Great Direction

This thread is dedicated to mentioning and discussing scenes that you think had excellent direction. I'm not talking only elite examples like any scene in a Bela Tarr film or the entirety of Russian Ark, but rather scenes where you think information or emotion that was conveyed in a uniquely cinematic way. I'll begin with two examples:

If there was ever a filmmaker who stood a chance of surpassing Buster Keaton in terms of cinematic humor, it's Jacques Tati. His masterpiece, Playtime is one of the most interesting and rewarding cinematic experiences. the scene that stood out initially to me as masterful involves some brilliant projections from glass.

As M. Hulot chases after an important man he needs to see for a job. As the man enters the room, we see a reflection appear in a building across the street:

Hulot searches for the man a sees him across the way (notice also how it appears that there is a door on the other side because of the line):

Hulot chases after him and the man disappears as he comes back into the front plane. Hulot is confused and stuck between buildings and the man gets called away:


Tati's composition is flawless and supports the brilliant gag that's a purely cinematic.

Another brief and recent example of great direction (sorry that I don't have screen caps for this one) comes in Richard Linklater's Before Midnight. After the also brilliant initial subversion that shows Jesse and his son walking side by side in a series that has focused entirely on Jesse and Celine walking together, comes a perfect brief but effective camera movement.
This moment is important to the plot, so don't read if you don't want to know important details:

As Jesse walks outside of the airport, the camera follows him and turns right as he does, revealing Celine leaning against a car. As Jesse walks towards the car, Celine acknowledges Jesse's presence very casually as she prepares to get in the car. It's obvious from the way that she's treating him that they're together. The big reveal comes when the camera wraps around the car as Jesse gets in and we spot to little blonde haired girls sleeping in the back. Linklater accomplishes 9 years of storytelling in this crisp, crystal clear wordless scene.

What are scenes that you've noticed some great direction in?

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Mubi

Children of Men has incredible direction, especially the long takes.

I tend to think that a good director is the one who makes interesting film out of not so special story:

Lost In Translation (Coppola)
The Godfather (F.F.Coppola)
Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
Alien (Scott)
Gone With The Wind (Fleming)
Taxi Driver (Scorsese)
Most Kubrick and Hitchcock movies

Fritz Lang, most his work were exceptional considering the time it was released. When i first saw his work, seemed like this guys should have been born in the 70's or 80's. He would have rocked the movie industry!

Great thread, OP.

The first scene that instantly popped into my head was the very last scene to Ozu's Late Spring, undoubtedly one of my all-time favourite films.



This is just remarkable in its simplicity. As for those who have seen Ozu's films, it comes as no surprise that he sees marriage as a social constraint, a platform of conformity where independant women, whether they like it or not, are forced marry for the purposes of status, reputation and financial security.

Closing a film out is one of the most challenging and difficult things a filmmaker has to face. In many films, the last scene should really encapsulate everything the story has told us so far, and Late Spring did it impeccably.

Once again, Ozu elects not to move the camera. He keeps it still, often at eye level with the character, and then gives us this beautifully enriched symbolic moment of Somiya attempting to peel an apple, which represents his now independency, and, perhaps, insecurity for the future - that now, he has nobody to look after him.

Then Ozu does something that has stuck with me ever since the first time I watched it. Somiya looks down, in regret, remorse and deep sadness, knowing that he pressured his daughter into conforming to something which he now realises is nothing but a constrainment, designed to keep society all on similar terms.

It's amazing how Ozu can convey all of this without (hardly) any dialogue or sporadic events. It's very humanistic storytelling.

One scene for me that always comes to mind is from Kick Ass when Big Daddy is getting ready to burn the warehouse. It's not emotionally captivating or deep or insightful in any way. But the fluidity of the scene in how he's fighting all of the men defending the warehouse is so captivating and well done. It's so fluid and unique, and almost dark in a way because of how angry it is. I always think it's so cool to watch.

Another one would have to be the bar scene from A Beautiful Mind. Very cleverly done.

Also maybe The Great Dictator. In the beginning when Chaplin and the German pilot are flying the plane upside down and don't know it, then they realize it, and the delivery of Chaplin's line "I know it." I have laughed harder at few things. That scene is perfect in my mind.

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"Today we are cancelling the apocalypse."

Thanks! Late Spring is also one of my favorite films. It's impossible not to cry at that ending, with the peeling of the apple and everything, just beautiful. Another note on the ending: you may have noticed a sewing machine on the sides of the frame in many shots during the film. For the ending, as Somiya enters the house, he uses a similar composition from before of him entering, but the sewing machine is now missing. It may seem minor, but it really makes the house feel empty and cold when you notice it, incredibly evocative:

^ I never noticed that before, but that is a great find, and further solidifies the subtlety of Ozu's filmmaking.

Movies where great direction is a standout element of the film:



PULP FICTION- Still waffle between which is better, the direction or the screenplay, but Tarantino could give a master class in either.

ALL ABOUT EVE - Joseph L Manckiewicz somehow coaxed the performances of their careers out of everyone in front of the camera and pretty much created a new movie star named Marilyn Monroe.

THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? - Sidney Pollack creates a dark and unbelievably intense atmosphere that is almost claustrophobic in its effect.


RANSOM - Ron Howard's cinematic eye was never sharper as he told an intimate story on a pretty large canvas and managed to tell a story that stirred up a myriad of emotions, not to mention solid performances from the cast...Mel Gibson and Gary Sinise have rarely been better.


A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE- Elia Kazan creates an atmosphere so evocative of the south that you can practically see the sweat dripping off the characters.

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? - First time film director Mike Nichols really knocked it out of the park here, working with absurdist material and a tiny canvas.

CABARET - Bob Fosse blind-sided Francis Ford Coppola winning the Best Directing Oscar for this brilliant musical that beautifully presented 1931 Berlin and everything that was going on at the time and still managed to entertain as a musical. The "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" scene gives me goosebumps every time I watch it...Fosse deserved the Oscar for that scene alone.

TRAFFIC - Steven Soderbergh managed to seamlessly weave multiple stories and characters to tell an important story from varying points of view.


THE APARTMENT - Billy Wilder deserved the Oscar alone for the performances he got of Lemmon, MacLaine, and especially Fred MacMurray.


THE SOUND OF MUSIC - Robert Wise won a richly deserved Oscar for beautifully opening up a rather stagy musical with some of the most beautiful location filming I have ever seen, not to mention an opening number that long ago reached iconic status.

ORDINARY PEOPLE - First time director Redford hit the bullseye here creating a very specific social class and attitude and got the performance of a lifetime out of Mary Tyler Moore that I don't think anyone saw coming.


TAXI DRIVER - Manhattan after midnight has never been more beautifully realized onscreen. Scorcese creates an atmosphere here that is alternately fascinating and unsettling and he gets a huge assist from Bernard Herrmann's evocative musical store.

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This is a SCENE, o yea

Huh?

Huh?

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

What's wrong? :/

Films I found to have the best direction:
Godfather part 1+2
Goodfellas
Taxi Driver
Raging Bull
Once upon a time in america
casablanca
blade runner
citizen kane