Narrative technique · used in 7 films
Starting the story in the middle of the action, often during a crisis, with no setup. You pick up the background later through flashbacks or small hints.
Examples
Quentin Tarantino · 1992
The film opens in the diner before the job, before we know what the job is, who these people are or what will happen. Then it cuts straight to the aftermath and skips the event in between.
Where to see it: The opening cut from the diner conversation to Mr. White and Mr. Orange bleeding in a moving car. That skipped stretch defines the entire approach of the film.
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 1994
The film begins on New Year's Eve with Norville about to fall from the top of the Hudsucker building. A narrator then takes you back to his arrival in New York in 1958. You know the crisis before you know him, so you wait for the story to catch up.
Where to see it: The opening. Norville stands on the ledge of the Hudsucker tower as Moses speaks, and then the story jumps back to December 1958.
Alejandro González Iñárritu · 2000
The film opens in medias res, which means in the middle of the action. The chase that ends in the crash is already in motion and already in crisis. Then, the film pulls back to show each story from its beginning. You have already seen where everyone ends up before you understand how they got there.
Where to see it: The opening car chase. You get plunged into the chase and the crash before the film explains who these people are or how they got to this moment.
Danny Boyle · 2008
The film opens with Jamal under interrogation. He is already arrested and already a suspect. The rest of the film explains how he came to know the answers that made him look suspicious.
Where to see it: The police interrogation opening: a man in a chair, a question, a flashback. In 3 minutes, the film has shown you how its whole structure will work.
Sam Mendes · 2019
The film begins with Schofield asleep under a tree, with no setup and no backstory. Within minutes, he is on the mission. You feel the urgency before you get any context.
Where to see it: The opening shot: the 2 lance corporals resting under a tree, then right away the call to receive their orders. The story starts exactly when it has to.
Bong Joon-ho · 2025
The film drops you in with Mickey stuck in a fissure on the ice planet, about to die, and then goes back to explain how he got there. You get the joke of his situation before you know the rules. By the time the story catches up, you already care what happens.
Where to see it: The opening in the fissure. Mickey falls, his friend Timo leaves him behind, and the story flashes back to how the mission began.
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller · 2026
The film opens with Ryland Grace already aboard the Hail Mary, confused and with no memory. Nothing explains his mission or why he is alone. You learn the context scene by scene as his memory returns, which keeps the mystery going for the whole first act.
Where to see it: The opening sequence. Ryland wakes up among the crew's corpses and doesn't even know his own name.
Questions
Learn more