# Which movies happen in "real time?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634 "2005-04-28T23:15:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/21 "2005-04-29T04:42:37Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I was going to mention Timecode, but it was in the link pinkfrued gave. > > It’s even lamer than the link says. Neat concept, poorly executed. Especially since there’s an actual edit in there that they lied about in the promotion. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/22 "2005-04-29T12:06:29Z")
Does the show 24 count? (Heh.) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/23 "2005-04-29T12:26:26Z")
I’m going to be really vague here, but maybe somebody can fill in the details I’ve forgotten or that I’m mistaken about… Sometime in the early '90s, I saw a movie that was five or six different stories stuck together. All the stories took place in taxis, in various cities around the world. All took place in real-time, about twenty minutes. And all were supposed to be taking place simultaneously, so the story in Los Angeles was set in the early evening while the taxi driver in Helsinki spun around a traffic circle a few times to help keep himself awake through the graveyard shift. Can anybody help me identify this movie? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/24 "2005-04-29T12:47:08Z")
_Night on Earth_, written and directed by Jim Jarmusch (and featuring some beautiful music by Tom Waits). ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/25 "2005-04-29T12:47:48Z")
**AARRGGHHH!** One too many previews… That would be the [Jim Jarmusch](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000464/) film **Night On Earth**. The same sort of idea was used in his film **Mystery Train** , although all the action took place around Memphis and there was some interaction between stories. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/26 "2005-04-29T12:49:59Z")
Sounds like [Night On Earth.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102536) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/27 "2005-04-29T12:54:42Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > How 'bout My Dinner With Andre? It is once they get to the restaurant, but there are brief scenes before and after that that are not (a cut to Wally on the subway, for example) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/28 "2005-04-29T13:16:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Andy Warhol’s **[Empire](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196530/)**: eight hours of a single shot of the Empire State Building. Two mentions of _Empire_ in two days! Gotta be some kinda record. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634/29 "2005-04-29T16:13:03Z")
More or less, _Run Lola Run_ (1998) was three versions of the same half hour or so. This isn’t quite true, since there were the flash-forwards showing us the rest of various minor character’s lives. I don’t remember anymore how continuous the events of the half hours were. The Richard Linklater movie _Before Sunset_ (2004) is real time. It’s two hours of a reunited couple’s conversations. It’s a sequel to his movie _Before Sunrise_, which isn’t quite real time but takes place over about 18 hours in the same couple’s lives. In a way, this makes the conclusion of _Before Sunset_ rather odd, since we’re clearly lead to believe that the couple made a mistake by not meeting again after the first film and they should stay together now that they’ve met again. And yet, they’ve know each other less than 24 hours in their entire lives (and they’re about 32 years old in the second film). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-happen-in-real-time/301634.md?page=1)