Favorite Film Endings

The Wayward Cloud almost hurts because of just how long those last few shots hold. It’s funny how much emotional ambiguity there is in this scene. I find it terrifying, my wife finds it darkly romantic. Both impressions are lasting ones. I’ve never seen a movie that ends with such profoundly felt ambiguity before or since.

…But I Don’t Want To Sleep Alone sure comes close. Tsai is one of the masters of modern film endings. Any number of his films could easily be on this list, but in a sheerly aesthetic sense this is his best ending. Sometimes the image of that floating mattress just pops into my...