7 Inscuziflagejandable Opening scenes
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July 30th, 2008

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  1. Comment by Som on 30 July 2008:

    Can anyone tell me what does the word “Inscuziflagejandable” mean? I am hearing it for the first time.

    As far as my top opening scenes from movies are concerned, It would be:

    City Of God: Never seen something of that sort.
    Pulp Fiction
    Touch of Evil
    Betty Blue: Sex scene was realistically shot.
    Diving Bell And Butterfly
    Apocalypse Now
    A Clockwork Orange:One of the most beauteous, iconic opening shots I have ever seen which introduces us to the main characters.

  2. Comment by jayshah on 30 July 2008:

    Goodfellas springs to my mind…

  3. Comment by Qalandar on 30 July 2008:

    Some personal favorites:

    La Dolce Vita (The Jesus statue being carried over Rome by helicopter).

    8 1/2 (traffic jam; guy smoking in car with windows drawn; smoke fills the car; ultimately he gets out and climbs on top of the roof).

    Not technically an opening scene, but still a scene of “beginning”: the one from Contempt where the camera pans up the nude Brigitte Bardot.

  4. Comment by Som on 30 July 2008:

    Even the opening scene in Blue Velvet was damn good.The lustrous picture perfect image of America overshadowing the sense of alienation and estrangement lie underneath.

    Citizen Kane’s opening scene was visually impressive.

  5. Comment by Som on 30 July 2008:

    8 1/2 is a good choice.Have not seen Dolce vita, La .

  6. Comment by Qalandar on 30 July 2008:

    Good one som — I do think the one from Blue Velvet is fantastic. So is the one from Citizen Kane: i.e. I am impressed, but I can’t say it’s a personal favorite.

    Another great one for me is from Army of Shadows, with the static shot of the Arc de Triomphe with marching soldiers drawing near.

    If we talk of opening SEQUENCES (i.e. more extended), then the first 10 minutes of SAAMY are addictive as far as I am concerned — such velocity! The opening B&W sequence of THALAPATHI was also superb, the best “bachpan ki kahani” bit I’ve ever seen in an Indian film…

  7. Comment by Som on 30 July 2008:

    Agree Qalandar, the superbly shot opening sequence of Germans marching down the Champs Elysées and even final scene involving the fellow impervious Mathilde in Army of Shadows were very good.

  8. Comment by Som on 30 July 2008:

    Abhishek at SB:

    Som if you could convey my message to Satyam,Qalandar or Goodfella to review Deewar and Ray’s Apu trilogy,I will be very grateful.Thanks!!

  9. Comment by satyam on 30 July 2008:

    Som: thanks for conveying the message. This is a big undertaking. I will try to put down some thoughts on these films but I can’t promise this will happen soon.

  10. Comment by satyam on 30 July 2008:

    Great idea for a post though I can’t see who started this. Here are a few favorites:

    1)The two Fellini ones Qalandar mentions.

    2)Kurosawa’s long tableau that begins Bad Sleep Well but also Ran.

    3)Leone’s extended opening sequences in Good the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in America.

    4)Don pre-credit opening sequence with the exploding briefcase.

    5)2001 A Space Odyssey

    These just off the top of my head. There are others. Silent films on average had greater openings than sound pictures. There would be many to pick here.

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