Well, Ben suggested I give my top 5 openings in order to try and generate some interesting discussion. It did get me thinking. What makes a great opening? For my money, a great opening should set the tone for what's going to follow. If you make the opening the best thing about the film/record, what follows is going to be a let-down. The opening should grab our attention and let us know what we're in for. With that in mind, here are my Top 5 Openings.
I should also warn you that I'll change my mind about these as soon as I publish this post. So be prepared for a few openings more in the near future
1. Snot Boogie, The Wire
David Simon and Ed Burns' masterpiece has too many memorable scenes to include on this list, but this opening scene is a classic. It introduces us to our "hero" Jimmy McNulty (the fantastic Dominic West), and shows us the pointlesness and tragedy of gun violence. It also balances tragedy with a dark sense of humour, one of the key traits of the show.
2. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, No More Shall We Part (2001)
Choosing a favourite Nick Cave opener was a tricky one. After all, we've got The Mercy Seat, Dig Lazarus Dig, and Papa Won't Leave You Henry (the latter nearly beat the song I chose). But for my money, As I Sat Sadly sets the tone perfectly for the Nick's melancholy masterpiece. The Mercy Seat is clearly the stand-out of the album Tender Prey, the only song that comes close to matching it is Deanna. On another day I would have chosen Papa Won't Leave You, but there we go. On this Thursday afternoon I'm going for melancholia over fury!
3. Blink, Doctor Who (2007)
Blink regularly features in lists of the best Doctor Who episodes, and with good reason. Namely, that it's damn scary. The weeping angel statues and Stephen Moffat's ingeniuous (although plot hole-ridden) script create a taught, nerve-racking episodes. This opening shows Carey Mulligan's plucky Sally Sparrow uncovering a message written on the wall of an abandoned house telling her to duck. Seriously duck. Why the hell doesn't she duck!
4. Halloween, dir. John Carpenter (1978)
Yes indeed, the granddaddy of all slasher films also has the best opening sequence. John Carpenter's creepy synth music and the wonderful first person viewpoint lead to one of the most surprising revelations of the film. The opening perfectly sets up Michael Myers as the boogeyman himself, even without the aid of Donald Pleasance's Sam Loomis. And there's almost no blood.
5. The State I Am In, Belle and Sebastian, Tigermilk (1996)
I'm more than willing to admit that my Belle and Sebastian fixation is a little unhealthy, but the fact is that they're one of my top five bands. Yep. There it is. Anyway, this first track on their first album sets out their stall: it's sad, funny, and dream-like, matching lyrics like "So I gave myself to God/There was a pregnant pause before he said OK", and "I kicked the crutches from my crippled friend". Back when Stuart Murdoch still wrote all the songs, before Stuart David went off to Looper and his novels, and Isobel Campbell went solo, Tigermilk is arguably their best album, with an emotional honesty ("Oh love of mine/would you condescend to help me/cause I'm stupid and blind") that was sorely lacking from their last album The Life Pursuit. I should also mention that I came very close to replacing this track with The Stars of Track and Field from their equally superb second album If You're Feeling Sinister. Maybe next time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment