"I have two different categories of favorite films. One is the emotional favorites, which means these are generally films that I saw when I was a kid; anything you see in your formative years is more powerful, because it really stays with you forever. The second category is films that I saw while I was learning the craft of motion pictures." - John Carpenter, American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor and composer
Critics are always worried about giving grades to films, when most of the time what you described in the video is the most precious thing about watching movies for me: great moments being displayed in front of you, when you're just ready to believe and accept them. Being a fan of cinema is not just a matter of watching all the movies you can get your hands on, but knowing how to enjoy moments like this, even if a movie isn't a 100% or didn't satisfy your expectations.
I don't know why but the THX intro that played before the movies on VHS always scared me. Probably because the sound was eerie and it felt like something was gonna pop in the end. I still sorta get goosebumps listening to it.
In 'Rosemary's Baby' there is a moment where Ruth Gordon's character answers the phone in a shot down a short hall. She moves camera right to left through the doorway, it's all we see, and we hear her speaking off camera. All the people in the theater craned their necks to look around the corner. At that moment, I have no idea how old I was, I got it and I giggled. My Dad thought it was funny too. I was hooked.
For me that moment was in The Fellowship of the Ring, when Aragorn says to the Hobbits, "This was the great watchtower of Amon Sul." I've never quite been able to put my finger on it, but that was the most powerful and emotional scene in a film I have ever seen. Thank you for this thoughtful essay.
Chainsawsuit Original Yours ain't so bad either. I subbed to both of you a few months back and haven't enjoyed every episode. It makes me warm knowing you guys watch each other too. :)
Holy shit this is so spectacularly done! I loved how you mentioned you're not going to give some college or new age cinema definition of what it all means it's just what YOU believe. And that makes it so much more real. There's too many people just stating what other people say on their videos and not giving there own opinions. Wonderful writing Andrew and also the music selection was great too I loved the song u played through the majority of this video
you ever have a memory of a movie you have seen dozens of times as a child, but cannot figure enough information to find it?? I'm waiting for the brain computer interface to find out.
Dario Ramirez yeah man, for me i remember this girl who goes to touch someones back but her hand passes right through the body and so she thinks hes a ghost but she turns out to be a ghost. i dont know if i saw it on tv or imagined it while reading a book. but yeah its annoying
Same thing here. I had a very crisp image in my head of three scenes from a movie I saw when I was really young. Took me nearly eight years to find it. If either of you remember yours, mind letting me know just for curiosity's sake?
Not from a movie but my sister and I remember seeing a short like in between shows on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon or something; and it had a sock puppet like thing and it slowly creeps up on a table, pulls out a mini tactical knife and stabs a big chuck of ham. It didn't make any sense but was hilarious and we haven't been able to find it since.
I caught Westworld on television back in my home country. I remember that it had a cyborg without a face and that it had different settings (Mediaval, wild west) Caught it a couple months ago (had already figured out it was Westworld though) And the image of the cyborg without a face was just what I had it mind. The medieval sections were much bigger in terms of picture scope in mind. It had wideshots, but not as much depth. Interesting experience about how you mind makes things up. And more interesting is me being capable of remembering the basic plot.
Thank you for this great Video!! For me, one of these Images is the moment Chihiros father turns around in Spirited Away and she sees that her parents have turned into pigs. I first watched Spirited Away when I was six years old and that moment, which scared me a lot, has stayed with me ever since. When I watch the movie today, it still gives me a very weird feeling and makes me remember how I felt the first time I watched it. I'm very thankful for your great work! I specially enjoyed the videos on Isao Takahata and Brad Bird. Keep it up :)
When I was a kid, I would always go to my grandparents house after school, and they would have a crate of Disney, Pixar, and Scooby Doo DVD’s. I can’t remember which movie, but everytime I watched it, there would be the trailer for the Princess of Kaguya and while I never watched it as a kid, the image of the tiny princess in the bamboo cutters hands had always stuck with me and still brings me back to those days.
I think you hit it right on the money with your Nausicaa example. The images that came to my mind while watching this are the ones that, in retrospect, sparked my imagination and confronted me with style, ideas, emotions I had never experienced before. That's what great movies do, really; they deliver thoughts and feelings that can't be communicated any other way than through visual storytelling and thus stay with you for the rest of your life.
I think for the most part, the reason we remember some scenes is when we reach the point of full connection and immersion in a movie. When we truly feel the presence of the scene and feel that we understand it on a deep level (even subconsciously) that it affects us. Even more so are the scenes and points in our life coupled with epiphany that make us see things in a way we never have before. I think the reason that the scene scared him(which he kinda hit on) is because he was immersed with the scene and more than that understood the angry, frightening emotion of the scene and the girl with the oar.
My memories of sound are much stronger than my memories of images, probably because I'm so bad with eye contact, but if someone told me to hum something from a movie, I would be a sponge which could never truly be rung dry. Excellent video. Keep it up, you're amazing.
For me it was the trailer to "Castle in the Sky". It's a girl in a blue dress with a long crystal necklace standing on a hill. Slowly she begins to float on her back with the wind blowing her skirt and braids. Never saw the movie, but I want to some day.
Hermin Lionel I caught castle in the sky one afternoon after school and unlike other animations it amazingly went on and on and on and I kept watching -- and the scenes set on the castle in the sky have stuck with me years later. A mesmerisingly beautiful work.
The movie is probably not the "best" of the Ghibli bunch, but that cold-opening scene is still the single best opening that I can remember. Especially in the original Japanese language; for some reason in the American dub they have major-key music playing during the opening seconds, but in Japanese the opening seconds are just dead silence, then you slowly hear the humming and slicing of the propeller engines as the airship comes into view, a solid minute is spent just showing details of the ship with nothing but that sweet steam-punk engine churning through the wind .... and then something appears through the nearby clouds, then the DUN DUN DUN music appears uninvited as the air-pirate assault begins. Then you have the government guys on board that seem to be guarding the girl with the necklace, but then the girl with the necklace bashes the government dude in the back of the head and up and elopes on both the government guys AND the pirates ... then you realize "okay, there's a lot more going on here than initially thought" ... then she falls disappearing into cloud and her scream fades out of earshot ... then the opening credits start. That's the most badass hook of a cold-opening I ever seen ... rivaled only by Gandalf's fall-fight in Two Towers ... hmm ... seems falling is a theme.
How on earth can you not have more than 80k subscribers? Every time I see one of your essays describing other peoples art it's art itself. You deserve every like twice and every subscription thrice. Keep up the good work of making art of describing art!
One of the most pleasant and moving subjects to discuss when it comes to cinema is the unpredictable first moment of connection each person has with cinema. The nature of memory only complicates and enhances that. I've seen Nausicaa five times by now, and each time I re-watch it or see images from it (including in this video) my memory is found to be weirdly patchy, as if after each viewing my brain has wiped half of the viewing experience, so that I can see the film fresh each time.
I believe this is what philosophers call the "sublime" moment. Where art transcends description. It literally blows your mind. That is the function of true art, and for a child - a sensitive child - it can be an awesome, even life-changing experience that lasts a lifetime. Great video, man.
When Tycho's "A walk" played at the end of video, my heart dropped. While the song isn't old, it came at a pivotal time in my life. We were filled with such emotion, endless spontaneity, and an eager embrace of the world. Since then, we've drifted apart and have pursued professional careers, gotten married, and gotten lame. Fuck, what'd I'd give to be with those people in that time again, careless, free, and naive.
I watched Les Triplettes de Belle-Ville for the first time when I was about 5-6 years old, so I think I understand exactly your experience with Nausicaä. Althought I enjoyed it, it was completely new and strange. I can't describe the feeling. A lot of images from that film got stuck in my head, especially the first time we see Souza's grandson as a grown up. Another one that I always remember is Travis Bickel staring into a glass of water with aspirin in Taxi Driver. But the image that i got more stuck in my head is a moment from Spirited Away when a weird guy/creature is smoking a cigarette by a window.
There is a moment in the film "Persona" (1966) where Liv Ullman is walking around her hospital room with the tv on, and she walks towards the wall. As she does it you can see her shadow move across the room. This image just completely took my break away. It is incredible simple but it was just so beautiful and interesting to look at, I adore it. This video accurately summed up my feelings at that moment. I attribute that one shot to the moment I stopped loving film and began /living/ it.
I have a Miyazaki one too. It's that demon boar god made of worms and it's glowing red eyes from Princess Mononoke. It don't have a fearful memory of it burned into my mind...more of an awe. It was something that appealed to me when I was young, but something I couldn't understand fully. I think that may be a part of it. We latch on to what we don't fully understand, especially when we're young. For me the idea of corruption plays in there as well. The idea that something good can shift to the other side of the spectrum. Like you, I don't want to throw around any grad student like answers so I'll stop there.
You too? When I first wached it, I missed the beginnig. But the black, wormy arm or the dying god in or the kodama in the forest... Seems like Miyazaki is a creator of such moments.
I want to share that the "Jacob Have I loved" trailer really rings true for me... Years ago I saw the trailer somehow and the exact same moment stuck with me. All this time. I never knew where it was from but I always remembered "the trailer where the girl tries to kill her sister with a table-leg." I remember it being stormy. I remember seeing the head being smashed in, and I still had the horror somewhere hidden away in my brain. As soon as you rolled footage of it I recognized it. Then, as you said, the moment comes and - ah, it seems so different. So much less violent. It's pretty crazy to me that the exact same moment was ingrained in your mind. We also owned the VHS copy of Narnia and I remember watching it with my sister. On another note I absolutely love your videos. You have really good insight and cover some really interesting points I haven't heard or thought of before. Would love to talk with you about cinema and the power of stories sometime, if you want to chat! Great work.
Nausicaa was a similar experience for me except that I was so young when I first watched it that I don't think the title or even the full storyline registered with me. I would just sometimes see flashes of the creatures with the clear half domes eyes and also (curiously enough) the scene at 4:18 where she loads the rifle, and these flashes would also be accompanied by a hint of that certain feeling that I probably first felt watching the film so long ago. It wasn't until recently when I was on a ghibli binge that I realized all those images at the back of my mind were from that particular movie. And watching it again I also found the world and story to be much... smaller than I remembered? Because in my memories it seemed so vast and mysterious and daunting.
For me, one moment that I remember from my childhood was The Simpsons’ episode “Hurricane Neddy” and it’s the moment immediately after he blows up at everyone in town and drives off in his car. There was something just so surreal about the character I new for years as the nicest man in cartoon history just calmly driving away and singing along to the radio after potentially burning every bridge he had in Springfield
Ooooh this made me think of all of the scenes that stuck with me and now I get why I write the way I do with an emphasis on strong emotional feeling because that's what all of those scenes did for me, great video!!!
When you said that you DON'T have an explanation, I was so impressed that I reached for the subscribe button, only to see that I've already subscribed...
i know, but im not going to explain the entire thing. just letting ppl know to skip to the end since you dont have to watch the whole video to get the point
when I was like 5 I remember being terrified by the movie: "Arsenic and Old Lace". They kept saying the body " in the window seat" and I thought they were saying "body on the window seal", which I was terrified by because our tv couch was right in front of the front window seal. I distinctly remembered the image of a body laying backlit and terrifying, just behind lace curtains. I rewatched it just a few years ago and there's nothing even close to that kind of shot. My mind completely made it up.
When I was younger, these moments in film stuck in my mind for seemingly no reason whatsoever; however, I know exactly why they do now. Since I married and shared every thought of mine with my husband, he picks my brain after we watch a film, and I always find out why that I would have a particular reaction to any particular thing. Often times, it's personal, but there always appears to be a reason.
really beautiful, nostalgic, and personal video man. great stuff. also, damn you for showing the ending of CINEMA PARADISO... almost brought me tears again LOL
Wow. Your channel is incredible. The opening shot from Kagemusha is one of those moments for me. It was really late at night and I put Kagemusha on. I made it through the opening scene before I fell asleep. I never finished the movie, but every time I sit down to write I think about that scene.
There's a moment in my early childhood that sticks with me so vividly but I honestly don't know where it's from. I think it was a horror film set in a blizzard, when fucking Alf jumped out and screamed. That jump scare, which I'm probably not remembering right, scared the living shit out of me and I ran full speed to the other side of the house.
What I noticed when watching Heavy Metal is it seems to have possibly inspired Nausicaa. A warrior woman rides a magical winged thing through a toxic area full of skeletons of giant creatures, giant plant roots, dives deep below them to magical waters. That area starts about 1:02:00ish into the movie. It's not as good as movie as Nausicaa but if you watch with an open mind it's hard not to see similarities.
I think what you are describing in the case of Nausicaa, is not "Fear" but more of "Awe". Also, the one scene that stays with me in that film, is towards the end where Nausicaa is caught in the stampede of enraged Ohm. No matter how many times I see it, I break down and cry. I am so overcome by the scene, that even though I know full well the resolution, it still moves me to tears.
There's a few for me. First, one from my childhood is a scene from Jumanji. It's the scene where young Robin Williams and young Bonnie Hunt are playing Jumanji for the first time and then Robin Williams starts to get sucked into the board game. If there is anything from my childhood that has traumatized me, it's that scene. Just watching as the tips of his fingers start getting sucked in and his horrified scream was enough to make the scene last in my mind. Secondly, it's not a scene that scared me, just something that stuck with me, similar to the Nausicaa scene mentioned in the video. The opening credits to Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I distinctly remember the camera panning up the smokestack with Danny Elfman's fantastic score in the background. Then, the camera gets to the top and dives down the tower into the title and the swirling chocolate behind it. It's very beautiful and one of the many things that I remember about that movie, though that sticks in my mind the most. Lastly, it's a scene recently. I was watching all of the Pixar movies because why not and it was time for Finding Nemo. We're at the point where Marlin and Dory are inside the whale and then there's two shots that stick out so much. There's a shot of Merlin on his side at the bottom of the whale's mouth and another shot at the side, with Dory looking down at Marlin. First, the shot is just beautiful on its own. But, then, I recognize this as being the exact same as the shots from the beginning when Marlin finds Nemo being the last remaining egg. Realizing that, the scene affected me so much more and I was also sort of proud of myself because I usually don't notice things like that.
I removed certain shots but most of the time I remember a feeling more. Like a certain feeling a movie gave me and maybe certain shots will come to mind. For some reason I don’t normally attach them to one shot rather multiple different ones from the movie to create an overall feeling that strikes me whenever I think of it.
When i was really young, i would stay up late and watch what ever i could find on cable, some times the syfy channel or other such nonsense. One night i stumbled on to a channel playing spirited away from the beginning, I watched until the spirits started to appear. There were a lot of aspects of that segment that creeped me out, but none more than when she found her parents who had been transformed into pigs. Some how that scene stayed with me for years on, enough that I only recently rewatched the movie. I was surprised how much it stayed true to what i remembered, but after that, I don't know, no horror tropes really shook me as bad anymore. No matted how many times a ghost stacked chairs while you weren't looking, or threw somebody across a room, they would never match what that scene did to me.
i have this with the bfg's dream room, such an incredibly strong memory. also a video I just saw on tv as a kid. it's a memory which a lot of people have I have learned, quite funny! I love your style. there's more perfectionist video essays on film out there which are worth noting, but I like your gentle way of speaking too. like you have nothing to prove. nice rhythm too. thanks for making videos!
Sometimes I remember the short film "Synapse", directed by Matthew Kalish. Saw it on youtube 10 years ago once, forgot it, but then I remembered the opening with the scientist talking about time and the moments in between the passing of it. It struck me as profound, and I still think of some of the images. Haven't rewatched it since I've found it again, though
Oh my god, more of this!!!!!!!!!! Most of the time watching a video essay, the creator is trying to convince you of something, or make some point. This was so different. It was just thoughts, and questions, and it wasn’t profound. It was so relaxing to just sit back and think with you, truly think, without true aim. The bit about questions, that rings the most true. You don’t need a conclusion for this, you don’t need to know why it is or what it means or why we evolved to do this... but it’s a part of our experience of film, and that bares thought.
Thank you for not trying to give the phenomenon an explanation. Sometimes none are required, instead I liked the way you handled the conversation, the dialogue, if you will. Nicely done, your channel is incredible, keep up the good work.
So, I can't think of many of these film moments that stick in my brain. But, I can think of one, and it is of 'that' scene from Cinema Paradiso, I think it stuck with me because it was the first time I had seen someone show nostalgia so vividly, I was about 10, and now if I even think of it I just start crying, wherever I am, and I could tell from the clips you were playing that it was going to come up so I was just in tears this whole time.
The final scene of Ghost in the Shell, I caught on TV late at night. I remember being specifically impressed by the animation of Kusanagi's hair. I was like 12.
-The fever dream sequences of The Three Caballeros; -One of the kids that is almost eaten alive by a giant Rick Moranis in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; -Eddie Valliant entering Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit; -Simba's closeup in The Lion King; -The Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park; -The gremlin that gets absolutely destroyed by a paper shredder in Gremlins 2; -Fievel facing a scorpion in Fievel Goes West; All of these come to mind in the subject of this video.
When I was about 12 and at home sick, I watched Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage based on a Somerset Maugham story. It completely blew my mind. It was so raw and real. Years later I tried to find it again. But every version of the film was not the one I remembered. I distinctly remembered a certain line, but that line was in none of the films and I watched every version made. I realize now that my memory enhanced the movie. Either that or it’s the Mandela Effect.
For me, the fear based image I have from my childhood is an image of the Big Bad Wolf from an old Little Red Riding Hood book my parents had. It scared me to the point of tears from the time I was a toddler to the start of kindergarten. My equivalent to your second example was probably the episode of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" where there is an entire forest that is actually just one tree. I had never been exposed to anything like that episode or concept before
Oh, I saw a children's film, sort of a jungle fable about some animal that was able to camouflage and hide from the other animals, and if I remember correctly also shapeshift. For some strange reason that filled me with a kind of enthusiastic awe, and stuck with me, even if it was sometimes buried under layers of other experiences and memories. It was like meeting a strange alien creature, and not being yet able to comprehend what you see. I don't have any idea what movie that was, and maybe never will. But gosh would I enjoy seeing it again.
Dear TROFS, The "images" seen are merely light, dark, and color, what makes them memorable is the feeling associated to that image. Each of us are composed of similar yet different experiences, and responses to those experiences, this creates an seemingly infinite possible emotive response to images, however we all have a fundamental aspect that is deeper than are mere "personality", so in that sense there are some images that have we all respond to in a similar manner. For me one of my most deepest moment of film memory is Kurosawa's film "IKIRU" where the hero swings on the swing at night as the snow falls, while a beautify image to be sure, it is more. It is a Man who had nothing, felt nothing, and who was sentenced to death by illness, and yet had transcended the the implications of that illness, and of his past self.
There's this part in The Gate, an 80s film about some kids up against a hellmouth or something like that. There's this part where an eye grows on the main kid's hand, and I must have seen it on TV, late at night, when I was young. It scared the pants off me and just stayed with me. Recently, I saw a review of the film that included the scene in question. It was pretty different. My other memories of the film were apparently mixed up with Radio Flyer.
gummo left a pretty big impression on me when I saw it as a young teenager and some of the scenes and images I still think about quite a bit. I've passed through towns that look similar to the town in that movie and I guess that makes it even more surreal in my perspective
When I was very young, too young to remember how old I was, I was flipping through TV and I saw an image from a cartoon - a bombed out Japan, with a young boy carrying a young girl on his back. I had no idea what it was, and it stuck with me. It kept coming back to me, and I would ask other people, who also had no idea. One day I was in the local library and I found a copy of 'Barefoot Gen' and I thought 'this is it!' (I think this is how I knew retroactively that it was Japan). So I loaned the book, and devoured it, but the image that stuck with me was nowhere to be seen. I know there's a film of 'Barefoot Gen', and I haven't seen it, but as time's gone on I'm now reasonably sure that what I saw was 'Grave of The Fireflies', but I haven't seen that either (shocking I know). However, I'm convinced that if I watched either, I wont find what I saw - my memories has changed too much, and is now more a memory of having had the memory. Anyway, great video, keep up the good work!
I love all your videos. Truly inspiring. Also Tycho is awesome I love them too!!!! thanks for having good taste. thanks for doing this, seriously. You are my new favorite channel.
I also got stucked an image of a movie in my childhood, and kept coming back to it when i was daydreaming, specifically it was the Lugia Song scene form Pokemon 2000, I always remembered the part when the green flowing water fills all the little paths... it was just so mesmerizing fantasy moment...
From Gareth Edwards' Godzilla there is a shot when the skydivers jump out of the plane and we see a wide shot of the whole scene. That stuck with me like a painting!!
When I was 8 I went to the movies with my mom and my older sister. My mom saw Fried Green Tomatoes and I have no memory of what my sister and I saw. What I do remember is that at some point either because our movie ended or I wanted to simply find my mom I went into her theatre and saw the scene where they raise the truck out of the water. I didn't find my mom or sit down but just stood in the dark hallway and watched. Then I went back to where my sister was. I always remembered this scene for some unexplained reason as I always remembered it was Fried Green Tomatoes. I finally saw the movie and read the book years later. Probably about 15 or 16, I waited for the one simple scene, a truck being raised out of thee water. It wasn't too anti climatic I had realized it was a silly obsessive memory. Both book and film are enjoyable and they hold a strange fascination with me still.
I relate so much with the feeling you described when you talked about Nausicaa. I had the same experience when i was 10 and my mom bought me a VHS of Princess Mononoke.
My parents bought me Oddworld: Abe's Odysee when i was like five years old and several images from that game have stuck with me to this day. Whenever i see something even remotely resembling it I am overcome with dread.
As Roland Barthes would've said: you, sir, found your "punctum" in those films. I quote: "Punctum is the rare detail that attracts you to an image, Barthes says ‘its mere presence changes my reading, that I am looking at a new photograph, marked in my eyes with a higher value’."
Mine is that scene from what I think is Ponyo where she is running on water, I remember watching that in a trailer on a dvd in the car and having that same feeling you were talking about about with the Ghibli film.
Champion...the beaten to pulp Midge hears a radio announcer proclaim "he's all washed up...he finished" etc. He gains resolve from these words, and throws himself at his opponent, retrieving victory at the cost of his life.
To be really stupid and honest that clip from 7:40 is one that’s been stuck in my head since childhood. I’ve never seen the film it’s from and for the longest time i believed the actor to be Steve Martin (I was a kid and only knew of him from cheaper by the dozen). But really the way that person just seemed to look at a movie like it was something special and worth something helped to reaffirm that idea in my head. That little clip from something I’ve never ever seen in full helped justify my love for film
This is fascinating. The very concept of it has been in the back of my mind and I never even thought to define it or make an explanation for it. It reminds me a bit of the concept of "sehnsucht" or "saudade". Thanks for bringing this to light! I need to think more about it :D
Nausicaä is my all time favorite film. Recently, I had the honor of seeing the film on the big screen due to GhibliFest, and I was just blown away by the film once again, and it’s a film I always love coming back to.
Something about great sci-fi caverns with no end in the great darkness, and the vibes of Akira, Ghost in the Shell and 90's anime in a dark rental store, even though I haven't seen much at all of it give me a weird existential nostalgia, Blade Runner and a roller rink. It's deeply indescribable.
It's the same way for me for the opening shot of The Memories of Murder. It's stuck in my head since I watched the film almost 2 years ago. I don't know why! It's just a shot of a mountain and a field. But every time I start watching the movie and that shot comes up my heart starts racing I feel the experience this movie is going to be. It's very strange but maybe... that's what art is. Beyond our logical comprehension, just a rice field blowing in the wind and a mountain in the back.
I had such a moment with the trailer for Treasure Planet. It was also on those old VHS tapes (que macintosh plus) and the exciting images stayed with me for years. Only saw it ten years later and had some childish fun watching it.
wonderful examination, thank you for sharing something so personal. In the past I have shared my very own lasting memories, and found it difficult to translate their meaning. I also felt fascinated by the idea of a memory being incredibly different from the original footage. I found this to be common with things that happened offscreen too.
I have a slightly different example. when I was a young child I would have recurring nightmares that a train was chasing me. 15 years later I decided to revisit a movie that I loved to rent as a child, Little Nemo. I was totally blown away to find out that he had the same nightmare. I had seen the movie and consciously forgotten the train scene but subconsciously tucked it away as nightmare fuel and didn't realize it for over a decade. Weird how the brain works.
I find it quite a bit strange that if I think about Nausicaa and Kagemusha exactly the same shots spring up in my mind. And I saw Nausicaa as an young adult and Kagemusha many years ago.
Memories certainly are malleable. My sister remembers an event from our childhood which I remember her being absent from, and we certainly can't both be right. This memory caused me great distress and I have told her about it many times, but we can't both be right about whether she was actually there. Sometimes images from cinema have provoked a strong emotional response and those images then stay with me, but the curious thing is that when I see them again, sometimes years later, what I see is a mirror reflection of my memory.
Totally get what you mean. As a child, I watched a lot of old Tom and Jerry episodes and there was this specific episode about Tom needing to get Jerry's signature so that he could get to heaven. There was a scene where he to tried to cheat by signing it himself but was stopped by a loud scary voice that called out his name. That scene doesn't leave my mind until today.
This reminds me of a television interview I saw about the bizarre children's television series "Pompel & Pilt" from the 60's. The interviewer was asking people on the street if they remembered the show, and a few of them described episodes that didn't exist. Some 40 years after it first aired. I had the same experience as well. Some images and films are so potent that they leave you affected subconsciously. Where else would these non existent episodes come from?
I found this really interesting. I don't have the answer myself for why some images in particular stay with you but I'll venture a guess. So as a child I was terrified of a moment in 'A Christmas Carol' starring Albert Finney where he's standing in front of his grave and the third ghost comes up behind him. I watch it now and the part where he turns around and looks at it's face isn't even scary! Same for the bit in 'Never Ending Story' where he runs through the Sphinx gates. Terrified me! But also that moment where Chihiro turns around in 'Spirited Away' and first sees Haku - it's not scary moment - but it has always stuck with me. Because straight away you just knew the was something different (potentially threatening) about him. I think what you were talking about might be the same principle in horror films. If you show the monster it's no longer scary. However if you don't show (or you only see it once) it your mind creates something which is far scarier than anything the filmmaker could show you; because all you have is the memory of feeling scared - not the actual image of the monster itself. And it's scary because your memory of it keeps shifting and changing in your mind over time. I think this might be the same thing. You are watching a film, following a story and you're emotionally invested. Suddenly you see an image and it might be at a point in the story where something significant happens but I don't think it's not really the image that sticks with you. I think it's more the emotional journey or impact going on around that 'moment' or image. That's just my theory. Hope that makes sense.
"I have two different categories of favorite films. One is the emotional favorites, which means these are generally films that I saw when I was a kid; anything you see in your formative years is more powerful, because it really stays with you forever. The second category is films that I saw while I was learning the craft of motion pictures." - John Carpenter, American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor and composer
I completely agree, mine would be Ratatouille and GoodFellas.
Critics are always worried about giving grades to films, when most of the time what you described in the video is the most precious thing about watching movies for me: great moments being displayed in front of you, when you're just ready to believe and accept them. Being a fan of cinema is not just a matter of watching all the movies you can get your hands on, but knowing how to enjoy moments like this, even if a movie isn't a 100% or didn't satisfy your expectations.
I don't know why but the THX intro that played before the movies on VHS always scared me. Probably because the sound was eerie and it felt like something was gonna pop in the end. I still sorta get goosebumps listening to it.
Every living millennial on earth with decent hearing is afraid of that sound. You're not alone bro
This was an sublime examination on our memories of movie moments. You deserve more viewers my friend.
Agreed. Sublime is the perfect word for it.
In 'Rosemary's Baby' there is a moment where Ruth Gordon's character answers the phone in a shot down a short hall. She moves camera right to left through the doorway, it's all we see, and we hear her speaking off camera. All the people in the theater craned their necks to look around the corner. At that moment, I have no idea how old I was, I got it and I giggled. My Dad thought it was funny too. I was hooked.
For me that moment was in The Fellowship of the Ring, when Aragorn says to the Hobbits, "This was the great watchtower of Amon Sul." I've never quite been able to put my finger on it, but that was the most powerful and emotional scene in a film I have ever seen. Thank you for this thoughtful essay.
[m] That was beautiful. I definitely know where you're coming from! Just absolutely beautiful work. Thank you, genuinly. -Mikey
Chainsawsuit Original Yours ain't so bad either. I subbed to both of you a few months back and haven't enjoyed every episode. It makes me warm knowing you guys watch each other too. :)
Chainsawsuit Original f
In Zen Buddhism it is the question rather than the answer that holds the key. Thanks so much for your questions!
Holy shit this is so spectacularly done! I loved how you mentioned you're not going to give some college or new age cinema definition of what it all means it's just what YOU believe. And that makes it so much more real. There's too many people just stating what other people say on their videos and not giving there own opinions. Wonderful writing Andrew and also the music selection was great too I loved the song u played through the majority of this video
you ever have a memory of a movie you have seen dozens of times as a child, but cannot figure enough information to find it?? I'm waiting for the brain computer interface to find out.
Dario Ramirez yeah man, for me i remember this girl who goes to touch someones back but her hand passes right through the body and so she thinks hes a ghost but she turns out to be a ghost. i dont know if i saw it on tv or imagined it while reading a book. but yeah its annoying
Same thing here. I had a very crisp image in my head of three scenes from a movie I saw when I was really young. Took me nearly eight years to find it.
If either of you remember yours, mind letting me know just for curiosity's sake?
Not from a movie but my sister and I remember seeing a short like in between shows on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon or something; and it had a sock puppet like thing and it slowly creeps up on a table, pulls out a mini tactical knife and stabs a big chuck of ham. It didn't make any sense but was hilarious and we haven't been able to find it since.
I caught Westworld on television back in my home country. I remember that it had a cyborg without a face and that it had different settings (Mediaval, wild west)
Caught it a couple months ago (had already figured out it was Westworld though) And the image of the cyborg without a face was just what I had it mind. The medieval sections were much bigger in terms of picture scope in mind. It had wideshots, but not as much depth. Interesting experience about how you mind makes things up. And more interesting is me being capable of remembering the basic plot.
Vegaspsycho Oobi? Lol
Thank you for this great Video!! For me, one of these Images is the moment Chihiros father turns around in Spirited Away and she sees that her parents have turned into pigs. I first watched Spirited Away when I was six years old and that moment, which scared me a lot, has stayed with me ever since. When I watch the movie today, it still gives me a very weird feeling and makes me remember how I felt the first time I watched it.
I'm very thankful for your great work! I specially enjoyed the videos on Isao Takahata and Brad Bird. Keep it up :)
When I was a kid, I would always go to my grandparents house after school, and they would have a crate of Disney, Pixar, and Scooby Doo DVD’s. I can’t remember which movie, but everytime I watched it, there would be the trailer for the Princess of Kaguya and while I never watched it as a kid, the image of the tiny princess in the bamboo cutters hands had always stuck with me and still brings me back to those days.
I think you hit it right on the money with your Nausicaa example. The images that came to my mind while watching this are the ones that, in retrospect, sparked my imagination and confronted me with style, ideas, emotions I had never experienced before. That's what great movies do, really; they deliver thoughts and feelings that can't be communicated any other way than through visual storytelling and thus stay with you for the rest of your life.
I think for the most part, the reason we remember some scenes is when we reach the point of full connection and immersion in a movie. When we truly feel the presence of the scene and feel that we understand it on a deep level (even subconsciously) that it affects us. Even more so are the scenes and points in our life coupled with epiphany that make us see things in a way we never have before. I think the reason that the scene scared him(which he kinda hit on) is because he was immersed with the scene and more than that understood the angry, frightening emotion of the scene and the girl with the oar.
My memories of sound are much stronger than my memories of images, probably because I'm so bad with eye contact, but if someone told me to hum something from a movie, I would be a sponge which could never truly be rung dry. Excellent video. Keep it up, you're amazing.
Bruce the Shark smiling behind Dory and Marlin still scares the shit out of me every time.
For me it was the trailer to "Castle in the Sky".
It's a girl in a blue dress with a long crystal necklace standing on a hill. Slowly she begins to float on her back with the wind blowing her skirt and braids. Never saw the movie, but I want to some day.
Hermin Lionel I caught castle in the sky one afternoon after school and unlike other animations it amazingly went on and on and on and I kept watching -- and the scenes set on the castle in the sky have stuck with me years later. A mesmerisingly beautiful work.
The movie is probably not the "best" of the Ghibli bunch, but that cold-opening scene is still the single best opening that I can remember. Especially in the original Japanese language; for some reason in the American dub they have major-key music playing during the opening seconds, but in Japanese the opening seconds are just dead silence, then you slowly hear the humming and slicing of the propeller engines as the airship comes into view, a solid minute is spent just showing details of the ship with nothing but that sweet steam-punk engine churning through the wind .... and then something appears through the nearby clouds, then the DUN DUN DUN music appears uninvited as the air-pirate assault begins. Then you have the government guys on board that seem to be guarding the girl with the necklace, but then the girl with the necklace bashes the government dude in the back of the head and up and elopes on both the government guys AND the pirates ... then you realize "okay, there's a lot more going on here than initially thought" ... then she falls disappearing into cloud and her scream fades out of earshot ... then the opening credits start. That's the most badass hook of a cold-opening I ever seen ... rivaled only by Gandalf's fall-fight in Two Towers ... hmm ... seems falling is a theme.
It's actually my favorite of the Ghibli films. If you still haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and see it now.
This was a beautiful, moving, exploration. Sent shivers down my spine.
You've got something special that I really enjoy. Thank you for the video.
The image of the parents in Spirited Away turning into pigs haunt me to this day.
same, saw it when I was 6
I was just thinking about that woah
How on earth can you not have more than 80k subscribers? Every time I see one of your essays describing other peoples art it's art itself. You deserve every like twice and every subscription thrice. Keep up the good work of making art of describing art!
One of the most pleasant and moving subjects to discuss when it comes to cinema is the unpredictable first moment of connection each person has with cinema. The nature of memory only complicates and enhances that. I've seen Nausicaa five times by now, and each time I re-watch it or see images from it (including in this video) my memory is found to be weirdly patchy, as if after each viewing my brain has wiped half of the viewing experience, so that I can see the film fresh each time.
I believe this is what philosophers call the "sublime" moment. Where art transcends description. It literally blows your mind. That is the function of true art, and for a child - a sensitive child - it can be an awesome, even life-changing experience that lasts a lifetime. Great video, man.
When Tycho's "A walk" played at the end of video, my heart dropped. While the song isn't old, it came at a pivotal time in my life. We were filled with such emotion, endless spontaneity, and an eager embrace of the world. Since then, we've drifted apart and have pursued professional careers, gotten married, and gotten lame. Fuck, what'd I'd give to be with those people in that time again, careless, free, and naive.
I watched Les Triplettes de Belle-Ville for the first time when I was about 5-6 years old, so I think I understand exactly your experience with Nausicaä. Althought I enjoyed it, it was completely new and strange. I can't describe the feeling. A lot of images from that film got stuck in my head, especially the first time we see Souza's grandson as a grown up.
Another one that I always remember is Travis Bickel staring into a glass of water with aspirin in Taxi Driver.
But the image that i got more stuck in my head is a moment from Spirited Away when a weird guy/creature is smoking a cigarette by a window.
There is a moment in the film "Persona" (1966) where Liv Ullman is walking around her hospital room with the tv on, and she walks towards the wall. As she does it you can see her shadow move across the room. This image just completely took my break away. It is incredible simple but it was just so beautiful and interesting to look at, I adore it. This video accurately summed up my feelings at that moment. I attribute that one shot to the moment I stopped loving film and began /living/ it.
I have a Miyazaki one too. It's that demon boar god made of worms and it's glowing red eyes from Princess Mononoke. It don't have a fearful memory of it burned into my mind...more of an awe. It was something that appealed to me when I was young, but something I couldn't understand fully. I think that may be a part of it. We latch on to what we don't fully understand, especially when we're young. For me the idea of corruption plays in there as well. The idea that something good can shift to the other side of the spectrum. Like you, I don't want to throw around any grad student like answers so I'll stop there.
You too? When I first wached it, I missed the beginnig. But the black, wormy arm or the dying god in or the kodama in the forest... Seems like Miyazaki is a creator of such moments.
I want to share that the "Jacob Have I loved" trailer really rings true for me... Years ago I saw the trailer somehow and the exact same moment stuck with me. All this time. I never knew where it was from but I always remembered "the trailer where the girl tries to kill her sister with a table-leg." I remember it being stormy. I remember seeing the head being smashed in, and I still had the horror somewhere hidden away in my brain. As soon as you rolled footage of it I recognized it. Then, as you said, the moment comes and - ah, it seems so different. So much less violent.
It's pretty crazy to me that the exact same moment was ingrained in your mind. We also owned the VHS copy of Narnia and I remember watching it with my sister.
On another note I absolutely love your videos. You have really good insight and cover some really interesting points I haven't heard or thought of before. Would love to talk with you about cinema and the power of stories sometime, if you want to chat! Great work.
Nausicaa was a similar experience for me except that I was so young when I first watched it that I don't think the title or even the full storyline registered with me. I would just sometimes see flashes of the creatures with the clear half domes eyes and also (curiously enough) the scene at 4:18 where she loads the rifle, and these flashes would also be accompanied by a hint of that certain feeling that I probably first felt watching the film so long ago. It wasn't until recently when I was on a ghibli binge that I realized all those images at the back of my mind were from that particular movie. And watching it again I also found the world and story to be much... smaller than I remembered? Because in my memories it seemed so vast and mysterious and daunting.
For me, one moment that I remember from my childhood was The Simpsons’ episode “Hurricane Neddy” and it’s the moment immediately after he blows up at everyone in town and drives off in his car. There was something just so surreal about the character I new for years as the nicest man in cartoon history just calmly driving away and singing along to the radio after potentially burning every bridge he had in Springfield
Ooooh this made me think of all of the scenes that stuck with me and now I get why I write the way I do with an emphasis on strong emotional feeling because that's what all of those scenes did for me, great video!!!
When you said that you DON'T have an explanation, I was so impressed that I reached for the subscribe button, only to see that I've already subscribed...
before you guys skip to the end, just wanted to save you the trouble, nothing scary happens which is the point of the video.
@KreativeKill thanks bro
i know, but im not going to explain the entire thing. just letting ppl know to skip to the end since you dont have to watch the whole video to get the point
im sorry, but this channel deserves SO much more credit! these vids are prime!!
when I was like 5 I remember being terrified by the movie: "Arsenic and Old Lace". They kept saying the body " in the window seat" and I thought they were saying "body on the window seal", which I was terrified by because our tv couch was right in front of the front window seal. I distinctly remembered the image of a body laying backlit and terrifying, just behind lace curtains. I rewatched it just a few years ago and there's nothing even close to that kind of shot. My mind completely made it up.
Absolutely love this.
When I was younger, these moments in film stuck in my mind for seemingly no reason whatsoever; however, I know exactly why they do now. Since I married and shared every thought of mine with my husband, he picks my brain after we watch a film, and I always find out why that I would have a particular reaction to any particular thing. Often times, it's personal, but there always appears to be a reason.
really beautiful, nostalgic, and personal video man. great stuff. also, damn you for showing the ending of CINEMA PARADISO... almost brought me tears again LOL
This is so beautiful. I so admire you approach here. Love the comfort found in questions.
Wow. Your channel is incredible. The opening shot from Kagemusha is one of those moments for me. It was really late at night and I put Kagemusha on. I made it through the opening scene before I fell asleep. I never finished the movie, but every time I sit down to write I think about that scene.
There's a moment in my early childhood that sticks with me so vividly but I honestly don't know where it's from. I think it was a horror film set in a blizzard, when fucking Alf jumped out and screamed. That jump scare, which I'm probably not remembering right, scared the living shit out of me and I ran full speed to the other side of the house.
What I noticed when watching Heavy Metal is it seems to have possibly inspired Nausicaa. A warrior woman rides a magical winged thing through a toxic area full of skeletons of giant creatures, giant plant roots, dives deep below them to magical waters. That area starts about 1:02:00ish into the movie. It's not as good as movie as Nausicaa but if you watch with an open mind it's hard not to see similarities.
I think what you are describing in the case of Nausicaa, is not "Fear" but more of "Awe". Also, the one scene that stays with me in that film, is towards the end where Nausicaa is caught in the stampede of enraged Ohm. No matter how many times I see it, I break down and cry. I am so overcome by the scene, that even though I know full well the resolution, it still moves me to tears.
There's a few for me. First, one from my childhood is a scene from Jumanji. It's the scene where young Robin Williams and young Bonnie Hunt are playing Jumanji for the first time and then Robin Williams starts to get sucked into the board game. If there is anything from my childhood that has traumatized me, it's that scene. Just watching as the tips of his fingers start getting sucked in and his horrified scream was enough to make the scene last in my mind.
Secondly, it's not a scene that scared me, just something that stuck with me, similar to the Nausicaa scene mentioned in the video. The opening credits to Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I distinctly remember the camera panning up the smokestack with Danny Elfman's fantastic score in the background. Then, the camera gets to the top and dives down the tower into the title and the swirling chocolate behind it. It's very beautiful and one of the many things that I remember about that movie, though that sticks in my mind the most.
Lastly, it's a scene recently. I was watching all of the Pixar movies because why not and it was time for Finding Nemo. We're at the point where Marlin and Dory are inside the whale and then there's two shots that stick out so much. There's a shot of Merlin on his side at the bottom of the whale's mouth and another shot at the side, with Dory looking down at Marlin. First, the shot is just beautiful on its own. But, then, I recognize this as being the exact same as the shots from the beginning when Marlin finds Nemo being the last remaining egg. Realizing that, the scene affected me so much more and I was also sort of proud of myself because I usually don't notice things like that.
I removed certain shots but most of the time I remember a feeling more. Like a certain feeling a movie gave me and maybe certain shots will come to mind. For some reason I don’t normally attach them to one shot rather multiple different ones from the movie to create an overall feeling that strikes me whenever I think of it.
One of my is too from a Kirosawa film. It's this close up of the bandit sweating in Rashoman. Not sure why but, I always feel this sense of suspense.
When i was really young, i would stay up late and watch what ever i could find on cable, some times the syfy channel or other such nonsense. One night i stumbled on to a channel playing spirited away from the beginning, I watched until the spirits started to appear. There were a lot of aspects of that segment that creeped me out, but none more than when she found her parents who had been transformed into pigs. Some how that scene stayed with me for years on, enough that I only recently rewatched the movie. I was surprised how much it stayed true to what i remembered, but after that, I don't know, no horror tropes really shook me as bad anymore. No matted how many times a ghost stacked chairs while you weren't looking, or threw somebody across a room, they would never match what that scene did to me.
i have this with the bfg's dream room, such an incredibly strong memory. also a video I just saw on tv as a kid. it's a memory which a lot of people have I have learned, quite funny! I love your style. there's more perfectionist video essays on film out there which are worth noting, but I like your gentle way of speaking too. like you have nothing to prove. nice rhythm too. thanks for making videos!
DID YOU JUST CALL NAUSICA PULP FANTASY
Sometimes I remember the short film "Synapse", directed by Matthew Kalish. Saw it on youtube 10 years ago once, forgot it, but then I remembered the opening with the scientist talking about time and the moments in between the passing of it. It struck me as profound, and I still think of some of the images. Haven't rewatched it since I've found it again, though
Oh my god, more of this!!!!!!!!!! Most of the time watching a video essay, the creator is trying to convince you of something, or make some point. This was so different. It was just thoughts, and questions, and it wasn’t profound. It was so relaxing to just sit back and think with you, truly think, without true aim. The bit about questions, that rings the most true. You don’t need a conclusion for this, you don’t need to know why it is or what it means or why we evolved to do this... but it’s a part of our experience of film, and that bares thought.
I love Nausicca and the Valley of the Wind. One of the first manga's I was ever exposed to. I immediately fell in love. Amazing stuff.
Thank you for not trying to give the phenomenon an explanation. Sometimes none are required, instead I liked the way you handled the conversation, the dialogue, if you will. Nicely done, your channel is incredible, keep up the good work.
The doors closing on the stain-glass Christ was legitimately scary.
So, I can't think of many of these film moments that stick in my brain. But, I can think of one, and it is of 'that' scene from Cinema Paradiso, I think it stuck with me because it was the first time I had seen someone show nostalgia so vividly, I was about 10, and now if I even think of it I just start crying, wherever I am, and I could tell from the clips you were playing that it was going to come up so I was just in tears this whole time.
The final scene of Ghost in the Shell, I caught on TV late at night. I remember being specifically impressed by the animation of Kusanagi's hair. I was like 12.
-The fever dream sequences of The Three Caballeros;
-One of the kids that is almost eaten alive by a giant Rick Moranis in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids;
-Eddie Valliant entering Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit;
-Simba's closeup in The Lion King;
-The Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park;
-The gremlin that gets absolutely destroyed by a paper shredder in Gremlins 2;
-Fievel facing a scorpion in Fievel Goes West;
All of these come to mind in the subject of this video.
When I was about 12 and at home sick, I watched Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage based on a Somerset Maugham story. It completely blew my mind. It was so raw and real. Years later I tried to find it again. But every version of the film was not the one I remembered. I distinctly remembered a certain line, but that line was in none of the films and I watched every version made. I realize now that my memory enhanced the movie. Either that or it’s the Mandela Effect.
For me, the fear based image I have from my childhood is an image of the Big Bad Wolf from an old Little Red Riding Hood book my parents had. It scared me to the point of tears from the time I was a toddler to the start of kindergarten. My equivalent to your second example was probably the episode of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" where there is an entire forest that is actually just one tree. I had never been exposed to anything like that episode or concept before
Oh, I saw a children's film, sort of a jungle fable about some animal that was able to camouflage and hide from the other animals, and if I remember correctly also shapeshift.
For some strange reason that filled me with a kind of enthusiastic awe, and stuck with me, even if it was sometimes buried under layers of other experiences and memories.
It was like meeting a strange alien creature, and not being yet able to comprehend what you see.
I don't have any idea what movie that was, and maybe never will. But gosh would I enjoy seeing it again.
Dear TROFS, The "images" seen are merely light, dark, and color, what makes them memorable is the feeling associated to that image. Each of us are composed of similar yet different experiences, and responses to those experiences, this creates an seemingly infinite possible emotive response to images, however we all have a fundamental aspect that is deeper than are mere "personality", so in that sense there are some images that have we all respond to in a similar manner. For me one of my most deepest moment of film memory is Kurosawa's film "IKIRU" where the hero swings on the swing at night as the snow falls, while a beautify image to be sure, it is more. It is a Man who had nothing, felt nothing, and who was sentenced to death by illness, and yet had transcended the the implications of that illness, and of his past self.
That shot from Kagemusha is stuck in my head. I watched it a few weeks ago and it was the one scene that really stuck with me.
There's this part in The Gate, an 80s film about some kids up against a hellmouth or something like that. There's this part where an eye grows on the main kid's hand, and I must have seen it on TV, late at night, when I was young. It scared the pants off me and just stayed with me. Recently, I saw a review of the film that included the scene in question. It was pretty different. My other memories of the film were apparently mixed up with Radio Flyer.
gummo left a pretty big impression on me when I saw it as a young teenager and some of the scenes and images I still think about quite a bit. I've passed through towns that look similar to the town in that movie and I guess that makes it even more surreal in my perspective
Is it possible that the first anime movie scene that stuck with you, held fear because of the trypophobia aspect of the stone holes to the left?
When I was very young, too young to remember how old I was, I was flipping through TV and I saw an image from a cartoon - a bombed out Japan, with a young boy carrying a young girl on his back. I had no idea what it was, and it stuck with me. It kept coming back to me, and I would ask other people, who also had no idea. One day I was in the local library and I found a copy of 'Barefoot Gen' and I thought 'this is it!' (I think this is how I knew retroactively that it was Japan). So I loaned the book, and devoured it, but the image that stuck with me was nowhere to be seen.
I know there's a film of 'Barefoot Gen', and I haven't seen it, but as time's gone on I'm now reasonably sure that what I saw was 'Grave of The Fireflies', but I haven't seen that either (shocking I know). However, I'm convinced that if I watched either, I wont find what I saw - my memories has changed too much, and is now more a memory of having had the memory.
Anyway, great video, keep up the good work!
I love all your videos. Truly inspiring. Also Tycho is awesome I love them too!!!! thanks for having good taste. thanks for doing this, seriously. You are my new favorite channel.
I also got stucked an image of a movie in my childhood, and kept coming back to it when i was daydreaming,
specifically it was the Lugia Song scene form Pokemon 2000, I always remembered the part when the green flowing water fills all the little paths... it was just so mesmerizing fantasy moment...
From Gareth Edwards' Godzilla there is a shot when the skydivers jump out of the plane and we see a wide shot of the whole scene. That stuck with me like a painting!!
That scene when Mystique becomes a non-mutant and is abandoned in X-Men: The Last Stand has been stuck in my head since I was 12.
When I was 8 I went to the movies with my mom and my older sister. My mom saw Fried Green Tomatoes and I have no memory of what my sister and I saw. What I do remember is that at some point either because our movie ended or I wanted to simply find my mom I went into her theatre and saw the scene where they raise the truck out of the water. I didn't find my mom or sit down but just stood in the dark hallway and watched. Then I went back to where my sister was. I always remembered this scene for some unexplained reason as I always remembered it was Fried Green Tomatoes. I finally saw the movie and read the book years later. Probably about 15 or 16, I waited for the one simple scene, a truck being raised out of thee water. It wasn't too anti climatic I had realized it was a silly obsessive memory. Both book and film are enjoyable and they hold a strange fascination with me still.
For me it was Gummo, I saw a little bit of it as a little kid. Such a strange and disturbing film that stuck with me so long
These are a supreme handful of resources for anyone who wants to work in the visual side of a film pipeline
The song is Memory Gospel by Moby.
I relate so much with the feeling you described when you talked about Nausicaa. I had the same experience when i was 10 and my mom bought me a VHS of Princess Mononoke.
My parents bought me Oddworld: Abe's Odysee when i was like five years old and several images from that game have stuck with me to this day. Whenever i see something even remotely resembling it I am overcome with dread.
As Roland Barthes would've said: you, sir, found your "punctum" in those films. I quote: "Punctum is the rare detail that attracts you to an image, Barthes says ‘its mere presence changes my reading, that I am looking at a new photograph, marked in my eyes with a higher value’."
Mine is that scene from what I think is Ponyo where she is running on water, I remember watching that in a trailer on a dvd in the car and having that same feeling you were talking about about with the Ghibli film.
Champion...the beaten to pulp Midge hears a radio announcer proclaim "he's all washed up...he finished" etc. He gains resolve from these words, and throws himself at his opponent, retrieving victory at the cost of his life.
To be really stupid and honest that clip from 7:40 is one that’s been stuck in my head since childhood. I’ve never seen the film it’s from and for the longest time i believed the actor to be Steve Martin (I was a kid and only knew of him from cheaper by the dozen). But really the way that person just seemed to look at a movie like it was something special and worth something helped to reaffirm that idea in my head. That little clip from something I’ve never ever seen in full helped justify my love for film
This is fascinating. The very concept of it has been in the back of my mind and I never even thought to define it or make an explanation for it. It reminds me a bit of the concept of "sehnsucht" or "saudade".
Thanks for bringing this to light! I need to think more about it :D
This channel is getting so close to great, I just subscribed.
The writing could be improved, but the editing is fantastic
Nausicaä is my all time favorite film. Recently, I had the honor of seeing the film on the big screen due to GhibliFest, and I was just blown away by the film once again, and it’s a film I always love coming back to.
Something about great sci-fi caverns with no end in the great darkness, and the vibes of Akira, Ghost in the Shell and 90's anime in a dark rental store, even though I haven't seen much at all of it give me a weird existential nostalgia, Blade Runner and a roller rink. It's deeply indescribable.
It's the same way for me for the opening shot of The Memories of Murder. It's stuck in my head since I watched the film almost 2 years ago. I don't know why! It's just a shot of a mountain and a field. But every time I start watching the movie and that shot comes up my heart starts racing I feel the experience this movie is going to be. It's very strange but maybe... that's what art is. Beyond our logical comprehension, just a rice field blowing in the wind and a mountain in the back.
I had such a moment with the trailer for Treasure Planet. It was also on those old VHS tapes (que macintosh plus) and the exciting images stayed with me for years. Only saw it ten years later and had some childish fun watching it.
I'm so happy to find another person that has the same memory of that Kagemusha scene
wonderful examination, thank you for sharing something so personal. In the past I have shared my very own lasting memories, and found it difficult to translate their meaning. I also felt fascinated by the idea of a memory being incredibly different from the original footage. I found this to be common with things that happened offscreen too.
This reminds me when my parents rented "Fantastic Planet". They were thinking, "oh, it's a cartoon. the kids will like this!"
This felt like a very personal video essay and wicked smart
What movie is that very last scene from? The one of the man in the theater
I have a slightly different example. when I was a young child I would have recurring nightmares that a train was chasing me. 15 years later I decided to revisit a movie that I loved to rent as a child, Little Nemo. I was totally blown away to find out that he had the same nightmare. I had seen the movie and consciously forgotten the train scene but subconsciously tucked it away as nightmare fuel and didn't realize it for over a decade. Weird how the brain works.
The final shot of the Shawshank Redemption will stay with me until the day I die.
nausicaa is such a good movie that i feel rarely gets the recognition it deserves! i love seeing it in vids
same!
Great content as always! Could you please tell me the title of the music in the beginning of the video? It fit's perfectly!
its memory gospel by moby
you're next bro real talk, i'm calling it
I find it quite a bit strange that if I think about Nausicaa and Kagemusha exactly the same shots spring up in my mind. And I saw Nausicaa as an young adult and Kagemusha many years ago.
Memories certainly are malleable. My sister remembers an event from our childhood which I remember her being absent from, and we certainly can't both be right. This memory caused me great distress and I have told her about it many times, but we can't both be right about whether she was actually there. Sometimes images from cinema have provoked a strong emotional response and those images then stay with me, but the curious thing is that when I see them again, sometimes years later, what I see is a mirror reflection of my memory.
Totally get what you mean. As a child, I watched a lot of old Tom and Jerry episodes and there was this specific episode about Tom needing to get Jerry's signature so that he could get to heaven.
There was a scene where he to tried to cheat by signing it himself but was stopped by a loud scary voice that called out his name. That scene doesn't leave my mind until today.
This reminds me of a television interview I saw about the bizarre children's television series "Pompel & Pilt" from the 60's. The interviewer was asking people on the street if they remembered the show, and a few of them described episodes that didn't exist. Some 40 years after it first aired. I had the same experience as well. Some images and films are so potent that they leave you affected subconsciously. Where else would these non existent episodes come from?
I found this really interesting. I don't have the answer myself for why some images in particular stay with you but I'll venture a guess. So as a child I was terrified of a moment in 'A Christmas Carol' starring Albert Finney where he's standing in front of his grave and the third ghost comes up behind him. I watch it now and the part where he turns around and looks at it's face isn't even scary! Same for the bit in 'Never Ending Story' where he runs through the Sphinx gates. Terrified me! But also that moment where Chihiro turns around in 'Spirited Away' and first sees Haku - it's not scary moment - but it has always stuck with me. Because straight away you just knew the was something different (potentially threatening) about him. I think what you were talking about might be the same principle in horror films. If you show the monster it's no longer scary. However if you don't show (or you only see it once) it your mind creates something which is far scarier than anything the filmmaker could show you; because all you have is the memory of feeling scared - not the actual image of the monster itself. And it's scary because your memory of it keeps shifting and changing in your mind over time. I think this might be the same thing. You are watching a film, following a story and you're emotionally invested. Suddenly you see an image and it might be at a point in the story where something significant happens but I don't think it's not really the image that sticks with you. I think it's more the emotional journey or impact going on around that 'moment' or image. That's just my theory. Hope that makes sense.