The secret of making great movies

My good friend James Carter (who is himself an up-and-coming feature film editor), has been studying Reverse Therapy and tells me that he has identified an important fact about classic movies. And that is that they work on two different levels - the intellectual (or Headmind) level and the emotional/ sensory (Bodymind) level.

He cites Blade Runner as a great movie that many viewers did not understand when it first came out (it bombed at the box office), partly because the plot is complex but, more importantly because each shot seeks to evoke an emotion in us. For that reason the narrative can be hard to follow. Yet it is a film of great, strange, tragic, power. Who can forget the scene in which the android, Rachel, bursts into tears when she discovers that she is in fact a robot and that her memories of a happy childhood are implants. Or the near final scene (above) in which the android played by Rutger Hauer says goodbye to life:

"I've...seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...Time to die."

James tells me that talented film-makers use a variety of means to convey emotion:

• Close-up shots of the Actors
• The intonation of words
• Landscape and scenery
• Music
• Lighting, shade, color

Looking through lists of 100 best movies it is hard to disagree with James' conclusions. To take some random examples:

• Casablanca. Bogart sitting alone after midnight in his night club mourning over what might have been with Ingrid Bergman and telling Sam to play 'As Time Goes By' again.
• Godfather II. The close up of Michael Corleone's face when he realises that his own brother tried to have him killed. In the background are the still waters of Lake Tahoe.
• On the Waterfront. Marlon Brando's battered face as they ride through a bleak Brooklyn landscape and he tells his corrupt brother that he too 'could have been a contender'. The film is shot in a grainy black-white-and grey.

Interestingly, it seems that a movie can be great even if it only seems to works on the emotional level. Quite a few Spielberg movies fall into this category (example: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial), as does Blade Runner itself. But its hard to think of a great movie that only works on an intellectual level (ultra-boring art-house movies fit here).

What do you think?

Do you have a favorite movie that works on both levels?

Can you name a scene from that movie that does just that?