UKC

I recently watched California Solo, and nothing much happened. But some stuff did happen, so I'd like to move on to a film where nothing happens. Ideally it needs to be subtitled. And just when I think something is due to happen, up comes "fin".

Any suggestions please?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

I have not seen it yet but I think The Quince Tree Sun fits the bill.

Or maybe some Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" or "Somewhere" (not enough subtitles for you though? Ditto My Dinner With Andre)

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Amelie?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:
I share your enthusiasm for such films.
I do recollect one, I think Turkish film, where the main action was someone going uphill to try and get a signal.
The landscape and the village spread up the hillside were hypnotically wonderful though.

Of course you might be taking the p**s

Thinking about it, maybe films by Jim Jarmusch.

In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

Have you actually seem Amélie? Quite a lot happens!

In reply to Rigid Raider:

Long time ago - has subtitles though!

Manon de Source?

Jean de Florette?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

>so I'd like to move on to a film where nothing happens. Ideally it needs to be subtitled

are you that guy I saw on TV, in a shop asking for a painting of a disappointed horse?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

I thought very little happened in Tokyo Story ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Story ), but checking the Wikipedia article there's a very long description of the plot so I guess I remembered wrong. Anyway, it's the polar opposite of an action movie, and all in Japanese so maybe of interest.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Morvern Callar?

In reply to r0b:


Thanks. There were a few thing happened in that film. However, if I recall correctly it did end at a fairly arbitrary point, which is something I'm looking for.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:
Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives meets some of your requirements. I mean a few things happened, some of them quite out of the ordinary, but they don't join up to create anything that could be accurately described as a story and then it ends. The feeling when it ends is that strange combination of 'was that it?' and 'thank god that's over', which I think could be what you're after.

And it's subtitled.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Lost in Translation and Morvern Callar are good shouts, and both good films IMHO, although of course neither is subtitled. Solaris maybe? not a great deal happens. Sonatine? subtitled, and yes stuff does happen but a big chunk of the meat of the film is actually about the fact that nothing is happening. Koyaanisqatski or Derek Jarman's 'Blue'? also not a lot happens in most of the Wim Wenders films I've seen, egs. Paris Texas and Wings of Desire

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

There's an awful lot of static film in Cache but every now and then someone delivers a mystery video and spoils the inertia.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


I saw that when it came out and really enjoyed it. As you say, not much happens, other than perhaps the painting getting more complete and lots of conversation. The two main characters were excellent and I remember it being quite an absorbing film. Has there been a remake?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Aguirre, the Wrath of God - there's some action early on but a lot of the film is about not a lot happening apart from Klaus Kinski's mad eyes frightening the life out of everyone (including the audience, and allegedly also his fellow actors, the crew, the local extras, etc).

Withnail & I? two slackers dick about and get hammered for a while, then one of them decides to stop as he's landed a job

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Le Quattro Volte, it doesnt have a plot, rather it just follows village life in Calabria through the 4 seasons, focusing primarily on an old sheperd. The dialogue is almost non-existant.

Even if it doesnt fit the description I would recommend you watch it, there are some beautiful shots (one lasts over 8 minutes!), and has heartwarming bits, sad bits, funny bits. check it out.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

scenes from a mall.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Wow. So many people missing so many things in so many films!

Try David Lynch's 'Rabbits'.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

2 Years At Sea

Black and white, vrtually no dialogue, no subtitles, just a guy going about his daily routine in the middle of a Cairngorms forest.
I quite enjoyed it tho

In reply to SidharthaDongre:


I know! Aguirre, Wrath of God! WTF roflamao etc.
Though Herzog does provide a rich seam for this sort of thing. How about Even Dwarfs Started Small (maybe too action packed?)

Wenders is a good call but those examples were veritable action blockbusters compared to what he can output (Kings of the Road....)

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

The Colour of Pomegranites. Never watched it, but I hear bugger all happens though its very arty, film buffs adore it

In reply to Blue Straggler:

isn't the whole point that these are films where there's actually loads happening under the surface, even though (in terms of straightforward action, narrative progression, plot development, etc) not a lot moves forward? that's how I read it, hence the reference to Aguirre, which surely you'd have to admit has quite a lot of Kinski on a raft doing eff-all except generating huge amounts of tension and atmosphere? another possible shout, along these lines, would be Valhalla Rising - plenty of (visceral!) action but in terms of storyline not a great deal actually happens.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Three Colours Blue. aka "Three Hours of my Life I Wont Get Back". In which Juliette Binoche droops around for most of the film following her husbands death as the only blot in her otherwise idyllic life. Err, thats it.

In reply to ripper:

I'll have to watch Aguirre again. You may be right, I guess I have forgotten the pacing. But there is an onscreen decapitation, various poison-dart deaths, big arguments and a monkey invasion

I think you are overthinking things to the point where you can say that any film has either nothing going or lots going on. Pseud's Corner?

In reply to Oujmik:


Yes! That's the feeling I wish to experience. The icing on the cake would be for someone to tell me I completely missed or misunderstood the plot. There must be a single word for this, in German perhaps?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Not a film, but Waiting for Godot was famously described as 'a play in which nothing happens, twice'.

Pretty accurate really. And none the worse for it.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Cous-cous (aka Le Grainne et le Mulet)

and the horrendous "Bobby Deerfield".

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Pseud? moi??

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

The Breakfast Club?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

You could try Stalker, a 1970s SF film. Two men take a guide into the mysterious "Zone" to find the "Room". There's a lot of talking. In Russian. Parts are thrilling, other parts a bit incomprehensible. If I want a bit of peace and quiet I tell my better half I'm watching Stalker again, she's out of the house in a flash.

In reply to seankenny:

I was going to mention that one. I think I have mentioned an amusing Stalker anecdote on here before. Some American space-jazz band called Space (not the Tommy Scott one!) were performing a live score to it at the ICA in 2002, I had gone along to see the "support" (Saloon doing a live score to La Jetée) and was paying much attention to Stalker.
There is an infamous Tarkovsky "tableau" scene, pretty much a static shot of a mirror pool, with barely any music and no dialogue, that lasts about 5 minutes. At the end of the scene, some wag started applauding sarcastically, and was ejected from the screening. That has to be a first!

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Any and all of the Twilight flims*.

They can be made to fit the "subtitles" clause by setting them to Turkish audio and turning the subtitles on.


*I admit I have only seen the first 2.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

'Be with me' has two an a half minutes on dialogue in the whole film and some of it subtitled, a good film though

'Three times' is another Asian film with very little dialogue and little happening (subtitled), the final story is much better than the first.

Solaris the Russian film springs to mind as well

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Bombon: El Perro. Can't say nothing happens but it certainly doesn't happen quickly. Still well worth watching.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Watching the new episode of The Big Bang Theory the other day and they noted that in Raiders of The Lost Ark, Indiana Jones plays no significant part in the outcome of the movie.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Cold Mountain - 2 hours of getting nowhere very slowly.

Blair Witch Project - nothing of any interest actually happened in that.

Your best bet might be Andy Worhol's film "sleep", though - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187513/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

No subtitles but not much happens in 'Local Hero'...and it's all the better for it!

In reply to ripper:

Paris Texas - isn't that where Hopper makes love to Barbara Hershey with a beer bottle? Hardly a non-event visually, even if it doesn't move the plot forward or add a layer to characterisation.

In reply to LastBoyScout:

Oh come on. Warhol's film of the Empire State Building lasts for 8 hours and 5 minutes.

In reply to Tom Valentine:


erm, I think that might be a different film...
The one I'm talking about stars Harry Dean Stanton and Nastassja Kinski.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Vanishing Point? Stuff sort of happens, but it's basically Barry Newman driving across a desert for ages.

Or, on a different tack, how about Clerks?

In reply to Tom Valentine:


That was Paris Trout.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:


Short Cuts and Nashville by Robert Altman vaguely fit that bill, though without subtitles.

And Magnolia (in which Tom Cruise gives possibly his finest performance).

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Just testing

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Lost in Translation

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Just back-checked and realised that it was directed by Jake and Maggie G's dad.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Not Clerks. That's dead funny and things happen.

You want some Japanese film where there are peasants and long grass and the wind blowing that lasts three hours.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Zabriskie Point? From memory; sod all happens and the soundtrack is great.

In reply to butteredfrog:

Is that Obscured by clouds?

In reply to Neil R:


that was the one that came to mind when i read the thread title. i love this film, as you say, slow paced is a fair description, its certainly not one for action fans. but the quirky and good natured look at life in patagonia makes for an enjoyable watch.

historias minimas by the same director is worth looking at too- maybe not quite as good, and if anything even less happens...

cheers
gregor

In reply to Dispater:
Could be, the soundtrack was mostly Pink Floyd, used to have the album (still do, its in the loft).

Just trying the edit button now!

In reply to Ramblin dave:




Good shout - I've stayed up far too late to watch re-runs of that on obscure channels a couple of times, love that film. Apparently Gene Hackman was originally down for the lead role, would have been a very different film...

In reply to Turdus torquatus:


Seinfeld? And if you turn the sound off to avoid the slap bass, you would need subtitles. And if you watch three in a row that's practically movie length.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Vanishing Point is nihilistic, granted, but I think there is enough "action" (ambitious challengers(*) racing him and careening off the road) to exempt this film from contention.

* pun intended

In reply to Tom Valentine:
I know. I had thought (and posted - this is an edit as I can't reply to and quote my own post) that they were both in it too, but I was confused - they were in the NEXT film that their dad directed that had Barbara Hershey in it - A Dangerous Woman.

In reply to Turdus torquatus: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302674/

In reply to Dispater:

LOADS happens in Short Cuts!

In reply to Blue Straggler:



very good

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Living in Oblivion. One of my favourite films ever. It never even starts, I don't think.

In reply to Dispater:



Yeah and it's still crap. Magnolia is a like Short Cuts but with bad acting.

In reply to Jon Stewart:

I love it but I am sorry - plenty happens!

In reply to Blue Straggler:


But does it?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Last Days. the movie based on kurt cobain's last days. Its unbelievable slow. he just meanders around and then dies at the end which we all knew was going to happen.

lacks subtitles though but then again they only say about 5 lines of dialogue in 97 minutes!

In reply to Turdus torquatus:



Foreign Bouldering films?

In reply to Jon Stewart: Claiming the acting is bad in Magnolia is just dirty tactics.

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:


Maybe it's the script then, and the actors are doing alright.

In reply to Jon Stewart: The script is awesome too, and the frogs. The only thing that lets it down is the Oscar nomination.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Not subtitled but The Remains of the Day is a great film BECAUSE nothing happens.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:



How about Richard Linklater's 'Slacker'?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Las Acacias- grumpy truck driver gives women and her baby a lift from Paraguay to Argentina. Little to no talking and what there is is subtitled.

Its exhilarating.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Clerks.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Tale of the Weeping Camel, perhaps . It's been a while since I watched it, and I did like it, but I have memories of long visually stunning sequences of the Mongolian steppe, and not much else.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Koyaanisquatsi

Nothing happens for several hours, to the soundtrack by Philip Glass. No dialogue or plot either.

CB

In reply to sheelba:


You beat me too it. Got to be the original Russian though .

In reply to hokkyokusei:

Stalker, andrei tarkovski. That really goes nowhere. Good tho.

In reply to cb294:




And if you like that samsara.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

erm...driving miss daisy, no start, no end, just endless middle

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

'Uzak', a Turkish film from 2002, is a film pretty much about inertia and listlessness. Relationships between the fmaily members are dysfunctional, so there's a lot of scenes of characters sitting around being unresponsive to each other. The film is actually very well made, and portrays a subject area that is difficult to show visually on film. But I'm not in any rush to sit through it again.

The thing is that for most people weaned on Hollywood films and the multiplex norm, then most films made in a foreign language are "films where nothing happens". I think this is more a comment on the American studios, however, rather than any supposed intellectualism of a French or Russian film-maker. I believe there are probably many American screenplay writers and directors who would love to make a film that is more a portrayal of relationships and interactions rather than the Big Story and wise-cracking secondary characters included only to lighten the tone.

Looking at some of the films of obvious talents such as Ingmar Bergman, it could easily and lazily be argued that many of his greatest works are "films where nothing happens". 'Cries and Whispers' and 'The Silence' are deliberately shorn of dialogue and what is included is intentionally uncommunicative. Moving onto Krzysztof Kieslowski, one of his films have already mentioned on this thread: 'Three Colours Blue'; and true, this is a film that would never be released in this form by a Hollywood studio.

I have to say that many of my favourite films are those where, apparently, "nothing happens". The films of Tarkovsky, Kieslowski, Bergman, Techine, Haneke, Moretti and even Satyajit Ray all have long scenes where little apparently is taking place. Yet they live in the memory long afterwards precisely because the director allows the viewer to think, to reflect and to observe what is taking place, rather than regularly include action scenes and crass characterisation. But then many people don't go to the cinema to think, many simply want entertainment in a box plainly selling that. I'm not being a snob here, I sat down quite happily last weekend and re-watched 'Independence Day' again. The happy fact is that cinema and film the world over is varied enough to give most of us what we want depending on our expectation of what we want from film or whatever our mood is at the time.

In reply to Tall Clare:


That's funny, we were just talking about that today (Grumpypants had watched it on Netflix and hated it, which did not surprise me because I can't think of a worse combination of film and viewer!). And I thought "oh, that can go on the thread".

I love it. Only saw it for the first time last year

In reply to paul-1970:

<pedant> American distribution (theatrical and video) was handled by Miramax </pedant>

Good post. Might we add Bergman's "Persona" as well, or is the "action" of her going a bit mental a bit too exciting for it to belong on the thread?

As for the Americans, I wonder whether Whit Stillman's films might fit the bill? Certainly "Metropolitan". Less so "Barcelona". Possibly "The Last Days of Disco". But such dialogue-heavy fare I suppose does not "allow the viewer to think, to reflect and to observe what is taking place" as you rightly put it. Hmmm.

How about Synechdoche, New York?

In reply to Jon Stewart:


In Short Cuts?

A boy is knocked down by a car and dies.
There is a significant earthquake during which a character is murdered on screen.
A baker gets really angry then acquiesces

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

A newish film called 'Shell' may fit the bill. It is set in a petrol station at the side of the road that runs from Dundonnell to Aultbea. There are lots of awkward silences and perhaps two or three events in the whole film. I've got the DVD and loved it, my wife left the room to do something else
Lost in Translation is one of my favourite films although I wouldn't class it as a film where nothing happens. Tree of Life? Now that was a film where I can't remember much happening except Dinosaurs and stuff.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

127 Hours?

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Eyes wide shut

In reply to all:

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to move on to films with mumbled or inaudible dialogue next. Even better if nothing happens too.

In reply to Turdus torquatus:



Kes

In reply to cb294:




The sun rises and sets … a lot

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Tall Clare mentioned "Slacker". Dialogue is not really inaudible or mumbled, but is overlapping and "pointless". Fab!

See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumblecore

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

The first 65 minutes of Gus van Sant's "elephant"

But then it all kicks off, rather spoiling things!

In reply to Turdus torquatus:

Easy Rider seemed to manage to spread itself impressively thinly from what little of it I remember. I'm not sure if I even got to the end, I think I may have given up before then as I was losing the will to live waiting for something to happen.

In reply to Blue Straggler: Plenty of time to let the bad acting wash over you.