Well did you? what was it called?
The most utterly convincingly realistic fictional portrayal I’ve ever seen is a TV show, The Wire on HBO.
Word, dog. I think the 1st season in particular seemed particularly convincing, though of course I have no actual experience in the things they portray.
Or do I?
5-0, 5-0!! 
:o
I thought Welcome to the Dollhouse felt too real. Same with the first ten minutes of Kids. (Not saying that people act like that, but the real feeling, the vibe that the people aren’t acting, but are just being themselves.) It’s creepy. I don’t go to the movies for that kind of thing.
Special Bulletin felt about as real as “fiction” can.
A friend of mine worked for Baltimore Public Defender last summer; his girlfriend teaches in an “underserved neighborhood” through Teach for America.
According to them it’s practically a documentary.
You’d swear that the 2002 film Bloody Sunday was a documentary
Lilja 4-ever is the version of Nights of Cabiria that takes place in the realistic slums of Russia, and without the Hollywood ending.
Show Me Love, another Lukas Moodysson film, also ranks high on the realism scale.
Battle of Algiers
(or battle for algiers)
With emphasis on the word “thought:”
I am tempted to say “Unforgiven,” something I consider a masterpiece by Client Eastwood. However, there are some things in the movie that make me just go a little bit :dubious:
So, the only one that I can honestly think of at this moment, was “Le Mans.” I hear that if not for some rules or other, or just because it had to stop so often to change film, the freakin’ **camera car ** (another Porsche, but not, I think, a 917) would have placed high in the actual race!
I like horror films that look like well-done home movies- they are much more unnerving-
the original Night of the Living Dead, Henry- Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Blair Witch Project.
What happens when you take the creator of ‘Beavis and Butthead’ and ‘Office Space’, and have him comment on the average level of intelligence, and where that trend will leave America in 500 years?
A Comedy that sadly, probably shouldn’t be that funny.
And Those who have seen it, wonder why it wasn’t in more theatres.
(It’s called a woosh factor, my dear.)
Edit:
I’m Also going to add 1976’s “Network”. I saw it last year, and 30 years later, it still fits in, perfectly. Watch Network, and you will never think about News and Daily show / Colbert the same way again.
That and because it wasn’t really all that funny. Pretty funny. But not on the level of Office Space, which I think was what a lot of people wanted.
I haven’t seen The Wire, but it appears to be a sort of sequel to Homicide. Homicide definitely seemed very realistic.
I haven’t seen Homicide, but I’ve heard comparisons. The general consensus seems to be that Homicide starts toward realism, but is still shackled to 1-hour-network-TV conventions, ie, a case must be introduced and resolved each episode, etc.
I can not recommend The Wire highly enough.
And to think that when Network came out, many critics found some of the story elements (e.g., the pseudo-populist news programs and the proto-reality shows depicted) too outrageous to take seriously. Looking at it now, many of Network’s predictions now seem downright restrained. Although we have yet to see the media powers-that-be arrange to have someone assassinated live on-the-air [NDP dons tin-foil cap](at least to the best our knowledge).[NDP takes off tin-foil cap]
I think mockumentaries should be excluded.
Okay, maybe we’d better start by agreeing on what we mean by “realistic”.
I’ll suggest Mr. Roberts. It is fiction, but it all felt plausible to me. Especially the idea of the completely clueless Reservist Captain who suddenly has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams after years in the Reserves, without promotion - and goes completely over the deep end when he gets a little praise.
