List of ten: Endings

Abrupt? Maybe, but in the best way. The ending to Another Earth leaves it open just enough to promote speculation without total confusion - all without a single word of dialogue. The most memorable.

Famous for its somewhat abrupt fade to black, what most people often miss on their first viewing of Before Sunset is that the ending really starts roughly twenty minutes before the fade. The most beautifully open-ended.

In actuality, the endings of An Autumn Afternoon and Late Spring can be considered one and the same, as they share the same plot - yet the resolution of all that has come before in An Autumn Afternoon (and in Yasujiro Ozu's long, illustrious filmmaking career) places a greater emotional weight on that final glimpse of Chishu Ryu's fragile figure in that darkened house. The most resonant.

'...because, uh, most of us...need the eggs.'
All of us have had an Annie Hall ending at one point in our lives. The most bittersweet.

Love Exposure might be the first film in Sono's 'Hate' trilogy, but it punctuates its frenetic 4 hour running time with a resounding punch from the opposite emotion. The most triumphant.

'Die.'
The end of everything.

'...and then I woke up.'
Potentially the most abrupt cut to black, but also the most enigmatic and beautiful.

Similar to No Country For Old Men in its abruptness, but with none of the beauty. As enigmatic as the film itself, it serves as a symbolic clicking of the fingers in order to end a deep hypnosis. One of the most unexpected.

'It shouldn't be rocket science, right?'
A refreshing change to the tired formula of outcast-gets-the-girl. A happy ending wrapped in an unhappy one.

The greatest film about endings. A 45 minute celebration about the futility of permanence. The most beautiful.