Top 7 - Best Shots in Film
A little companion piece here to a post I wrote a couple of months ago about the best looking films ever made. Those films were beautiful to look at start to finish but lets look closer. These are the shots that you look at and are struck straight in the heart by. The kind of shots that you would love to frame and put on your wall, although I apologise now as not all the images I have are the greatest quality. They speak perfectly to the visual nature of film, saying more with a single image than any words could say (which may make writing about them tricky but we'll get to that). Speaking of, the only real rule I have stuck to here is that the shots have to be static shots. I could probably have worked out how to make them into gifs but it's a much simpler process for me this way. Anyway, this is less an objective ranking of beautiful shots, more a rundown of my favourites. It is going to be one of the most objective lists I've ever done so feel free to ridicule me for my choices.
Mad Max: Fury Road: Doof Warrior
I don't think a single image sums up the power that action cinema can wield better than a man in bright red, playing a guitar that shoots flames, as a convoy of vehicles races across the desert.
Suspiria (2018): Susie and Madam Blanc two shot
While not as overtly beautiful as the original Suspiria, the 2018 remake has its moments and there is something about this two shot that stops me in my tracks every time I see this film. As inexplicably mystifying as the witches of the film are.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: All in the Submarine
Wes Anderson had to make an appearance on this list and while I almost went for a shot from Fantastic Mr Fox, this submarine shot from the highly underrated Life Aquatic astounds me every time.
Vertigo: Madeline emerges from the shadows
God I love Vertigo, never more than the moment where Madeline/Judy emerges from the shadows, into the green and into James Stewart's nightmare.
Whiplash: Fist in the water
I've captured it poorly here but the painful lengths Neyman will go through to achieve greatness are never better expressed visually than when he plunges his bloody fist into this jug of water.
Eraserhead: Swarm of flies
An image so iconic that it became the poster image for the film, there's a lot of terrifying images in Eraserhead but this rare moment of serene terror is the one that sticks with me.
A Clockwork Orange: Shadows
The menace that Alex and his droogs exercise over the streets of dystopian London is expressed wonderfully with the opening shot of Alex but is completely confirmed here, as the shadows leer across the screen and into the pits of our stomachs.
Those shots were all pretty damn great but would you believe me if I told you there were seven better? You should, that's the format of these things, duh.
7. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover: Entering the bathroom
Peter Greenaway's magnum opus also popped up on my previous list about the most beautiful films and it all comes back to this shot. That story I told in the last post was about this shot, a shot that has stayed with me constantly since I saw it about two years ago. Part of the joy of this shot is the way it moves from motion to stillness and while I can't capture that here, I can show you the exquisite stillness. This moment of recognition, of two lost souls finding each other, gives me chills. You don't even need me to tell you that this is a woman's bathroom and that the man (the titular "her lover") is out of place, the colour palette already does this. What we are witnessing is a disruption of this woman's life, but as the red hints, it's an interruption that is a gateway to passion. Greenaway is something of a forerunner of Wes Anderson and his precise composition and while I've only seen a fraction of his films, it seems unlikely that his other work could dethrone this shot.
6. Blue Velvet: In Dreams
Blue Velvet isn't quite up there with my favourite David Lynch films but I still have plenty of love for it, not least this scene in which a man mimes along to Roy Orbison's In Dreams. Like most things in Lynch's oeuvre, it has no logical or narrative place in the film but that is exactly why it's special. Maybe it isn't clear from just this shot but the guy on the right is using a stage light instead of a microphone, adding to the beautiful artificiality that the film creates. Just as wonderful is Dennis Hopper as Frank looming on the left, a menacing force given a rare moment to enjoy his world without ruining someone else's life. It is a moment which is oddly composed for a director who is famed for his anarchic madness and that's why it takes my breath away every time.
5. La La Land: Snow falls
La La Land is a really good looking film. It's the kind of cinematography that serves largely aesthetic purposes instead of story telling but that doesn't underplay the fact that it really does look stunning from scene to scene. Nowhere do I feel that more than in this scene from the party at the start of the film, where Emma Stone's Mia wanders out from the bathroom and through a flurry of snow. I saw La La Land four times in the cinema, more than I have for any other film, and this shot never fails to give me goosebumps. I don't know why it works for me, but I'd guess it's probably something to do with how small and delicate it makes Mia look. She is this tiny frail creature heading out into Los Angeles and at this point of the film, you really do feel like she could be crushed. That aside, it just looks beautiful. So many different colours, all working in symphony, foregrounded by the white snow. It's utterly exquisite and evokes perfectly how much I love this film.
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: On the ice
Every time I watch Eternal Sunshine, it touches me on a deeper level than before and so part of that always ends up being connected to this shot. Now, I do want to apologise, this is actually a cropped part of the poster because I couldn't find a good enough quality version from the actual film. The point still stands though that this is such a resonant and iconic shot that it earned its place on the poster. It's beautiful on the surface but it represents a lot for these two characters. Their current life at this moment is only one single layer of what their life together has been, that part of their being still hidden underneath a layer of ice. It's also a wonderful character moment because Joel and Clem choose to head out onto this vast sheet of ice together, knowing that if it cracks, they fall in together and die. It's just them, alone, but together, a perfect encapsulation of their relationship. There's all of that, but most importantly, it looks bloody gorgeous.
3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Art museum
It's funny, when I started planning this list, Ferris Bueller's Day Off was not a film that sprung to mind. Don't get me wrong, I love the film and I'm planning on revisiting it quite soon, it's just a film that I always think of for the comedy and fun vibes than visual splendour. And then I remembered this shot. This shot, in fact the whole museum scene, feels out of place in a really special way with the rest of the film. I've rewatched it a couple of times while writing this and even without the context, it is so stunningly beautiful. There is not a single line of dialogue, it's just an instrumental version of Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths over images of our characters staring at art. Everyone always remembers Ferris Bueller for the jokes, the Beatles sing-along, the car, things like that, but the film only works because of an inherent emotional truth at the core. This scene is that core. Art imitates life and so in turn, life comes to imitate art because aside from everything that this scene does to bolster one of the greatest teen comedies ever made, it looks stunning and gives me goosebumps just from looking at it.
2. Blade Runner 2049: Joi leans down
If you remember that list I did about the best looking films ever made (and if you do, I'm charmed, thank you) then you will remember that Blade Runner 2049 topped that list and while every single shot from that film could be framed and put up on a wall, it was always this shot that was in my head. Sure, part of it is just that Ana deArmas is a very attractive woman and so a giant version of her is always visually appealing but it obviously goes deeper than that otherwise it wouldn't be this high up the list. It's the dual roles of the use of colour and the impressive scale that really impress me. Maybe this sounds like a stupid point to make but you rarely see such a bright purple on screen, something alone that makes this powerful before even considering how it interacts with her blue wig. But yeah, it's the scale that does it. K is never lower in the film than he is here and there is simply no greater way to visualise that than with the towering figure of the image he fell in love with, reaching out to him but not quite touching. I'm not entirely sure why I'm really writing anything for this entry if I'm honest, of all the shots on this list, it is the one whose own visual splendour speaks greatest.
1. Fight Club: A very strange time in my life
You may remember I have a fondness for Fight Club, it's a film that has something of a place in my heart and I'll warn you now, this is the final shot of the film. So hey, if I've spoiled it for you, sorry but you've had almost five years of me blathering on about it to check it out, this is entirely your fault. By this point, we've discovered that Edward Norton's character was also Tyler Durden (who is now dead, probably), he and Marla have fallen in love and Project Mayhem has reached its final goal and with this shot, we hit the culmination of all of those plot points. As Norton says in what may be the greatest final line of all time, as well as a hell of an understatement, "You met me at a very strange time in my life". There isn't much stranger than falling in love with a woman who was having sex with your alter ego and then watching the entire financial district explode and crumble because of work that said alter ego also did but fuck it also looks beautiful. It has that thing that so many of these static shots have done, which is bring such an exquisite sense of composition to a moment which is on the surface so very chaotic. There are occasional moments where I doubt my faith in the church of Fight Club but whenever I do, this final shot is a god-send. It rekindles my love in this film especially, but also film as a whole. Proper beaut.
Mad Max: Fury Road: Doof Warrior
I don't think a single image sums up the power that action cinema can wield better than a man in bright red, playing a guitar that shoots flames, as a convoy of vehicles races across the desert.
Suspiria (2018): Susie and Madam Blanc two shot
While not as overtly beautiful as the original Suspiria, the 2018 remake has its moments and there is something about this two shot that stops me in my tracks every time I see this film. As inexplicably mystifying as the witches of the film are.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: All in the Submarine
Wes Anderson had to make an appearance on this list and while I almost went for a shot from Fantastic Mr Fox, this submarine shot from the highly underrated Life Aquatic astounds me every time.
Vertigo: Madeline emerges from the shadows
God I love Vertigo, never more than the moment where Madeline/Judy emerges from the shadows, into the green and into James Stewart's nightmare.
Whiplash: Fist in the water
I've captured it poorly here but the painful lengths Neyman will go through to achieve greatness are never better expressed visually than when he plunges his bloody fist into this jug of water.
Eraserhead: Swarm of flies
An image so iconic that it became the poster image for the film, there's a lot of terrifying images in Eraserhead but this rare moment of serene terror is the one that sticks with me.
A Clockwork Orange: Shadows
The menace that Alex and his droogs exercise over the streets of dystopian London is expressed wonderfully with the opening shot of Alex but is completely confirmed here, as the shadows leer across the screen and into the pits of our stomachs.
Those shots were all pretty damn great but would you believe me if I told you there were seven better? You should, that's the format of these things, duh.
7. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover: Entering the bathroom
Peter Greenaway's magnum opus also popped up on my previous list about the most beautiful films and it all comes back to this shot. That story I told in the last post was about this shot, a shot that has stayed with me constantly since I saw it about two years ago. Part of the joy of this shot is the way it moves from motion to stillness and while I can't capture that here, I can show you the exquisite stillness. This moment of recognition, of two lost souls finding each other, gives me chills. You don't even need me to tell you that this is a woman's bathroom and that the man (the titular "her lover") is out of place, the colour palette already does this. What we are witnessing is a disruption of this woman's life, but as the red hints, it's an interruption that is a gateway to passion. Greenaway is something of a forerunner of Wes Anderson and his precise composition and while I've only seen a fraction of his films, it seems unlikely that his other work could dethrone this shot.
6. Blue Velvet: In Dreams
Blue Velvet isn't quite up there with my favourite David Lynch films but I still have plenty of love for it, not least this scene in which a man mimes along to Roy Orbison's In Dreams. Like most things in Lynch's oeuvre, it has no logical or narrative place in the film but that is exactly why it's special. Maybe it isn't clear from just this shot but the guy on the right is using a stage light instead of a microphone, adding to the beautiful artificiality that the film creates. Just as wonderful is Dennis Hopper as Frank looming on the left, a menacing force given a rare moment to enjoy his world without ruining someone else's life. It is a moment which is oddly composed for a director who is famed for his anarchic madness and that's why it takes my breath away every time.
5. La La Land: Snow falls
La La Land is a really good looking film. It's the kind of cinematography that serves largely aesthetic purposes instead of story telling but that doesn't underplay the fact that it really does look stunning from scene to scene. Nowhere do I feel that more than in this scene from the party at the start of the film, where Emma Stone's Mia wanders out from the bathroom and through a flurry of snow. I saw La La Land four times in the cinema, more than I have for any other film, and this shot never fails to give me goosebumps. I don't know why it works for me, but I'd guess it's probably something to do with how small and delicate it makes Mia look. She is this tiny frail creature heading out into Los Angeles and at this point of the film, you really do feel like she could be crushed. That aside, it just looks beautiful. So many different colours, all working in symphony, foregrounded by the white snow. It's utterly exquisite and evokes perfectly how much I love this film.
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: On the ice
Every time I watch Eternal Sunshine, it touches me on a deeper level than before and so part of that always ends up being connected to this shot. Now, I do want to apologise, this is actually a cropped part of the poster because I couldn't find a good enough quality version from the actual film. The point still stands though that this is such a resonant and iconic shot that it earned its place on the poster. It's beautiful on the surface but it represents a lot for these two characters. Their current life at this moment is only one single layer of what their life together has been, that part of their being still hidden underneath a layer of ice. It's also a wonderful character moment because Joel and Clem choose to head out onto this vast sheet of ice together, knowing that if it cracks, they fall in together and die. It's just them, alone, but together, a perfect encapsulation of their relationship. There's all of that, but most importantly, it looks bloody gorgeous.
3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Art museum
It's funny, when I started planning this list, Ferris Bueller's Day Off was not a film that sprung to mind. Don't get me wrong, I love the film and I'm planning on revisiting it quite soon, it's just a film that I always think of for the comedy and fun vibes than visual splendour. And then I remembered this shot. This shot, in fact the whole museum scene, feels out of place in a really special way with the rest of the film. I've rewatched it a couple of times while writing this and even without the context, it is so stunningly beautiful. There is not a single line of dialogue, it's just an instrumental version of Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths over images of our characters staring at art. Everyone always remembers Ferris Bueller for the jokes, the Beatles sing-along, the car, things like that, but the film only works because of an inherent emotional truth at the core. This scene is that core. Art imitates life and so in turn, life comes to imitate art because aside from everything that this scene does to bolster one of the greatest teen comedies ever made, it looks stunning and gives me goosebumps just from looking at it.
2. Blade Runner 2049: Joi leans down
If you remember that list I did about the best looking films ever made (and if you do, I'm charmed, thank you) then you will remember that Blade Runner 2049 topped that list and while every single shot from that film could be framed and put up on a wall, it was always this shot that was in my head. Sure, part of it is just that Ana deArmas is a very attractive woman and so a giant version of her is always visually appealing but it obviously goes deeper than that otherwise it wouldn't be this high up the list. It's the dual roles of the use of colour and the impressive scale that really impress me. Maybe this sounds like a stupid point to make but you rarely see such a bright purple on screen, something alone that makes this powerful before even considering how it interacts with her blue wig. But yeah, it's the scale that does it. K is never lower in the film than he is here and there is simply no greater way to visualise that than with the towering figure of the image he fell in love with, reaching out to him but not quite touching. I'm not entirely sure why I'm really writing anything for this entry if I'm honest, of all the shots on this list, it is the one whose own visual splendour speaks greatest.
1. Fight Club: A very strange time in my life
You may remember I have a fondness for Fight Club, it's a film that has something of a place in my heart and I'll warn you now, this is the final shot of the film. So hey, if I've spoiled it for you, sorry but you've had almost five years of me blathering on about it to check it out, this is entirely your fault. By this point, we've discovered that Edward Norton's character was also Tyler Durden (who is now dead, probably), he and Marla have fallen in love and Project Mayhem has reached its final goal and with this shot, we hit the culmination of all of those plot points. As Norton says in what may be the greatest final line of all time, as well as a hell of an understatement, "You met me at a very strange time in my life". There isn't much stranger than falling in love with a woman who was having sex with your alter ego and then watching the entire financial district explode and crumble because of work that said alter ego also did but fuck it also looks beautiful. It has that thing that so many of these static shots have done, which is bring such an exquisite sense of composition to a moment which is on the surface so very chaotic. There are occasional moments where I doubt my faith in the church of Fight Club but whenever I do, this final shot is a god-send. It rekindles my love in this film especially, but also film as a whole. Proper beaut.
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