10 Greatest Opening Shots From Recent Movies
5. Drive My Car
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Best Picture-nominated Drive My Car may have been made for a fraction of the budget of most movies on this list, but DP Hidetoshi Shinomiya did a remarkable job wringing every possible drop of visual artistry out of it.
Case in point, the drama's opening image is by far the most evocative and aesthetically pleasing in the entire film, of protagonist Yusuke's (Hidetoshi Nishijima) wife, Oto (Reika Kirishima), sitting up out of bed in gorgeous silhouette against the break of Tokyo's dawn.
Oto, who is a screenwriter, then begins describing her latest story to Yusuke - something she has a habit of doing after they've had sex - as the lingering shot finally cuts to confirm that, as expected, Oto is nude in the bed with her husband.
It's a shot that perfectly encapsulates the movie as a whole - sexy, meticulously crafted, and absolutely concerned with the creation and telling of stories.