MovieChat Forums > The Parallax View (1974) Discussion > Other good use of 'cuts' ?

Other good use of 'cuts' ?

posted 11 years ago by boonjj
8 replies | jump to latest

the cut used in the early scene when the beaty is talking to the woman, after having a long conversation where he is doubting her and she is begging him for help, then it switches straight to her lying on the morgue bed, the questioning music kicks in, the doctor says it has to be a suicide, the camera pans backwards and beaty steps into the shot..

that is one of the most effective, terrfying cuts i have ever seen

does anyone have any other examples of other fantastic contrasting cuts? its such a simple tool that isnt used to the effectiveness it can be

i have another example in the movie 'Straight Time' (another fantastic film by the way)

two ex crooks meet up for the first time in years, one is just out of jail, the other has settled down with his wife and the scene takes place in the back yard of his nice house, where there is a pool. they talk for around 3 minutes straight, all shot in 1 take, in which the friend confesses he wants to get back into the criminal life even though he has a nice wife and house... straight cut to them both in a car about to jack a poker game... awesome

[–] asktheages 11 years ago

Good post. Yeah, that's a fantastic edit and the film is full of such moments. I also admired the brisk editing of Straight Time (cut by the great Sam O'Steen).

I think my favorite edit in Parallax, off the top of my head, would be near the end when we see Beatty walk into the convention center, and hear the distant sound of marching band music as the door opens, and then BAM!, we cut to inside the convention center, only a few feet from the conductor's face, and the music is shockingly loud -- especially coming after the previous, quiet scene.

Another great edit in a Pakula film is at the beginning of Klute -- the cut from the crowded, loud, happy dinner table to the same table empty now at night, with a broken chair and a character gone missing.

As for films in general, there are many, I'll have to re-edit this post later. I often think editing is the one area where film most gains its power.

[–] boonjj 11 years ago

me to, i think its because films like music need a rythym to them. i know with some of my favourite movies each cut/scene ending is right on cue to let you feel what you need to feel and that feeling can just keep building up and up until the end. l. likewise, i sometimes i can cringe in disapointment when a scene ends even just a second to late

funny, i also thought of that edit from klute after i posted. it is a far more sudden cut though.

some others i thought of:

the bone/spaceship cut from 2001
the wedding/war cut in deer hunter

[–] asktheages 11 years ago

Well said, reminds me of this Kubrick quote: "A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later."

I've been watching Klute a lot recently; it never ceases to astonish me. Some of the edits in it are sublime. Another that stands out is a hard cut from a horizontal tracking shot of patrons partying at a raucous red-walled disco, to a close-up of police polaroids of female homicide victims which Fonda is flipping through. The sudden change from loud music to silence is especially powerful.

There are many more in Klute and Parallax. Both films have a unique sense of disquiet, a certain uneasiness to the jarring way they flow and manipulate sound and time.

[–] boonjj 11 years ago

do you have a ratings page i can look at? you seem to have a very similar taste in films to me and i would be interested in seeing some of your favourites

[–] asktheages 11 years ago

I don't but I'll post some recs in your top 50 thread.

[–] MichaelJacksonPollock 9 years ago

Great, great, cut that "Parallax View" cut you mentioned.

Personally I also really love the cut that occurs about 2 hours into "There Will be Blood" that transitions between 1911 and H.W. and Mary Sunday's wedding in 1927.

It cuts from a static shot of a young H.W. jumping from a porch, with Mary following him soon after (a metaphor of the loyalty of the girl who will become his wife, as well as of their engagement to come), to a vertical panning shot of Mary as a young woman, facing the camera, following the upward motion of her hand as she signs to H.W. what the priest is saying.

The downward motion of Mary jumping from the porch immediately countered by the upward movement of her hand that seems to mimic a flower growing and blooming, leading to her radiant smile right into the camera (the first and only sight of beauty and happiness in an otherwise very bleak film) is, I find, very effective, very beautiful and extremely poignant.
A rare and compelling demonstration of the power of editing, a purely cinematic device capable of conveying deep truths and soulful meaning when executed wisely.

"There Will Be Blood" has obvious Kubrickian undertones, and I think maybe PTA could have been influenced by the 2001 match-cut you also mentioned. Incidentally, we have exactly the opposite motion in 2001's match cut, where the bone thrown by the ape in the first shot goes upward and the spaceship in the second shot moves downward.

[–] Moviemadness2012 8 years ago

"Memento" (2000) has a memorable editing style, in that the narrative is completely chopped up into bits and presented in back-and-forth chronology. If the true chronology is A to Z, then "Memento" cuts it into Z, A, Y, B, X, C, W, D, ... until the backward timeline meets the forward timeline at the halfway point.

[–] puplover 8 years ago

I LOVE this topic, and it was the first thing I noticed about this movie. The scene the OP mentioned was so jarring because of the scene cut.

The master of this for me was Friedkin in the Exorcist. My fave example is the scene where the priest is dying at the bottom of the stairs. It's chaotic and noisy w/ an ensuing crowd. Next scene: shot of the same bottom of the stairs but empty and dead quiet. Friedkin did this throughout the movie. Brilliant. A crying shame more directors don't do this.