrop, editing and music, made the film worth the recognition it got.
2)
The montages from Citizen Kane and Up. This is a tie for me. In Citizen Kane, the 24 year old Orson Wells takes us through the deteriorating marriage between Kane and Susan Alexander using this brilliant cinematic technique. An ordinary breakfast conversation is turned into a multi effective tool. First, it serves as a fast-forward device showing Kane aging. Second it shows his increasing power through the news that he reads. Third, it shows the growing distance in the relation with his wife. Never has any director since been able to convey so many powerful ideas through a single sequence. In Up, Pete Doctor achieves something nearly as effective. An early montage in the film beautifully shows the audience the relationship between a man and his childhood sweetheart, and the loneliness he feels now that she has passed on. These two sequences are marvels in themselves, and are a must watch for anyone who is looking for quality cinema.
1)
After a lot of thinking, I realized that the best sequence I had ever seen was something from my old list - where Neil McCauley was deciding whether or not to take Waingro out - from Michael Mann's "Heat". I couldn't think of any other film, or actor whom I could remember where one could read the actor's thoughts through just twitches in his face. DeNiro is such a genius that the whole audience follows his face during this scene and gasps as he takes the final decision which will lead to his inevitable doom. Acting and directing at its most harmonic best.
Well, there it is. I don't know what to make of my change in choice over the years, but I like my current set better than my last one.
This was fun !
Now, almost 6 years after that list, I thought of revisiting it to see how much that has changed.
Well, here goes.
10)
The Michael-Vito Corleone conversation in the garden(The Godfather). This hasn't changed and still finds it way into my top 10. To me, this is a showcase of Brando's genius. Even after multiple viewings, I still find something new to marvel at each time I see this particular sequence. I am sure - almost positive - all the nuances which Brando puts into the character of an aging and concerned Don Corleone could have been in the shooting script. Much of the work was his own. Which is why it remains timeless.9)
Vijay coming home from jail after his mother has been shot and killed(Shakti). It was in the last 3 years or so when I have come to appreciate the genius of this sequence. In the world of Hindi movies, where overacting and hyperbole are the order of the day, a performance like this from the most definitive leading man of the time is in itself a joy to watch. The sequence is one where Bachchan's character is given permission to attend his mother's funeral (he is imprisoned at the time). When he gets home, he manages to share a quiet moment with his father with whom he shares a very difficult and strained relationship. No words. In an amazing moment of virtuoso acting, Bachchan and Dilip Kumar convey (or rather don't convey) what they have been keeping buried within themselves.8)
Goopy Gyne discovers he can sing (Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne). I don't know why this was not there in my first list. This has been a sequence I have been fascinated with ever since I remember. I first watched Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne when I was, maybe 4 years old, at Nandan in Calcutta. Ray's genius (not that I knew anything about it at the time) left such an impact on me, that I remember small details about the movie experience even today - like the lights in the hall going off in the middle of the final sing in the film. I remember that we were sitting somewhere to the front of the hall towards the left, as I had to lean a bit to the right to see behind the heads of the people in front of me. This particular scene has Goopy singing furtively to find that the king of Ghosts has indeed gifted him with a voice that can bring joy. The expression on his face speaks a million words, as it is something that all of us feel at those very rare and special moments in our lives - when we get something we really have wanted. Absolute Poetry.7)
Girl in the red dress (Schindler's List). This is one from the old list. In all the darkness and depression of the holocaust, Spielberg introduces an unnamed little girl, walking aimlessly between the SS and German troops. She is the only piece of color in this dark tale shown to us in monochrome. I guess it's Spielberg's way of giving a name to the millions who died there. There - he shows - this could be a girl you knew. So profound is the impact of the girl, that no one I have spoken to till date who has seen the film, has missed the sequence, when the girl is shown for a fleeting moment in a pile of bodies ready to be interred. In my mind - that is cinema. Never has an Oscar been more deserved than for that kind of thought.6)
Apu throws the necklace into the pond (Pather Panchali). I probably did not have the mindset required to appreciate this sequence when I first made up my list. One needs to realize how difficult it is to sometimes face the truth to know the beauty of what Ray shows us here. Years back, Apu's sister Durga, was accused of stealing a neighbor's necklace. No one (including the audience) believed she had stolen it. Many things happen after that, like Durga dying of pneumonia and the family house being reduced to ruin forcing them to migrate to take the tough decision to migrate to Varanasi, and this necklace thieving is lost to everyone's memory. On the day when the family is moving, Apu digs into a high shelf and topples a small container from which the necklace tumbles out. It's a moment where we see Apu's innocence disappear, as he throws the necklace into a pond, which swallows the memory. Completely wordless, this is a sequence which is something of a case study for students of cinema.5)
Kuribayashi's death (Letters from Iwo Jima). Very few movies are made about the 'enemy'. The few that are, eventually show one among the enemy as a good guy, while showing that he reluctantly falls in line which the larger 'bad' agenda of his lot. I remember McNamara once saying in an interview that if the Allies had lost the war, all the generals would be have been tried as war criminals. Anyway, during WW2, it was evident to all but Japan and Germany that they were in the wrong. The tragedy of the story is that the heroism of Japanese soldiers was very like the heroism of the American ones - something that director Clint Eastwood brings out in his film. My favorite sequence in the movie is when General Kuribayashi asks his junior soldier with his last breath 'Is this still Japanese soil ?'. The futility of the question brings to mind Leo Tolstoy's Pahom running around for land, when all that he needed was six feet of earth. When the soldier answers 'Yes, this is still Japan', you can see the light in Kuribayashi's eyes (played brilliantly by Ken Watanabe for his much less powerful performance in The Last Samurai), as he shoots himself. The scene with the junior soldier's expression, who has come to accept the horrors of war, makes the viewer do a quick introspection. Nothing major - just a nagging feeling of worry that those who we see on the television firing weapons while we sip coffee, are actually real people.4)
Are you talking to me ? (Taxi Driver). Cliched though it is, this scene really is a spark of genius. To me, this is what loneliness is. In a later film (Heat) DeNiro would say the line 'I'm alone, I'm not lonely'. But in Taxi Driver - he is LONELY. And crazy. The film is made to suck the viewer into the lonely hell in which Travis Bickle (DeNiro) resides. He talks and thinks to himself as he goes through the dark underbelly of 1970's New York City in his yellow cocoon. He has an opinion about everyone, and soon the viewer is living with him in his utterly aimless existence in which he is trying to find meaning. Many of us film fans took life for granted till we saw Taxi Driver, after which we get creeped out when we find we are talking to ourselves at any time. DeNiro of course, stepped into the shoes of the Taxi Driver living on the edge of reason and brought out the thoughts in his troubled brain to perfection in this chilling sequence.3)
Gift of a thistle (Braveheart). This is one from the old list, and something whose charm hasn't faded away. And after all these years, I must say it is one of Mel Gibson's oddities. Nothing else he has made has had anything like the impact of Braveheart. And in that movie, this particular sequence, towards the beginning of the film sets the tone for the film. That no matter what violence one saw later, most of that would be overshadowed by this one moment of silent humanity shared between two young children. Historical inaccuracies and gore aside, this sequence, with it's beautiful backdrop, editing and music, made the film worth the recognition it got.2)
The montages from Citizen Kane and Up. This is a tie for me. In Citizen Kane, the 24 year old Orson Wells takes us through the deteriorating marriage between Kane and Susan Alexander using this brilliant cinematic technique. An ordinary breakfast conversation is turned into a multi effective tool. First, it serves as a fast-forward device showing Kane aging. Second it shows his increasing power through the news that he reads. Third, it shows the growing distance in the relation with his wife. Never has any director since been able to convey so many powerful ideas through a single sequence. In Up, Pete Doctor achieves something nearly as effective. An early montage in the film beautifully shows the audience the relationship between a man and his childhood sweetheart, and the loneliness he feels now that she has passed on. These two sequences are marvels in themselves, and are a must watch for anyone who is looking for quality cinema.1)
After a lot of thinking, I realized that the best sequence I had ever seen was something from my old list - where Neil McCauley was deciding whether or not to take Waingro out - from Michael Mann's "Heat". I couldn't think of any other film, or actor whom I could remember where one could read the actor's thoughts through just twitches in his face. DeNiro is such a genius that the whole audience follows his face during this scene and gasps as he takes the final decision which will lead to his inevitable doom. Acting and directing at its most harmonic best.Well, there it is. I don't know what to make of my change in choice over the years, but I like my current set better than my last one.
This was fun !
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