Lots of my favorites on this list. I really love a good slow moody movie. It’s where the format really shines as far as I’m concerned. When you have 8 hours to advance a complex plot and introduce a bunch of characters now in a miniseries or season of shows, it’s sort of hard to compete. So it makes sense to me when a filmmaker realizes they don’t need to compete with that and just settles in to just complete a thought and tell a story well.
“The man from earth” has no business being as good as it is
My Dinner with André - two people talking in a restaurant for the whole movie. But if you are in the right mood, it’s amazing.
How about:
- The Match Factory Girl (1990) - truly a great film with a very slow pace
- Dogville (2003) - it’s got Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, and James Caan! I wonder what the sets are like?
- Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) - about an exotic river trip. yet so much more.
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
I see and raise you: The Wannsee Conference (1984) - about the Nazi meeting in which the “final solution” was decided upon. They just sit around a table talking. Later adapted into Conspiracy (2001). wait these are TV films so maybe they don’t count.
Lost in Translation (2003)
Pretty much everything by Jarmusch. “Hey, want to see a movie about a modern samurai who works for the mafia? It’s got gunfights!” “Sure! Sounds exciting!” Well it is, but not how you think. (Ghost Dog)
It’s hard to think of movies to add to this. I could title it, “movies that most people would think are boring if they actually watched them but are actually great” just because the kind of people that would watch a certain type of movie would more than likely think it’s good, if that makes any sense.
Last and First Men. Breaks the convention of “show, don’t tell” entirely from start to finish. Still manages to be amazing.
Stalker is amazing. Ditto the Before trilogy.
Another favorite of mine is Uncle Boonmee. It’s one of the very few movies that I go back to and watch again every once in awhile. I can’t speak for other viewers but for me it’s absolutely captivating and despite being about death and loss, brings me a deep sense of comfort.
