An example of a coda that will most certainly make or break a film, is the one at the end of Matchstick Men (2003), “1 year later”.
For me, (and I’m probably on my own on this one) Woody Allen’s voice-over coda at the end of Annie Hall leaves you limp after what was a quality film. In fact, Woody Allen often disappoints when it comes to the coda.
Another, more hotly debated coda (especially by Jazzaloha) is the one to Taxi Driver after blood soaked denouement. For, some (Jazz), a decider on whether a film is truly great or not.
If one were to crack the coda of Oceans 11, and its innumerable sequels, one is able to see that Soderbergh and Jackie Chan uniting is like Soderbergh’s version of Sasha Grey’s reunion in porn with showing her bare tits within five minutes of the film. Soderbergh couldn’t crack the coda of Sasha Grey with clothes on, nor could he crack the coda of using Jackie Chan’s marksmanship in the Danny Oceans movies.
You did, however, state Woody Allen. I agree that as a stereotypical Jewish man, Woody Allen could crack the coda of a Formula 1 champ like Jackie Chan and put him on the real streets such as Woody Allen did with the feminist Diane Keaton in Annie Hall. She was working on the streets when he had his way with her.
I think that can not truly be deemed entirely necessary or unnecessary, but that certain types of films warrant coda’s in order to find wholeness in conclusion. I am not certain whether or not these types of films are associated with particular genres, although I can not think of any reliable examples. What I do feel matters, however, is the consistency of the main plot, the pervasiveness of subplots and the variety of character elements. Take the Lord of the rings trilogy. Certainly, the final film benefited from a long coda; as did the novels. There were many plot elements to sort out,(destruction of the ring, elves colonizing the west, what the hobbits would do with themselves) and many character developments to conclude. Films that I would prefer to end at the denouement are generally driven by a single protagonist, perhaps shorter in length, and less subjugated/confounded with subplot. I will use gladiator as just one example, as it was surely more appropriate to find conclusion in the weight of maximus’ death then to drag it on.
So why did you post this topic twice??
Early signs of alzheimers?
I think it helps resolve the film to the point where it leaves the viewer with a satisfaction as to how the characters will resolve their troubles.
3 Examples of endings that failed to meet a proper coda:
Mon Oncle Antoine
Fallen Idol
Performance
Risselada i posted it twice because their was no definition for Coda in the first one, important as their will be a lack of clarity otherwise. I would have deleted the previous one, but you can’t.
Another example of a coda which some feel diminish what is otherwise a quality film is the one in Spielberg’s Minority Report.
I feel that sometimes the coda is used to provide a nice, neat, Hollywood finish to a film that maybe somewhat lacking the glossiness of Hollywood mass market, product. Therefore, it is often used in a cynical manner to divert attention from what may otherwise be a thought provoking ending, for the sake of making it appeal to mass audiences.
However, these days there seems to be a trend towards ending films in an almost cliffhanger fashion to leave the audience with the rush suspense and tension of and end scene minus a coda. Films that have used it effectively fairly recently are like The Skin I Live In and Solitary Man. This is because they are bother character based ending’s where the ambiguity lies with interpersonal relationships.
On the other end, you have the more superficially thought provoking twist of coda conventions in Inception, which (annoyingly) makes it a film that far more people, even those who confess not to be cinephile’s in any way, actively debate. It also made a lot of people watch the film again in the cinema, all because it didn’t have a neat, tidy coda. lol this is an example of why not having a traditional coda at the end of a film, or ending it with such ambiguity, can exponentially increase it’s box office taking’s.
Boxing Helena was ruined by its coda. I could have forgiven the cheesy slo-mo, the bad early 90s soul music, and the general creepiness of Julian Sands’ performance, had the coda not gone with the always disastrous “It was all a dream!” explanation. Only Inception and Waking Life have managed to pull off a film being set in a dream, because they showed the dream as the totality of the characters’ universe.
Most modern comedies have a humorous coda that takes the funniest character(s) of the film and shows them finishing up a small plot strand. Examples: Step Brothers, Bridesmaids, The Hangover.
Red Riding: 1983 had a good coda. BJ escapes Yorkshire, alive and ready to heal himself, giving us just a glimmer of hope in one of the grimmest films in recent memory.
Edit: I’m sure there are many more films that use totality to pull off a dream setting, but those were the two instances that came to mind immediately.
@Deft
My sense is that a coda can’t save a dying or bad film. But it can strengthened a film by wrapping it up or ending it on a strong note.
For me, (and I’m probably on my own on this one) Woody Allen’s voice-over coda at the end of Annie Hall leaves you limp after what was a quality film. In fact, Woody Allen often disappoints when it comes to the coda.
I don’t know. I like AN’s coda. Using the joke about needing the eggs was a nice way to wrap up the film. The film needed some coda, I think as there really isn’t a denouement. I aslo like the coda in Hannah and Her Sisters.
Another, more hotly debated coda (especially by Jazzaloha) is the one to Taxi Driver after blood soaked denouement. For, some (Jazz), a decider on whether a film is truly great or not.
Well, just to be clear, I think TD is a great film even if I don’t like the actual ending.
A coda that pretty much ruined the film for me (I’m probably on my own on this one too) is the excruciating, sentimental dream at the end of Raising Arizona.
An interesting fact: In many Jackie Chan movies in the 80’s there would be two (or more) versions of a film, one that ends at the denouement, for Hong Kong audiences, and one that ends with a coda, for mainland China and especially for Japanese audiences.
A famous example of this is for Chan’s Police Story (1985) in which the only place to get the version with Coda (and alternate outtakes) was in Japan. Another is in his underrated and ambitious Dragon Lord (1982), (still holding the record for highest number of takes for a single scene) where the international version not only features an extended coda, but also many more exposition scenes for the subplots of the film.
deftworker
Coda: The final, sometimes inessential part of the film that comes after the denouement, sometimes a summary at the end of the film of further developments in the lives of the characters .
I recently saw the final 20 minutes of Transporter 3 again (i know what you’re thinking) on tv and i felt the film had a rather entertaining, even witty, absurdest climax. However, the coda really deflated any of that high felt off of that scene (and bought back to really the true quality of the film in general), just as it had done at the cinema, when the audience left rather timidly out to proceed with the rest of their lives.
This got me thinking about the importance of Coda’s in genre film-making, and films in general. So for example, the antithesis of Transporter 3 in that regards, is Demolition Man’s (1993) end with that running joke regarding the “modern” replacement of toilets which leaves the audience on a high.
Regarding art-house cinema, you have films like Antares (2004), Still Walking (2008) which both have unnecessary coda’s which detract from the quality of the rest of the film.
There are coda’s which seem tacked on to appease a mainstream audience in a film which seems to be at the line between art and commerce, like the very fraudulent one for the Three Kings (1999) which completely went against everything the film was saying and became a celebration of how the media can save not only foreign countries (which in the case of Iraq circa 1990, it most certainly didn’t), but only affect the government in drastic ways. A happy ending then, to what seemed to be worthy political, genre straddling film.
My questions to you are:
1) Is there a certain genre of film which benefits/ detract from having a coda as opposed to ending at the denouement?
2) What are some of the best/worst coda’s in film?
3) Can a coda justifiably save a dying film?
4) To what extent does the coda of a film matter?
4) Is Jackie Chan the coda to the art of film-making, period?