Happiness
The first scene of Happiness will stay with me forever. Todd Solondz (writer, and director) doesn't have time to coax the audience into his uncomfortably intimate portrayal of human dysfunction and the humor within some of life's profoundly cruel twists of fate.
Citizen Kane
Orson Welles' beginning sequence contains haunting dream like visuals unlike anything American audiences had experienced in those days. Heavily inspired by German expressionist cinema, and filmmakers like Murnau, Welles was able to create a powerful dynamic by introducing his audience to the foreign and mysterious style of expressionism, and than whisking them back into familiarity with a mock news reel report playing subtle and intentionally heavy handed exposition like a minor 2nd interval.
INLAND EMPIRE
David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE is a brilliant, and challenging film devoid of the conventions of cheap payoffs that audiences have grown accustomed. The beginning of INLAND EMPIRE is the closest we'll come to experiencing a dream without having to succumb to the loss of control that's inherent in sleep. It must be experienced with a fairly decent surround sound setup at a high volume on a large screen.
Others:
Fear & Loating in Las Vegas
Children of Men
Pulp Fiction