State of Grace Opening Analysis

State of Grace Opening Analysis

The film opens with credits and various titles, all placed over a series of ethereal and blurry shots which dissolve into eachother, all while moody jazz plays in the background. After the credits have finished, there is an establishing shot of the Brooklyn Bridge in order to set the location of the film. This is followed by a shot/reverse shot of two characters exchanging strained dialogue about a shady meetup they will be attending later, followed by the exchange of a bag filled with guns. This is followed by a panning shot and non-diegetic voiceover narration, which soon focues on the first character we were introduced to (who we can assume is the protagonist) and his buddy, who is speaking which makes the sound diegetic. There is a tracking shot as they both make their way to the meetup point. The mise-en-scene and location creates a feeling of urban decay, very typical of a neo-noir film. When the two other characters arrive, we recognize one of them from the opening shots at the Brooklyn Bridge, which alerts us to the fact that the drug meetup is a setup. The second character from the Brooklyn Bridge pulls out a gun and pretends to mug the protagonist and his buddy, even threatening to shoot them. After a series of noddy shots emphasizing the characters' reaction to the ordeal, the protagonist breaks away and shoots at his alleged muggers. The protagonist and his buddy then flee back to their vehicle as a tracking shot follows them back to their car and climactic jazz plays in the background. There is a tracking shot of the car driving away and the protagonist running up a flight of stairs, followed by a brief ellipsis as the shot cuts to the protagonist smoking inside a train. The shot then passes above the train to an extreme longshot showing the New York city landscape lit up at night, filled with many skyscrapers. There is then another ellipsis, followed by the protagonist arriving in a bar and a series of midshots and shot/reverse shots as he speaks with an acquaintance.