Spoilers. I’ll try to keep them lowkey, but at the same time, the thing about scenes is that they only work in context, so I can’t really avoid talking about that context. However, sometimes I don’t have to talk about the plot, but the character instead, so in those cases the spoilers are kind of meaningless.

In no real order and I’ve included a video where I’ve been able to find one.

You Were Never Really Here – Joe and the Dying Man

Joe has just killed the men who murdered his mother. Yet, there is no catharsis. This doesn’t actually solve anything. Instead, he kind of sympathizes with the man dying next to him. In some ways they have a lot in common. But that’s where it gets weird as Joe lies down next to the man as the man starts to sing a song on the radio. Joe joins in.

4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile aka 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days

Gabita has just been raped, but because of her situation (as this was part of her attempt to get a abortion to her friend in 80s Romania), she can’t talk about it. She just has to try to keep it all together while people around her, most of whom she just met, are having a nice little birthday dinner. So much of what happens here is just understanding her situation, so the actor doesn’t even need to do that much.

Shichinin no samurai aka Seven Samurai

That samurai, who wins, is called Kyūzō. He has dedicated his life to the mastery of swordmanship and he is the best at it as far as we know. This scene demonstrates that. However, again, larger context matters. Later on in the movie, it turns out that those skills just aren’t enough, when the other side has guns. Primitive ones, but still.

Kanashimi no Beradonna aka Belladonna of Sadness

Embedding this doesn’t work, as it’s age restricted, but follow the link. I couldn’t find a clip either, so this is the whole movie… in Japanese… with Italian subtitles. If the timestamp doesn’t work, it starts at around 14 minutes.

So, Jeanne, our heroine, meets Satan for the first time. And how does Satan choose to present himself? As a flacid penis. Of course. What else. Also, Satan is the first thing that’s fully animated in the film. Before that we only get paintings with zooms and rotation.

Singin’ in the Rain

It’s just glorious. Don here has just realized that he is in love and what better way to express it than to get yourself completely wet in the rain. It’s just something one can relate to. I guess I’m glad it’s never been raining when I’ve felt like this.

The Great Dictator

Hynkel fantasizes about taking over the world and expresses his desires by playing around with a globe.

Trainspotting

This is the opening scene. It sets up everything perfectly and “choose life”, while very insincere here, comes up later in the movie as well as the sequel.

Sound of Noise

Again, this is at the very beginning of the movie. These two musicians are fed up with the banality of modern art, so they are trying to do something different for their own edification. After this they get the band together (more drummers) and do even weirder performances (sometimes even for audiences), but this first one has the best energy in my opinion.

Drive

Again, restricted, although not for age this time. Just the decision of the uploader.

Anyhow, this is quite long. Twelve minutes. On the other hand, it’s worth it, although for this purpose, you could cut down a bit from the beginning. This does exactly what it’s supposed to: it sets up the Driver as the professional he is. He is calculating, follows rules to keep himself safe and has nerves of steel. Also, Chromatics. You can’t go wrong with that.

The Virgin Spring

Getting ready to go to battle or similar have been subject to scenes from at least early 20s (there’s one in 1922 version of Robin Hood). This one is somewhat unusual.

Okay, so… this might not be obvious to everyone, but saunas are an integral part of Finnish culture (yes, I know the movie is Swedish, but here me out). First, if you are not from here, this might boggle your mind: About one in 1500 people on Earth live in Finland. About one in six saunas are in Finland. There’s 5.5 million of us and there’s over 3 million saunas. I have one in my apartment. In fact, most apartments have one.

Most of the time saunas are for washing up, although somewhat more ritualized than taking a shower. Personally, I usually go to sauna after work on Friday as a sort of mental reset for the weekend. However, that’s not all. They are a place of contemplation, you often warm one up for parties and so forth. Just a few generations ago people were often born in saunas and the bodies of the dead were washed in saunas. If I ever had to do something like Töre here (who is getting ready to kill the men, who killed his daughter, Last House on the Left is actually a remake of this movie), if I had the opportunity, I would definitely wash myself first. So, even if that is a very simple scene, it hits me deep.