Week 88 posts include shots from The Last Seduction (1994); Solaris (1972); Broad City (2014-2019); The Parallax View (1974); and Mississippi Masala (1991).
Mississippi Masala
Orange and Teal smoking up the silver screen in Mississippi Masala!
Demetrius (Denzel) and Mina (Sarita Choudhury) talk on the phone while mirrored in position and wearing complimentary coloured tops which 'pop' against the white of the boxers and slip-of-a-sheet they're wearing.
You don't need to hear a word of their conversation to know what they're thinking about.
Broad City
Broad City 3.08 cold open shows Abbi and Ilana in split screen before they converge and then cross . . .
Practically it's a simple action of letting the actors cross as the cameras stay stationary, then retrace their steps, but it's a fun visual layer to their phone conversation which would be substantially less interesting in intercut shots.
The Last Seduction
This sequence from The Last Seduction (1994) conveys a lot of plot points while a character is alone, without oft-used voiceover or 'talking to herself' technique.
When Bridget gets into her car (removing The Club, a sure signal of the early 90s setting) the focus racks from her face to her hand; the first sign she's married. The immediately following closeup of the ring tossed in with loose change conveys she's discarding her husband along with her old life.
A cross-fade of her smoking over a map shows she does have a plan, then a shot of her gas gauge on E followed by "shit" tells us she didn't plan to stop yet, but her hand is being forced by circumstance.
This bad luck will shape all her next encounters, and the lives of several men in this small town . . .
The Parallax View
The Parallax View gives us a high foreshadowing shot before its climactic political rally —
— everything perfectly arranged, but empty and foreboding, dark shadows looming above in the foreground.
Solaris
This oner involves a double Texas Switch!
When the camera follows Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) Hari (Natalya Bondarchuk) is replaced by an actor with different arm prosthetics; after Kelvin cleans the supernaturally-healed wound, Natalya switches back in to complete the illusion.
The oner makes the whole scene feel as odd to us as it does to Kelvin; effective, evocative work.