It happens to me that when I watch movies I meet some frames that by some hidden means are immediately being fixed in my consciousness like some small masterpieces. They contain something I have not yet conceived, and inspire me each time I see them (naturally, I go over those movies frequently).
Finally, I picked out yesterday all the movies I could recall, and found those frames. I also made some other favourite screenshots, but then decided to pick only one for this page, the most stunning representatives. To be honest, I made some exclusion, and provided additional commentaries.
This collection may look strange, inconsistent and mixed, hence – non-standard. Thanks God if it is so!
And so….
Thinking about how to start, I decided for the frame that, as far as I remember, appears to be the first “my” frame.
Stallone-Cobra. Calm in waiting, confidence, master of his job…. What else could I have seen in this frame then, in 80’s, while being a teenager? Stallone “came” to me earlier than Schwarzenegger did. The latter is highly respected by me, but I would hit “6” out of 10 if you would start asking me about his works. Some of his characters are ultimate, like Conan the Barbarian.
The new conan lack that charisma and brutality, like schwarz’s one does, hence starts with small “c” here.
Since we started discussing the superheroes, I am going to follow this thread and introduce my favourite comic book hero – Batman.
I am not fond of comics per se, but those installments that touched me found their place in my world. With a help from my friend I played all the contemporary Batman movies and checked the “done” box somewhere. However Christopher Nolan’s Batman played by Christian Bale captured me. This is exactly “my” type of Batman, the Dark Knight who “can stand it”! Maybe sometime in the future other superheroes will be revealed for me but today they are silent.
The “true superhero” topic has been touched in “Kill Bill, Vol.2” movie. However, Russian-speaking people accepted the official version of the title, which means “to kill Bill”, not the “list of those who must be killed”. So, Bill (David Carradine) presents Superman like the only true superhero. And despite Batman is my superhero, I really love his monologue! However the frame I chose from this movie comes from completely different scene, and does not show Bill. Oh, here it is.
Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) occupies only one-third of the frame, but the way she does it is magnificent! Looking over her shoulder with the “farther” eye, impale with her sight and pre-celebrate the victory of calculation over the confidence, not even showing the pupil of her eye…. Of course, this frame was seen, selected and kept for the movie by Tarantino, for which I would like to thank him! And for everything he did. Here is another example from his “Death Proof” (officially translated like “The Proof of Death”)
The following frame takes his special place.
I saw “Keoma” on video when I was a teenager, on VHS, of bad quality, but that all does not affect the contact of a person with a newly arrived small portion of his inner world that finds him. Lion-like Keoma (Franco Nero) fighting for justice, breaking the limits of the normal understanding of life (“Keoma, the [newborn] child will die [all alone]!”, “No, he will not die! He is free, and those who are free can never die!”), dying and being saved by the weird intervention of the same matter – all this is wonderful to me. And the songs! By the way, the scene from where this frame comes must be watched together with its soundtrack! Here is another frame, dull without music, but filling eyes with tears and throat with lumps with it.
Standard shapes of absolutely unique people, gradually blackening in the deep of the military airship that should take them far away from home to meet their death. People losing their identities and becoming cannon fodder…. Oh how much does this world lose in such moments!
There is another frame in my collection requiring its music in the background.
“Repo: The Genetic Opera”. In my opinion a much underrated movie, lost behind other Repo-creations. Many people consider this movie being muddled for the mixture of metal music, sinister screens from the creators of “The Saw”, the Alexa Vega’s character and Sarah Brightman’s vocal, but I love the suddenness and bold ideas, I love music, I love beautiful scenes, and I liked this movie. And I liked this music too. I usually do not listen to the music of the presented music style (sorry for this word), but this doesn’t matter already – the movie became a part of my world.
I often being impressed with how do the actors play, with their faces. Here are some of them.
Leader William Wallace ruined by the treason brought about by friend
Soldier Michael (Robert De Niro) playing for life and standing all possible humiliation acts
Criminal Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero (Al Pacino) finds himself deadlocked
Junior sergeant Varvara Sinichkina has just found lost hope and love
Open-hearted Bernard (Gérard Depardieu), puzzled but suspected of nothing at all asks his wife: “Qui est cette fille?” (“Who is this girl?”)
Doctor Levan Tsintsadze (Sergo Zakariadze) in peace with the world, people and himself says farewell to his life.
Pure Juliette (Olivia Hassey) in love
Inspired by her faith, Joan of Arc (Milla Jovovich) lets her emotions out
Count Nikolay Rezanov (Nikolay Karachentsov) has instantly raised above all the reasonable obstacles in his love.
Wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) exposes all his terrible ideas by one elusive motion of his brow
One frame with two faces. Guard Brutus 'Brutal' Howell (David Morse) refers to his colleague Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) saying: “Paul, you have to say it, you have to give the order.”, although both do not want this to happen.
Here is, of course, the duel between a bishop (Peter Vaughan) and a criminal Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson) that in several seconds turns into the scene of the salvation of a human soul. Two faces, two fates, two lives meet together in time and space. It is probably impossible to show them together in one frame, like in the previous example. We need to see both faces in full. Naturally, I put two frames here.
All those frames are staggering in themselves, but I believe they will have much more sense when those sequences are watched on the screen, with dialogues, with music…. After all, you better watch those movies in full.
There are frames I would happily hang on my wall, because they are beautiful, actors also play brilliant, and given the context finalizes the connection, although many of them are literally torn out from those seconds of motion that affect me in the known way.
Romantic Ostap Bender (Andrey Mironov), not sparing his *life in the name of his Dream (Rio de Janeiro)* with the objective reality provided for his sensation.
President Walsingham (Alexander Trofimov) and Mary (Svetlana Pereladova), bravely looking into the face of the Plague surrounding them with the dawn sky in the background.
Murdered John Doe (Kevin Spacey) has risen in his madness and envy above everything and even has extinguished the sun.
DJ Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), accepted challenge, and now is standing on the top of the mast high above the sea and looking into his fear’s eyes, saying “A-Wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo!”
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Another example of a hopeless hope, an unexpected help, and harmony between internal and external, a union of a human being and the world – Captain Boromir recovered (Sean Bean)
Yes, here I used two frames from “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”. Let’s assume I am allowed doing this because the three movies of the trilogy were release on two discs each (the shortened theatrical version is not considered in principle). Here is another pair from the third installment of the trilogy.
Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and hobbit Peregrin Took (Billy Boyd) approaching the White City in Gondor
The Ride of Rohirrim through the Sauron’s army in Battle of the Pelennor Fields
Another return of a king. Odysseus (Armand Assante), suddenly appeared in the centre of his wrecked but not demolished world, and his son Telemachus (Alan Stenson) meet the hour of their wrath.
Leaving his past in the past, armed with the present, and with a help of his student Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) believing in future Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) finds his place in this world.
The second (promised) frame from “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”. Gandalf the White (Ian McKellen) brings down the riders of Rohan on the horde of orcs, thus giving victory.
Teacher Justin McLeod (Mel Gibson) is shaking farewell. He was the only man who was near and made a man out of a boy Chuck (Nick Stahl). In the finest sense of the word and not in the one the vicious society thought of.
Oh, maybe I will dedicate a special essay to this actor somehow. Now he is a lifetime reality-show object Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), who has just finally understood the meaning of what is going on all around him and stops with a wave of his hand not only a bus….
It turns out that there are four things one can look at forever: fire burning, water flowing, choose the third thing for yourself, and the fourth – those several seconds from the life of Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman), by which Stanley Kubrick opens our eyes wide.
Erotism in cinema – this is a separate topic. You can discuss it, argue, but it is impossible to deny it. It exists in everything, so why can’t it be in movies as well? Here is one of my favourite frames from the latest movie of Maestro Tinto Brass “Monamour” (I intentionally do not translate it as “my love”)
By catching her hand, Leon (Riccardo Marino) catches Marta (Anna Jimskaia) unawares in the middle of an official party and makes her follow him
And one more frame “taken” from two perspectives (i.e. two frames). When there is no hope but some close soul is near you – take each other’s hands. Salvation comes in such moments.
Finally, one more frame.
Everything is there: a suddenly-found-new-peace of my world, one more hero of mine, and a nice frame too, and the actor born-to-play-this-role, and a picture of I-would-like-to-see-it-hung-on-my-wall kind, picture/sound harmony, and “must see in action”.
In addition, yesterday we finished another round of going over all the parts of the cycle in series. There are four so far, and I truly hope for more.
And I truly hope for more frames that will add to my life and will give me more energy.
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