Is there anything better than that moment in a movie when the main character lets down their guard, sings from their heart, and transforms through a song?

No, there isn’t. The Magical Transforming Song Moment (MTSM) combines music, story-telling, and visuals into one powerful moment.  The MTSM has it all.

You know it’s a good MTSM when the first few notes settle your mind, the first verse slows your breathing and opens your mouth slightly, and 2nd chorus sends a shiver up your back as you witness - at that very moment - the character transforming.  That’s a good one.

And here are two such scenes to enjoy…

Stranger Than Fiction
Harold Crick is an IRS employee who discovers his life only when he is told that he is going to die.  Although the plot is cliche, the premise to achieve it - hearing someone narrate your life — is novel.   The turning point for Harold discovering ‘life’ comes in a MTSM:

About a Boy
Will is a playboy who doesn’t care about anyone else … until Marcus stumbles into his life and complicates things.  Will rescues Marcus from making a fool of himself at a school assembly during a great MTSM.

What makes these MTSM work?  The song and cinematography are obviously critical … but I think it’s the story-telling aspect that really makes ‘em work.  And with regard to the storytelling: lots of things matter, but the never-gonna-happen dramatic foreshadowing is critical:

• About a Boy explicitly narrates that Will never thought he’d be singing with his eyes closed … but there are many more: Will says he keeps the guitars around to “just look cool” (not to play) and there’s another scene where he just mumbles through a christmas song with Marcus’s family.  All of these mis-directions make the MSTM what it is.
• Stranger Than Fiction foreshadows Will’s coming MTSM with his trip to the guitar store. What’s slightly more subtle is that when Will chooses a guitar to represent himself at the guitar store, he purposefully skips past the acoustic guitars because they “are for a guys who wear their heart on their sleeve” (that’s paraphrased as I don’t feel like going back to see the particular scene).  And when Will sings for his love, what guitar does he use?  Of course.

Building up a character so that an MTSM is the furthest thing expected from the character is what makes it wonderful.

As a question to readers: is their foreshadowing in your own life-story indicating you’ll ever perform a MTSM?

further exploration: you can buy Stranger Than Fiction or About a Boy.