Images, lines, gestures, moods from the year's films
* Inside Llewyn Davis: Llewyn (Oscar Isaac) sits by, uninvited, as "500 Miles" is performed by Jim & Jean (Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan) and Troy (Stark Sands).You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles....
* The opening thirteen-minute shot of Gravity, during which you never think about special effects because everywhere you look, it's real...
* The straight backroads of Nebraska. Doesn't hurt to have
those black cattle standing in the widescreen distance under a leaden sky....
* The curve of a tree limb above two lovers (Adèle Exarchopoulos, Léa Seydoux) embracing on a park bench, in Blue Is the Warmest Color...
* The first time the ladies set eyes on each other, American Hustle. Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) to Sydney (Amy Adams) and then to husband (Christian Bale): "I know who you are! I know who she is, Irving!"...
* The peculiarly pastel density of the air in which her's islanded Angelenos swim...
* The fat gray worms of industrial smoke — especially from ground-hugging trains — that trail across Miyazaki's green world in The Wind Rises...
* The Counselor: Leopard (Cameron Diaz) contemplates lamb (Penélope Cruz): "What a strange world you live in."... * Sternbergian ballet: the duel between Ip Man (Tony Leung) and Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang) at The Grandmaster's last train stop...
* Post-coitus in Enough Said, Albert (James Gandolfini) wondering whether he's too heavy for his diminutive lover (Julia Louis-Dreyfus); enough to break your heart...
* At the beginning of Before Midnight, the look on Ethan Hawke's face as his kid goes to board the plane...