Glad this made the “best scenes” list.

I just have to gush about this opening again. The blocking, the patter, the delivery, the extras and their naturalness, the slightly otherworldly feel while still being perfectly uncontrived and organic at the same time — lord, that’s some feat of filmmaking right there.

That might be my favorite opening 15 minutes of any film I’ve seen in two decades. It’s just so incredibly good and fearless and smart. It demands a lot of the viewer but it also really pays off. Just so lovely, bold, and feels like you are dropped right into real lives and an actual functioning world, rather than observing some actors standing around a stage reciting lines and filling in backstory, as most films feel (even some good ones).