Best Shot In The Dark

Atonement - Runner Ups

This fleeting moment here, one of my favorites in the first act, captures dual impending tragedies so cleverly.  As one of the main character sets in for an afternoon summer bath, he dreamily looks up at his skylight and sees a military plane slowly flying overhead.  This is England in 1935 and the world is soon about to turn upside-down.  What makes this moment so magical is how chilling and sad and altogether bittersweet it becomes upon second viewing: this is the last exact trace of freedom and tranquility this character has before all the storms hit.  The plane glides from the two panels of the skylight window that might as well read THAT WAS THEN and THIS WILL BE NOW.

The woefully animated and thoroughly charmless end title sequence in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Few images in the film really capture the absurdly gloomy and playfully Gothic tone of the book series as this shot here.  It’s a depressing parental non-sequitur that pops up in the last third of the film adaptation in a series of unfortunate sign posts warning the citizens of the harbor town, and especially the Baudelaire orphans, to address the existential questions of their safety.  DOES anyone know they are going this way?  For our main characters, the question seems to actually continually be, “Does anyone really care?”

Romeo + Juliet - Runner Ups

Luhrmann’s tattoos-and-guns, SoCal-meets-Shakespeare, post-punk glam ‘90s reinvention of the classic tragedy is the stuff that divisive opinions are made of.  There’s some finely tuned emotional lead performances and some fantastic music, design, and visual cues; the hard teen crush lingers and burns.  The best frame comes when the Friar Laurence equivalent is envisioning the peace, love and understanding that will arrive as the results of the two teen’s blissful union and this image above etches out: in Juliet joining her Romeo, we see a classic Catholic burning heart figurine married by the white dove of peace flying into frame.  It’s a nifty editing detail that illustrates the story’s basic, very recognizable themes and motifs in a few seconds.  Might be too literal for some but it’s a moment that works gracefully and perfectly with this particular adaptation.

The charming period design details in Down With Love

Down With Love (2003, Peyton Reed)

Though far from my favorite entry in Malick’s small filmography, the film’s story is bare bones and its character minimal but where it really shines is in creating large-scale intimacy like these above.  Ever a fan of shooting during magic hour (the results speak for themselves) he commands such a confident hand now in knowing the mosaic he wants to paint.  The trick henceforth will be finding a story/setting/characters fleshed out enough to apply his signature eye.  I’m optimistic but this particular entry proved simple in highlighting the strongest segment as the other elements of the film don’t quite come together as one hopes.  There’s the marvel of the Oklahoman sky shot by the gifted Emmanuel Lubezki in the starring role and very little else.

This bizarre and unpleasant Cannes and Oscar winner from (at the time, West) Germany certainly tests the nerve with its epic length and obnoxious lead character.  There’s a bit to say about whether it’s a failed allegory or a successful indictment but it doesn’t end without at least some memorable moments.  My favorite of which is this subversive side-eye that happens when a Nazi rally is interrupted and quickly turned into a ridiculous large-scale dance party (yes) and serious mister commander here was not amused at all.  It’s an unexpected moment of sly humor in a film filled with unexpected moments of horror, shock, and disturbing imagery.  Side-eyes are always welcomed reaction shots and this was a weirdly funny one that stuck.

The majestic aerial shots in Angels in America.

The stellar HBO miniseries adaptation of Tony Kushner’s landmark and brilliant play features some amazing imagery, wondrous performances, everlasting moments and a real slow burn drive of wit, passion, humor, and despair.  This proved a monumental task in trying to select the best images from the nearly six-hour running time but I’ve managed these eight, four from each half, for being reminders of incredible performance beats, brain-burned references, pure fabulousity and/or utter beauty.  If anyone is subsequently encouraged to ever seek it out as a result of these impressions then I, I, I, I’ve done the lord’s work.

Paris Is Burning - Runner Ups

What the best shot of the film here really captures for me is the dreaming and aspirations of the young.  One of the film's central figures, the ambitious and lovely trans woman Octavia St. Laurent, is window-shopping at her namesake boutique and admiring the expensively clothed mannequin, no doubt imagining herself in the luxury and status that an A-list brand like YSL offers.  She wants to be somebody but all she can do for now is dream through the glass.  It's a moment we've all experienced and connects to the truth of the film's message about dreaming big and finding the place you want for yourself in the world.

A League Of Their Own (1992, Penny Marshall)

The Night Porter (1974, Liliana Cavani)

Purple Noon (1960, René Clément)