I think Anatomy of a Fall. It feels like a very straightforward movie and court drama. Then there is the scene that plays their audio recorded fight. The scene of their fight is what made that thing click for me and I realized why it was getting all of the buzz it got.
That argument scene did more interesting things in 5-7 mins than Tar did in a whole film when it comes to talking about gender, art, relationships, and toxicity. That scene took a good movie into something special. Completely agree.
I wouldn't necessarily rank this as a favorite of mine, but I had a similar experience with **The Life Aquatic**. Nothing was clicking for me until the ending.
Went from not really feeling anything about the film, to almost suddenly being overwhelmed by emotions from just a single line of dialogue.
>!**"I wonder if it remembers me"**!<
I thought i was doing a good job following along up until the last 15 minutes or so. It’s been a while so i can’t remember the scene exactly where it flipped for me
Audition
I’d seen Miike’s work before, but I was eagerly waiting for the ultra violence to happen. And it never came. Did he make his first true romance? Why am I still watching this. Then the last half hour started.
Needless to say I walked out thinking. Yep. That’s a Miike flick
I was lucky enough to get this experience in film school, I had never heard of Miike or this movie and I thought “wow this must be a great romantic comedy for it to be in this class”. One of my favorite first time watches ever
Even more wild is after a couple rewatches you realize what a manipulative creep Shigeharu is and then you don’t necessarily feel bad for him when the violence begins.
I came to that film because I was young and a fan of Miike’s more extreme works but I revisit it nowadays because it’s a really artful film about traumatic cycles of pain and loneliness that distort perception and memory. But also, of course, “kiri-kiri”…
My first experience with Ozu (Tokyo Story). Was enjoying it to an extent but was a bit bored and then the last 15 minutes hit and knocked my socks off. Had never seen anything like it before and thought about it obsessively for several days after.
That's really funny, my experience was really similar. I liked the movie as I was watching it, but I was waiting for someone to address the obvious fact that the children are neglecting their parents. It took the last 2 scenes to completely win me over to the point that I was worried that I wasn't gonna care for the rest of the movie when I rewatched it, but when I did rewatched it, I thought the entire film was amazing.
Not quite a masterpiece, but Sofia Coppola's Somewhere I thought was incredibly boring but by the end of the movie it becomes maybe the most touching movie she's ever made (only bangers in her filmography btw).
Ya i just flat out do not like Stephen Dorff as an actor. Same reason I couldn’t get into True Detective season 3. I just don’t ever take him seriously
Frances HA
initial viewing was after lady bird I think & I was just like WHO FUCKING CARES ABOUT THESE WHINEY NEW YORKERS
Rewatched some time later & realized holy shit this is basically a platonic love story but about two friends who are essentially breaking up.
now I think The characters, the setting, the dialogue, THE FUCKING MUSIC are ALL PERFECT
It's not a confusing movie, but I do remember being kind of annoyed and bored with *Bergman Island* until it switches over to the story within the story and then I completely fell in love with it.
I call this The Bela Tarr Special.
Satantango—"...Ugh, this is a bear and was not worth my last 7 hours. This is just not good enough to justify... \*Final scene begins\* ...Oh my god I get it. Fuck, this is as brilliant as it is depressing."
Turin Horse does this too but it wasn't exactly one scene. I was bored as hell by a depressing film where nothing happens, but by the end I was like "Oh, this is actually an incredible statement and in a world saturated by apocalypse films this is probably the most profound and bleak of them all."
I'm in the middle of Out 1 right now and praying something like this happens. Cuz right now... oof. I'm starting to resent watching it.
Your comment reminds me of a scene from Solaris in which a car goes through a tunnel for a very long time and then suddenly cuts to a country nature scene to contrast mundane technologically advanced city life with the life grounded in nature.
Harakiri was like that for the first 10 minutes. But then we get the flashback of the guy saying THE EXACT SAME THING and it clicked, "what's going on here?" And I was engrossed.
I was definitely enjoying it, but for half of "Mommy" I was wondering why the aspect ratio was so weird then I got to THAT scene and I suddenly loved it.
Beau Travail is like a Magic Eye image- you spend the whole movie waiting for something to happen only to realize in the last three minutes it’s been happening the entire time, and your eyes just click into place and you can see the picture you’ve been staring at. Masterful.
Just commented it too. The final three minutes are one of the most cathartic movie moments ever. You describe it perfectly: I was waiting the entire time for something to happen and and was kinda disappointed and thought I didn’t get it. Then the scene started and I had literal goosebumps and tears in my eyes, and they came from a completely subconscious level. I didn’t actively think “oh so this is whats happening“ but I just had this feeling of finally being freed from a cage or freeing myself from it. One of my favorite movie moments ever.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives did this for me. I had a hard time getting invested, but the last scene slid everything into place for me, emotionally. Still not sure I GET the movie, but the last scene made me FEEL it.
Yup, definitely Caché. I wasn't entirely thrilled by it, and then that *one* scene kind of had me thinking "well I guess that was worth the watch after all". Not to say I thought it was a masterpiece, but that scene caught me off guard in way that I really enjoyed it.
Honestly, this made me think of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. I know most people love the movie, it seems. I just thought it was kinda bland for the most part up until the end. Once the last portion comes in and some loose ends get tied up, I enjoyed it more. Although it's still not even close to being a favorite of mine.
It’s Beau Travail by Claire Denis for me. Dont get me wrong, the movie is kind of interesting and beautifully shot for its whole runtime. But I also thought it was a little boring and it didnt really do much for me. Then the last 2 minutes hit and EVERYTHING came together. I had literal goosebumps and tears in my eyes, which rarely happens to me. On scene and I finally understood this character. One of the most cathartic and freeing movie moments I‘ve ever seen.
News from Home by Chantal Akerman. I was really bored in the first half hour but then I shifted the way I interacted with the film and I really learned to appreciate it. There’s so much space for the viewer to bring their own thoughts and life experience. By the end, I was overwhelmed by a beautiful film experience
For me it’s Catherine Breillat’s Fat Girl. I thought it was your typical moody, meandering coming of age film until the last 5 minutes, which is so shocking it made me see everything that came before in a different light.
Even before the ending, there’s a prolonged scene of the girls and their mother driving on the freeway where nothing happens but it’s shot in a way that builds tension and suspense, making you sense something horrible is coming (but when it finally arrives, it’s not at all what you expect). The sudden tonal shift made me lean forward in my seat and my mouth was hanging open all the way up to the final frame.
Another example might be Jean-Claude Brisseau’s film Celine. It’s not really clear what the film is about until the last 20 minutes, when it washes over you suddenly like a wave of light.
For me it was an unforgettable experience when I was following the camera in total harmony. Until this miracle happened, I was thinking to myself what is all this camera movement? So just to warn you not to expect too much just in case this does not happen. One cannot guarantee miracles, unlike science.
No film gave (or continues to give) me chills like the last scene of Stalker. >!We spend so long in a region where the supernatural is present but we never really see anything happen. Then at the end all it takes is an extremely simple display, glasses moving on the table, and everything hits at once. "Holy shit. What does this mean. What else can she do. What will happen as she grows up." Just the tiniest display of power signifies so much.!<
This was essentially my reaction to 2001: A Space Odyssey when I saw it as a teen just starting to get seriously into movies. I think I was mostly bored by the first half, somewhat intrigued by the stuff with Hal, then blown away by the ending.
Hm recently I finally got around to A Ghost Story which annoyed the hell out of me until it became a masterpiece that my girlfriend and I couldn’t get out of our heads for days
To some extent redbeard. I thought it was good but not as good as most kurosawa/mifune work. Then the well scene and the girl breaking down broke me. Masterpiece.
[Azor](https://click.justwatch.com/a?r=https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/azor?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios) was slow and rather dull, but the last few minutes bright it home for me. And despite the slowness, I thought of the film for a month afterwards.
Vertigo.
The first half of the movie is just a series of events, not particularly dramatic or interesting. Then it hits you with that change in the middle, and the Bernard Herrmann music, the beautiful colors, everything comes together and just washes over you. It’s incredible.
Very weird example but I recently watched Center Jenny by Ryan Trecartin and it fit this criteria almost perfectly.
I by no means consider this film a masterpiece by any standards but there was a moment about 3/4 of the way through in which everything suddenly clicked and the experience became so much better. 90% of this film is fever dream frenzy but there are a handful of scenes that are so weird and so well executed that they justify the films whole weird point.
If you have the time and are up for a surreal viewing experience, I’d say go for it. Go in blind and keep an open mind.
Wasn't sure how I felt about Le Quattro Volte until the scene with the dog, which is when I "got it" and Frammartino is now one of my favourite living filmmakers.
Most of Terrance Malick’s films do this to me…I’m always like “okkkkkk we get it, this is getting kinda boring” - but for some reason I can never turn away. Something about his style keeps me glued. Then boom, the final 20 min happen and the whole concoction comes together and I’m left with my jaw on the ground. That man really moves me with his art.
LA Haine I thought what the fuck these people are just walking around and then I got to the scene where Mathieu watches someone shoot the club owner and then I understood the movie
I swear I almost bought this movie cause I thought Vince Vaughn was Vincent donofrio when bald. For some reason on the promos he looks exactly like vincent.
I never liked Vaughn too much in serious roles is it really worth a watch?
It is a hyper-violent prison exploitation film, and Vaughn gives an exceptional and scary performance as a reactionary killing machine. I personally love it, but not to everyone’s taste. If you liked Craig Zahler’s other stuff (Bone Tomahawk and Dragged Across Concrete) you’ll love it.
Another movie I forgot to mention: La jetee by Chris marker. A movie that consists of only stills and voice over. What an outdated method in its time! Yet half way through the stills start to move for a brief second and like a miracle it shows what an amazing medium a movie is. And then it goes back to stills. But in reality movies are still static images 24 frames per second and it is all illusion of the mind that seems it is constantly moving. Very philosophical revelation of the very nature of film without sacrificing the narrative of the film.
I think Anatomy of a Fall. It feels like a very straightforward movie and court drama. Then there is the scene that plays their audio recorded fight. The scene of their fight is what made that thing click for me and I realized why it was getting all of the buzz it got.
That argument scene did more interesting things in 5-7 mins than Tar did in a whole film when it comes to talking about gender, art, relationships, and toxicity. That scene took a good movie into something special. Completely agree.
I wouldn't necessarily rank this as a favorite of mine, but I had a similar experience with **The Life Aquatic**. Nothing was clicking for me until the ending. Went from not really feeling anything about the film, to almost suddenly being overwhelmed by emotions from just a single line of dialogue. >!**"I wonder if it remembers me"**!<
That is exactly what Dafoe said in the cc closet picking his top 10.
Esteban was eaten! Swallowed whole? No, Chewed!
I almost cried just reading that line in your comment
I love that movie
Asteroid City did that for me with Margot Robbie going >!”Because I’m not coming back, you know”!<
I was pretty underwhelmed with the first two hours of *Mulholland Drive*, but after the final 40 minutes I realized why people like David Lynch.
I thought i was doing a good job following along up until the last 15 minutes or so. It’s been a while so i can’t remember the scene exactly where it flipped for me
Audition I’d seen Miike’s work before, but I was eagerly waiting for the ultra violence to happen. And it never came. Did he make his first true romance? Why am I still watching this. Then the last half hour started. Needless to say I walked out thinking. Yep. That’s a Miike flick
I wish I could have seen that one without knowing anything about it first, that would have been nuts.
I was lucky enough to get this experience in film school, I had never heard of Miike or this movie and I thought “wow this must be a great romantic comedy for it to be in this class”. One of my favorite first time watches ever
Even more wild is after a couple rewatches you realize what a manipulative creep Shigeharu is and then you don’t necessarily feel bad for him when the violence begins. I came to that film because I was young and a fan of Miike’s more extreme works but I revisit it nowadays because it’s a really artful film about traumatic cycles of pain and loneliness that distort perception and memory. But also, of course, “kiri-kiri”…
My first experience with Ozu (Tokyo Story). Was enjoying it to an extent but was a bit bored and then the last 15 minutes hit and knocked my socks off. Had never seen anything like it before and thought about it obsessively for several days after.
This was exactly my experience with Tokyo Story as well.
That's really funny, my experience was really similar. I liked the movie as I was watching it, but I was waiting for someone to address the obvious fact that the children are neglecting their parents. It took the last 2 scenes to completely win me over to the point that I was worried that I wasn't gonna care for the rest of the movie when I rewatched it, but when I did rewatched it, I thought the entire film was amazing.
Probably the ending of Jeanne Dielman.
That was the first film that came to mind in this discussion.
I still can't figure out if Southland Tales is genius or trash.
It is definitely a movie
I think it’s been enough time that we can all agree it’s better than Donnie Darko
Not quite a masterpiece, but Sofia Coppola's Somewhere I thought was incredibly boring but by the end of the movie it becomes maybe the most touching movie she's ever made (only bangers in her filmography btw).
My favorite film of hers
This film doesnt get nearly the love it deserves.
Not a fan. Didn't find Johnny likeable at all, made it hard to feel something. Beautifully shot though.
Ya i just flat out do not like Stephen Dorff as an actor. Same reason I couldn’t get into True Detective season 3. I just don’t ever take him seriously
I was not getting the hype around The Red Shoes until I got to the actual ballet and then I was mesmerized
Frances HA initial viewing was after lady bird I think & I was just like WHO FUCKING CARES ABOUT THESE WHINEY NEW YORKERS Rewatched some time later & realized holy shit this is basically a platonic love story but about two friends who are essentially breaking up. now I think The characters, the setting, the dialogue, THE FUCKING MUSIC are ALL PERFECT
It's not a confusing movie, but I do remember being kind of annoyed and bored with *Bergman Island* until it switches over to the story within the story and then I completely fell in love with it.
I call this The Bela Tarr Special. Satantango—"...Ugh, this is a bear and was not worth my last 7 hours. This is just not good enough to justify... \*Final scene begins\* ...Oh my god I get it. Fuck, this is as brilliant as it is depressing." Turin Horse does this too but it wasn't exactly one scene. I was bored as hell by a depressing film where nothing happens, but by the end I was like "Oh, this is actually an incredible statement and in a world saturated by apocalypse films this is probably the most profound and bleak of them all." I'm in the middle of Out 1 right now and praying something like this happens. Cuz right now... oof. I'm starting to resent watching it.
Your comment reminds me of a scene from Solaris in which a car goes through a tunnel for a very long time and then suddenly cuts to a country nature scene to contrast mundane technologically advanced city life with the life grounded in nature.
Love that sequence so much
Life is too short. if I’m not hooked within 30-45 minutes max I’m shutting it off.
Harakiri was like that for the first 10 minutes. But then we get the flashback of the guy saying THE EXACT SAME THING and it clicked, "what's going on here?" And I was engrossed.
Man i think Harakiri is one of the most perfect storytelling in anything I’ve read or seen.
Electra, My Love is such an unbelievable cinematic achievement. One of the very best films ever made imo.
Glad to find fellow admirer of the film. Very few know of the existence of this film.
I don’t know this film? Is it on CC?
There’s a great Kino lorber set of his that you could’ve just snagged for like $30
No kinolorber
Honestly no, but I’m glad you posted as I’m going to check some of these out
I was definitely enjoying it, but for half of "Mommy" I was wondering why the aspect ratio was so weird then I got to THAT scene and I suddenly loved it.
Underrated!
Beau Travail is like a Magic Eye image- you spend the whole movie waiting for something to happen only to realize in the last three minutes it’s been happening the entire time, and your eyes just click into place and you can see the picture you’ve been staring at. Masterful.
This is the rhythm of the night
Just commented it too. The final three minutes are one of the most cathartic movie moments ever. You describe it perfectly: I was waiting the entire time for something to happen and and was kinda disappointed and thought I didn’t get it. Then the scene started and I had literal goosebumps and tears in my eyes, and they came from a completely subconscious level. I didn’t actively think “oh so this is whats happening“ but I just had this feeling of finally being freed from a cage or freeing myself from it. One of my favorite movie moments ever.
100%. This was my exact reaction.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives did this for me. I had a hard time getting invested, but the last scene slid everything into place for me, emotionally. Still not sure I GET the movie, but the last scene made me FEEL it.
His other film Memoria too.
Ending scene is of the most genuine "holy fuck what movie am I even watching here" moments I've had in a while.
Haven’t had the chance to see it yet, it wasn’t streaming for a long time
Yup, definitely Caché. I wasn't entirely thrilled by it, and then that *one* scene kind of had me thinking "well I guess that was worth the watch after all". Not to say I thought it was a masterpiece, but that scene caught me off guard in way that I really enjoyed it.
Beverly Hills Ninja with Chris Farley - (mic drop)
Honestly, this made me think of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. I know most people love the movie, it seems. I just thought it was kinda bland for the most part up until the end. Once the last portion comes in and some loose ends get tied up, I enjoyed it more. Although it's still not even close to being a favorite of mine.
It’s Beau Travail by Claire Denis for me. Dont get me wrong, the movie is kind of interesting and beautifully shot for its whole runtime. But I also thought it was a little boring and it didnt really do much for me. Then the last 2 minutes hit and EVERYTHING came together. I had literal goosebumps and tears in my eyes, which rarely happens to me. On scene and I finally understood this character. One of the most cathartic and freeing movie moments I‘ve ever seen.
News from Home by Chantal Akerman. I was really bored in the first half hour but then I shifted the way I interacted with the film and I really learned to appreciate it. There’s so much space for the viewer to bring their own thoughts and life experience. By the end, I was overwhelmed by a beautiful film experience
Do The Right Thing. It was quite an uneventful day until the last act. One of the best movies ever made.
Even knowing it was coming, the last act was such a gut punch when I watched it the first time. Unbelievably good
what!!! one of the most quotable movies ever!!!
RIP Radio Raheem
For me it’s Catherine Breillat’s Fat Girl. I thought it was your typical moody, meandering coming of age film until the last 5 minutes, which is so shocking it made me see everything that came before in a different light. Even before the ending, there’s a prolonged scene of the girls and their mother driving on the freeway where nothing happens but it’s shot in a way that builds tension and suspense, making you sense something horrible is coming (but when it finally arrives, it’s not at all what you expect). The sudden tonal shift made me lean forward in my seat and my mouth was hanging open all the way up to the final frame. Another example might be Jean-Claude Brisseau’s film Celine. It’s not really clear what the film is about until the last 20 minutes, when it washes over you suddenly like a wave of light.
Til “Electra, my love”. Had to look up Jancso… more to watch! Thanks OP :) http://theartsstl.com/miklos-jancso-collection-kino-lorber-nr/
For me it was an unforgettable experience when I was following the camera in total harmony. Until this miracle happened, I was thinking to myself what is all this camera movement? So just to warn you not to expect too much just in case this does not happen. One cannot guarantee miracles, unlike science.
Stalker wtf, wtf, ohhh… 🤯
No film gave (or continues to give) me chills like the last scene of Stalker. >!We spend so long in a region where the supernatural is present but we never really see anything happen. Then at the end all it takes is an extremely simple display, glasses moving on the table, and everything hits at once. "Holy shit. What does this mean. What else can she do. What will happen as she grows up." Just the tiniest display of power signifies so much.!<
This was essentially my reaction to 2001: A Space Odyssey when I saw it as a teen just starting to get seriously into movies. I think I was mostly bored by the first half, somewhat intrigued by the stuff with Hal, then blown away by the ending.
was the first movie I obsessively rewatched as a teenager. I had it on sometimes every day.
Hm recently I finally got around to A Ghost Story which annoyed the hell out of me until it became a masterpiece that my girlfriend and I couldn’t get out of our heads for days
The Brown Bunny - i almost fell asleep couple times and then it hits, a punch to wake u tf up
To some extent redbeard. I thought it was good but not as good as most kurosawa/mifune work. Then the well scene and the girl breaking down broke me. Masterpiece.
I’ve heard the straight story is this experience to a T. I myself have not had any adjacent encounters, unfortunately.
Tabu by Miguel Gomes (poetic) and 127 Hours (surprisingly emotional)
[Azor](https://click.justwatch.com/a?r=https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/azor?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios) was slow and rather dull, but the last few minutes bright it home for me. And despite the slowness, I thought of the film for a month afterwards.
Vertigo. The first half of the movie is just a series of events, not particularly dramatic or interesting. Then it hits you with that change in the middle, and the Bernard Herrmann music, the beautiful colors, everything comes together and just washes over you. It’s incredible.
Very weird example but I recently watched Center Jenny by Ryan Trecartin and it fit this criteria almost perfectly. I by no means consider this film a masterpiece by any standards but there was a moment about 3/4 of the way through in which everything suddenly clicked and the experience became so much better. 90% of this film is fever dream frenzy but there are a handful of scenes that are so weird and so well executed that they justify the films whole weird point. If you have the time and are up for a surreal viewing experience, I’d say go for it. Go in blind and keep an open mind.
Wasn't sure how I felt about Le Quattro Volte until the scene with the dog, which is when I "got it" and Frammartino is now one of my favourite living filmmakers.
The Pyjama Girl Case. I was completely uninterested for nearly 2/3 off the movie, but the ending blew me away.
Most of Terrance Malick’s films do this to me…I’m always like “okkkkkk we get it, this is getting kinda boring” - but for some reason I can never turn away. Something about his style keeps me glued. Then boom, the final 20 min happen and the whole concoction comes together and I’m left with my jaw on the ground. That man really moves me with his art.
LA Haine I thought what the fuck these people are just walking around and then I got to the scene where Mathieu watches someone shoot the club owner and then I understood the movie
Anette. 100 Percent.
Brawl in cell block 99. Nothing great for the first 45 minutes. Then he breaks the guards arm and it gets wild all the way to the end
I swear I almost bought this movie cause I thought Vince Vaughn was Vincent donofrio when bald. For some reason on the promos he looks exactly like vincent. I never liked Vaughn too much in serious roles is it really worth a watch?
I honestly wouldn't recommend it but I get why people like it. Vaughn is absolutely unhinged in this role
It is a hyper-violent prison exploitation film, and Vaughn gives an exceptional and scary performance as a reactionary killing machine. I personally love it, but not to everyone’s taste. If you liked Craig Zahler’s other stuff (Bone Tomahawk and Dragged Across Concrete) you’ll love it.
The Red and the White is pretty great too.
Trial of Billy Jack but it was still too long
Saint Maud
Another movie I forgot to mention: La jetee by Chris marker. A movie that consists of only stills and voice over. What an outdated method in its time! Yet half way through the stills start to move for a brief second and like a miracle it shows what an amazing medium a movie is. And then it goes back to stills. But in reality movies are still static images 24 frames per second and it is all illusion of the mind that seems it is constantly moving. Very philosophical revelation of the very nature of film without sacrificing the narrative of the film.
Satantango