By “beautiful” I mean wonderfully artistic in visual and aural composition. Merely have a mega-babe on screen doesn’t count, and every person on screen can be hideously ugly, but the moment can still be beautiful.
I’m stretching the definition of “cinematic” to include things only ever shown on television. Likewise, it need not be a live-action production you refer to; animation and anime are fine.
“Moment” includes both brief instants that could be captured in a screen shot, and scenes up to – oh, let’s say three minutes long.
Lastly, let’s talk about the moments themselves irrespective of the virtue of the whole film. If you hate the movie as a whole but are struck by the artistry of a particular scene or shot, said moment is eligible.
Kay?
My nominations:
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Pippin singing the “Road” song to Denethor, interspersed with shots of Faramir leading his doomed charge on the Pelennor Fields. The grieving music, Billy Boyd’s wonderful voice, the silence of Faramir’s troops as they head to their doom, even Denethor’s piggish eating all combine to make a scene of sublime loveliness.
Superman Returns: An interior shot of the 777 as it begins to plummet to earth. For an instant everything is in free fall, and we see Lois floating in the cabin. With a look of wonderment on her face she reaches for a floating pen, for a moment having forgotten the enormous peril they are all in.
Signs: When the Hess family is in the basement waiting out the alien siege, and Morgan (the son) has an asthmatic attack with no medicine at hand, forcing Graham (the father) to help him by pure force of will, cursing God in an unconscious echo of his son’s cursing him earlier in the movie.
Empire of the Sun. When the American planes are bombing the airstrip next to the camp, people are running and ducking everywhere, it’s utter chaos - and Jamie, oblivious to the danger he’s in, climbs to the roof of a building to get closer to these planes and their pilots he holds such awe for. There’s a moment, the sound is cut out, Jamie and the pilot of a passing plane make eye contact, and something still refuses to click in Jamie’s mind. (It’s the scene with “P-51 MUSTANGS! CADILLAC OF THE SKY!”)
Then the camp doctor gets to the roof and carries Jamie down, like a little child, and it seems that the enormity of the war, the camp, the lost parents … everything just tumbles onto him at that moment and he becomes a terrified little kid.
And I forgot the most beautiful moment of all: Snow & Moon’s first (and imaginary0 duel in Hero, when they are fighting in the forest amid the falling leaves, both dressed in gold. At first the leaves match the women’s clothing, but as the combatants are wounded they become red, and the leaves whirl in an increasingly violent wind as the battle escalates.
Actually that entire movie is a visual feast. Every duel has a color scheme; any of them would be a good candidate.
Pretty much anything from LOTR:FOTR. It blew all other movies out of the sky cinematically: by far the most beautiful movie ever made. If I had to single out one part it would specifically be all the parts in Rivendell, but then again, I have a thing for waterfalls.
I’m not the Jackson fanboy I once was, but I’ll agree that Fellowship is ineffably lovely. But I think the most beautiful shot is a different, much less calming one: the end of Frodo’s monologue (in voice-over by this point), giving Sam courage to continue their journey by quoting Bilbo’s advice on the wonders of travel–just as the Nazgul appears on the border of the mist-shrouded Shire.
All of Ran, most notably the time when the red and yellow armies siege and set fire to the third castle. Kurosawa also has some other eye watering insane shots, like the moving forest in, I believe, Throne of Blood and the invasion in the rain during the Seventh Samuari.
There is also a scene that nearly chilled me when I first saw it, because it was so damn beautiful. In Boys Don’t Cry, at some point Chloe and Hillary are standing outside of a car, talking. Slowly, everything goes completely dark, except for the car which has this brilliant white light flowing out. It’s just beautiful, I don’t know how to describe it.
I’ve always been partial to the scene in the Adventures Of Robin Hood (the '38 version)where they ride through a stream at night, throwing out cascades of moonlit water. It’s just beautiful.
There was a very early cartoon that I saw just once. It must have been made in about '33. The cartoon follows a leaf as it falls from the tree into a stream and is carried over waterfalls etc. Amazing work, especially the water.
Speaking of animation, Mowgli’s walk through the jungle alone, the bit where he’s just kicking at rocks and generally being a sad little boy, is perfect. Heck, most of The Jungle Book is perfect.
Back to Robin Hood again for my favorite speech, this one in Robin and Marian (1976) It’s at the end, when they’re both dying and Marian is telling him how she loves him more than food to eat, air to breathe - more than one more day, more than God. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking and dammit, it gets me evey time!
Two movies have seemed so beautiful to me that I can’t pick out single sequences. They are “Days of Heaven” [Terrence Mallick’s masterpiece]and “Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors” [obscure Eastern European film; beautifully filmed].
And even if I weren’t a fanboy I’d say LOTR:FOTR had many many gorgeous cinematic moments.
Lots of my favorites have already been mentioned. Here’s a few more:
In Gangs of New York, the whole opening sequence. The “arming for battle” is great, the fight itself is great, but the best part is between them, when Brendan Gleeson kicks open that door into winter. Possibly my favorite shot, ever.
John Boorman’s Excalibur has many beautiful moments, but the best is towards the end; most people probably would call it a cliche, but AFAIK, this was the first film to ever show people riding through cherry blossoms while "O Fortuna* plays in the background. Here, it works.
Kink Henry walking through the field of the dead with Christian Bale’s corpse over his shoulder. ‘Non nobis’, indeed.
I’m not sure why tht matters, if it’s true; the point is the beauty and emotional impact of the scene. Almost everything we see on screen is an illusion of one sort or another, anywhistle.
If we adhere by the equation (A + B + C + D) * E = Beautiful scene, with A= Beautiful girl, B= Beautiful Music, C= Slow Motion D= Waterfall and E= selfless sacrifice, then the most beautiful scene can be equated as being The End of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The Color Purple: At the end, when Celie sees her sister and children in the distance, in flowing purple robes flapping in the wind. It’s the completely unexpected flash of colour against the dusky landscape that’s the stunner.
The Return of the King: For me, it’s the scene of the beacons being lit, each one signalling the next, over a majestic mountain range.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The episode Chimera, where Kira asks Odo to show her what it truly means for him to be a shapeshifter, and as they embrace, he transforms into a glowing cloud of light and energy that envelops her, caresses her and lifts her into the air, as an ecstatic smile spreads across her face. Magic!
Babylon 5: In the TV movie In the Beginning, there is a beautiful sequence towards the end which shows the humans being defeated over and over by the Minbari. Really gorgous shots which make the tragedy of it all hit so much harder. There’s a similar effect in the final episode, Sleeping in Light, as the ships pull away from the exploding station, with really heartbreaking music.
Titanic: Shaddup! The shots of Jack and Rose perched on the end of the ship, as the camera pulls up and we see the ship sticking up vertically out of the sea and about to plunge down, are stunning.