Endings are a vital part of the movies. It's easy to forget a few weak points of the film, but a bad ending can spoil the whole movie.
The two recent films that have impressed me with their endings are Damien Chazelle's Whiplash and La La Land.
Both the films are very similar to each other. The stories are simple. Their screenplays are very powerful.
Although they have different storyline but their ending are somewhat similar. Both are 15 minutes long.
Whiplash is based around Andrew , a drummer, and his oppressing assh*le teacher Fletcher.
Chazelle lets us expect a happy ending throughout the film. We think that Andrew will show Fletcher his real talent and the audience will get a satisfaction at the end. But that is tricky.
Andrew gets a request from Fletcher to participate with his music group to perform in front of critics. . Damien leads us to think that now he will show Fletcher what his worth is.
But this doesn't happen. Right when we think that everything is going great. Andrew get disappointed because It was all a scheme of Fletcher for his revenge. He leaves the stage in tears. He hugs his father at the backstage.
The audience feels disappointed. We feel bad for Andrew. And think this is the end.
But then something happens, suddenly Andrew has got the will. He goes up to the stage and gives a literally bloody passionate performance that nobody had ever seen.
And the film cuts as we get an expression on Fletcher, an applausive smile.
And the song continues.
We don't know what happened afterwards. It's unambiguous.
In La La Land, he makes it even trickier.
La La Land is based on two aspiring artists, their dreams and somewhere in midst of it all, their love story.
The female lead Mia is aspiring to be an actress while Sebastian is a musician who is a geek about Jazz and wants to open a Jazz Club.
We meet the characters,we fall in love with them. We expect them to be with each other till the end.
They fall apart. At the end they get a reunion.
Mia has become a superstar actress and married to another guy. They even have a child.
They decide to go somewhere but they get stuck in traffic. They notice a club and decide to go inside. And then we find that it's Seb’s club.
We see him. We are sad. And then Seb starts playing that melancholic theme. And we get to another world. A dream that we wanted to see in reality.
We see everything that could have been, but isn't. And after a 4 minutes of unforgettable instance, we get back to reality. And we realize none of that is true. They both give themselves a last smile and continue their journey.
It gives the audience a feeling that is very rare. We feel sad that they didn't remain together but at the same time understand that they both are doing what they wanted and are happy with themselves.
So it gives us a feeling of sadness as well as happiness at the same time. That's what makes it so special.
First we think everything will end up as a happy. But we get disappointed. And then we get a ray of hope. And at last the characters get what they wanted. But the audience doesn't know how to feel.
It all makes up to one of the most unforgettable endings ever.
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