First & Last 011
Wednesday, June 28, 2023 at 8:00AM
NATHANIEL R in LGBTQ+, first and last

Can you guess the movie from its first and last shot? This one is for Pride Month

The answer if you scroll down is after the jump...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The answer is Free Fall (2013), a German gay film about two police officers that fall in love. The film is actually quite good and has had some staying power on streaming services. It's currently streaming on both Tubi and Hulu and available to rent everywhere else. The film stars Max Riemelt who landed Sense8 (2015-2018), shortly aftewards and, pictured, Hanno Koffler (Never Look Away, Babylon Berlin, and currently Transatlantic on Netflix) who leads this opening and closing jog.

And speaking of... the film opens and closes with this  ritual. I don't think I'd ever clocked how many film use a variation of the same shot as the opening and closing image until I started doing this series years ago. Ostensibly it's a full circle effect, whatever the image, letting you contemplate the central character arc  or the themes or the story progression in full. Of course it works much better in some films than others. Any structural conceit, even if it's only visual, is a tool and it's all about how you use it. 

Have you ever seen Free Fall?

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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