Film's that end as they start

Brimmy · 02-12-2008 12:35pm #1

Just wondering if anyone can recommend any films that begin with an event then go back in the timeline to show everything leading up to the event only to end again at precise moment of the event itself?

ShooterSF · 02-12-2008 12:37pm

The General?

Brimmy · 02-12-2008 12:38pm

Was thinking more along the lines of fiction to be honest.. though we could all see the ending of that coming anyway :pac:

Vegeta · 02-12-2008 12:39pm

Brimmy wrote: »

Was thinking more along the lines of fiction to be honest.. though we could all see the ending of that coming anyway :pac:

Pulp Fiction does this doesn't it with the restaurant scene

AnonoBoy · 02-12-2008 12:41pm

Memento starts with the end doesn't it? Or ends with the start? Or was that the middle? Ugh. My brain is confused.

30txsbzmcu2k9w · 02-12-2008 12:44pm

Amores Perros

(edit) actually i think it just bases the characters around this one event, can't remember now tbh!

Cactus Col · 02-12-2008 1:01pm

Only thing that comes to my mind is Midnight Meat Train ... although I think it ends slightly after what it shows at the start.

chin_grin · 02-12-2008 1:07pm

Cactus Col wrote: »

Only thing that comes to my mind is Midnight Meat Train ... although I think it ends slightly after what it shows at the start.

How does a film start with the money shot? Oh wait thinking of another film, my bad.

Again, Memento would be the only one I can think of......

Vic Vinegar · 02-12-2008 1:09pm

Irreversible! or maybe not, haven't seen it

View Profile · 02-12-2008 1:13pm

Deja vu.

Flight of the Navigator.

Back to the Future 1,2.3.

L'prof · 02-12-2008 1:15pm

Vantage Point...kind of!

Auvers · 02-12-2008 1:17pm

I suppose Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects could be added

fitz · 02-12-2008 2:17pm

Donnie Darko.
Mission Impossible 3 did a good job of opening with a scene from late in the movie.
Fight Club is the wittiest example:

Narrator: "I still can't think of anything."
Tyler: "Ah, flashback humour."

It's not quite the same, but where the closing scene of The Bourne Supremacy fits into The Bourne Ultimatum is very well done too.

DirkVoodoo · 02-12-2008 2:26pm

Memento or the Machinist?

solace · 02-12-2008 2:28pm

The Butterfly Effect?

pljudge321 · 02-12-2008 4:52pm

pans labyrinth?

pwd · 02-12-2008 4:56pm

fight club (almost)

Nolanger · 02-12-2008 5:02pm

Dead of Night - classic '40s horror with a great twist at the end which changes the meaning of the start of the movie.

Pigman II · 02-12-2008 5:32pm

Sunset Blvd.

AnonoBoy · 02-12-2008 6:22pm

Twelve Monkeys.

javaboy · 02-12-2008 6:25pm

Auvers wrote: »

I suppose Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects could be added

The Usual Suspects is more like Titanic though. It starts at a point near the end of the timeline and then progresses both the past timeline and the current timeline.

I don't think that's what the OP is talking about really.

Narcissus · 02-12-2008 6:37pm

What about Lost Highway?

02-12-2008 7:56pm

Casino

Well, the start is more the middle of the movie, so I guess it doesn't count?

Neo# · 03-12-2008 4:06pm

Carlitos Way. Interestingly the start is in black and white and the end is in colour.

unreggd · 03-12-2008 4:25pm

Thirteen

good film too

Peteee · 03-12-2008 5:06pm

The Hudsucker Proxy, a Coen Brothers flick does this.

spiritcrusher · 03-12-2008 5:17pm

Mullholland Drive perhaps? Although god knows where that starts and ends.

DC · 03-12-2008 5:23pm

Neo# wrote: »

Carlitos Way. Interestingly the start is in black and white and the end is in colour.

I agree with this one. Probably the best example. Also interesting in that the start and end are narrated by a character that dies. The character is also looking back over the last few months, so the start / end thing is driven by the character rather than it being just some cheap device used by the director to keep us wondering throughout what happened.

Great film if you haven't already seen it.

ZiMZuM · 03-12-2008 6:12pm

what about the green mile?

Newaglish · 03-12-2008 7:31pm

Would Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind count?

Basq · 03-12-2008 9:33pm

Think Brick might count too? Could be wrong.. must watch it this evening!

HalloweenJack · 03-12-2008 10:58pm

Rules of Attraction, iirc.

gustavo · 04-12-2008 12:44am

American Beauty

Sangre · 04-12-2008 12:58am

saving private ryan

niallo1 · 04-12-2008 1:05am

City of God

bnt · 04-12-2008 1:06am

Fargo does, kinda - though, at the beginning, you don't know what all those vehicles are doing out in the snow. Another is Citizen Kane, of course, which starts with locked gates and an obituary...

brianthebard · 04-12-2008 1:09am

Irreversible.

kraggy · 04-12-2008 5:59am

brianthebard wrote: »

Irreversible.

No, Irreversible doesn't count as Irreversible just starts at an event then goes back in time to the beginning of a story.

The OP is looking for a film that shows an event then goes back in time and then follows through to the event again.

newballsplease · 04-12-2008 6:11am

ironman???

enda1 · 04-12-2008 6:39am

That film about a spirit passing through people's bodys where it can only spend something like 10 mins/1000yards outside a body or else it dies.

The film begins...let me tell you about the time I almost died....

Fallen! I've remembered.