I just re-watched Nobody’s Fool and I had forgotten what a truly wonderful movie it really was. A small movie with hardly any plot, but full of terrific actors and lovely quirky characters. No explosions, no killings, no sex scenes, no action scenes – well, ok, there’s one punch and one gunshot that doesn’t hit anyone – and still my attention is riveted to the screen every second.
Another of my favorite “inaction” movies is Spring Forward, which is essentially a series of conversations by two guys against the backdrop of a small town. Another script which, good as it was, was polished to brilliance by fine acting, directing and not much else.
My Dinner with Andre is the stock answer. Plot: Wally drive to the restaurant, eats, talks with Andre, exchanges dirty looks with the waiter, drives home.
Whenever I recommend “The Following” to someone (the movie, not the show), I always I have to tell them "stick with it, it’s really slow and boring, but I swear, there’s a huge payoff at the end.
I have a friend who’s always looking for movies with a twist ending. It’s hard to recommend movies to him like that since you basically ruin them for him by recommending them, so I sort of sneak them in with the other recommendations. I got him to watch The Usual Suspects, The Following and the next one, which I think (IIRC) that fits this category is Moon.
For some reason I remember hearing this…or saying it. But I was going to link to the trailer…don’t watch the trailer, it spoils it.
So little happened that one bored e disappeared completely. Now the other e’s are lonely but the lost e is loneliest.
I’d like to nominate The English Patient which was the most boring movie I ever saw but I’m reasonably sure some stuff happened that I just didn’t care about. Maybe The Breakfast Club.
Yes, the director Richard Linklater is possibly the king of plotless movies. Of his plotless movies, I like “Dazed and Confused” the best.
I guess my overall favorite for a movie where very little happens would be “The Swimmer” staring Burt Lancaster.
An often overlooked David Lynch film. Well worth watching. If you don’t like Lynch films, don’t worry. The Straight Story is nothing like his other work.
Raiders of the Lost Ark? Not sure I completely buy this interpretation but when you look at from a certain point of view, it’s really just one long shaggy dog story where the Nazis still wind up obtaining and opening the Ark.
On Big Bang Theory, Amy Farrah Fowler watches Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time with Sheldon.
Amy notes, “Indiana Jones plays no role in the outcome of the story. If he weren’t in the film, it would turn out exactly the same. If he weren’t in the movie, the Nazis would have still found the Ark, taken it to island, opened it up, and all died, just like they did.”
There’s still the problem of getting it off the island and into a government warehouse, but really all Jones really accomplishes is managing to keep his eyes closed when the Ark is opened.
Black Moon. Nothing happens, and nothing has any explanation. Essentially, a woman wanders around a farmhouse and sees strange things. It’s fascinating.
Koyaanisqatsi/ has no plot, just a bunch of stunning visuals.
What’s also unexplained is how Indy and Marion avoided the Nazis who stayed on the submarine. After all, not everybody had to go ashore. Or how they contacted the War Department and then waited until a SHIP (as no airfield was shown) sailed to the island to retrieve the Ark.
My favorite is Twelve Angry Men.
While it seems like a lot is happening, it’s just twelve men sitting around a jury room deliberating a case. Nothing really “happens” throughout the film.
Not sure I completely buy this interpretation but when you look at from a certain point of view, it’s really just one long shaggy dog story where the Nazis still wind up obtaining and opening the Ark.