movies where nothing happens

[egbert]

what are melonland's favorite 'nothing happens' movies? mine are the case of hana and alice, it's basically 99 minutes of two schoolgirls who start out trying to solve a 'murder' and get distracted running back and forth in unrelated wild goose chases. it evokes such a nice feeling, like when you hang out with your friends in a storage room at school (i've done that. super cool :^3) ultimately the movie can be thought of as 'pointless' ^{but IT'S SOOOOO GOOD AND FUN!!!!} in fact, it kickstarted my love for movies where nothing happens!!
my next favorite is swing girls its a simple 105 min movie about deliquent schoolgirls working in grocery stores, selling their stuff, and doing odd jobs to save up for instruments..! its so good. if youre nothing like me you'll watch the movie and go 'thats it? thats it? literally nothing happens..' AND THATS THE FUN PART BABY!!!!!!!!!! ITS SIMPLE!!!! IT SHOWS THE SIMPLICITY OF LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 what are YOUR favorite nothing burger movies?!!!!!!!!!                                                     

[MrsMoe]

I usually don't like describing slife of life movies as "nothing happening" because I feel like it disregards how much is going on in terms of themes or characterization, but I'd say the best example would be the Before trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight). Despite all three of them being nothing but two people sightseeing and talking, it's one of the best romances ever depicted on film.

Aftersun is another beautiful film. So heartbreaking and lovely~

[grovyle]

There's two movies that come to mind that I watched with people who didn't like them because "nothing happened": 20th century women and Minari. They may have some kind of conflict built in, but I think their spirit is just choosing a chunk of time in a family's life and following them throughout, no matter how quiet or uneventful it might get.
Ii'll be coming back often to this thread hehe, I'm really into slice of life anime and manga but haven't dipped my toe in live action slice of life media yet.

[egbert]

i once had a letterboxd account where i logged every single movie i remembered watching, starting from when i was a toddler. i only started it at the age of 14 and the first few weeks were spent trying to remember what i had watched when i was like 7.... anyway. i wish i'd have kept it up because it had a lot of nothing burger movies... anyway, i did make a mydramalist but then never touched it again, but i added lots of nothing burger movies i'd eventually watch
hold on i just remembered another nothing burger movie as i typed this. its called air doll, and its about a sex doll who comes to life and learns what it means to be human. things do happen in it, and i loved it!!! its so slow paced, like a documentary.... just 2 hours of a girl working at a video store and then a tragedy happens and its shot in the calmest way possible. like a yoga video... im gonna stop calling them nothing burger movies.... from now on this is the 'boring' slice of life cinema thread :^) i also watched hana and alice (2004) which is 2 hours of two teenage girls fighting

Spoiler

(and gaslighting. the movie is so chill about it you dont even realize theyre gaslighting some random guy)

[close]

over an amnesiac boy and then the end has nothing to do with what we've watched these girls do for the past 120mins.. i love shunji iwai's works dude. also the case of hana and alice is a prequel to this. also forgot to mention that the prequel isn't an anime, per se, its just a regular movie that was rotoscoped and painted over, so dont go into it expecting it to feel like one kehe

[devils]

Earwig and the Witch by Studio Ghibli definitely comes to mind. It does not contain much action, it's instead more focused on the relationship between a girl and her adoptive parents (there's a bit of a twist at the end with that, but I'd rather not spoil it).

It's just... so sweet.

[urgellx]

A movie that i liked quite a bit where nothing* happens would be Malmkrog (2020).
To avoid making a critique since i'm not qualified and since my memory is hazy since i think i've
seen it when it came out, i'll just say this :

It's a very good-looking movie with a cinematography full of control that serves very rich (in terms
of money and power) characters that spend more than three hours talking philosophy in a large house
while getting food from servants.

I've only seen one more movie from Puiu and i need to take the plunge and see more.

*more or less

[wygolvillage]

I wouldn't exactly say "nothing happens" in it, but I absolutely love the slow, deliberate pace of A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. It's one of the more unique vampire movies I've seen! Absolutely worth a watch.

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

The only movies I'm aware of where absolutely nothing happens are Empire and some other works by Andy Warhol; you might also want to look into Jonas Mekas; his works are very, very long cuts made from "home tapes" (he filmed wherever he was) that he assembled and commented. Some of them are 6h playtime, and fully worth to check out!


If you are actually talking 'bout slice-of-life-stuff:
Ozus movies come to mind - they are domnestic dramas where not so much happens, but the few things that do happen shake up the cosmos of their characters entirely. Its worth to try to watch them - try to stay awake ;D.

I also heavily the works of Hsiao-Hsien Hou; there is stuff happening, but you usually can't tell what it is, and often integral parts aren't shown.

[egbert]

i found this person on tumblr whose films are 3+ minutes of random footage she shoots in places. it's very.....

smiles :)

https://www.tumblr.com/dogdayafternoon1975/736391335421067264/got-asked-at-the-airport-what-do-i-do-with-all-the

they really are films where nothing happens. because they're shots of mundane life . but that's what makes it special!!! i like it!!!

[alexela64]

i found this person on tumblr whose films are 3+ minutes of random footage she shoots in places. it's very.....

i just checked this out, their cinematography and color-grading is so interesting. I like that she shoots for the heck of it rather than out of a need to create something cinematic. In that way, the work becomes cinematic of its own accord.

[Melooon]

My dad used to put on PlayTime (1967) for me to watch on rainy holidays in Connamara; I don't think anything happens in it, and I'll admit I found it a lil boring as a kid but options were limited so Id watch it anyway; looking at it now its really fascinating right from the start - I'd describe it as a study of the absurdity and humor of modern society and social rules; but its really like a kids popup book for grownups.

You can watch it on YouTube!

[Karin]

I usually don't like describing slife of life movies as "nothing happening" because I feel like it disregards how much is going on in terms of themes or characterization, but I'd say the best example would be the Before trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight). Despite all three of them being nothing but two people sightseeing and talking, it's one of the best romances ever depicted on film.

The Before trilogy are some of my favourite movies of all time! I'm not even a fan of romance movies normally, but the way these two talk to each other... Love it.

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

Just saw "Perfect Days" in the cinema and it is a wonderful movie. Highly recommended!

[Yaya]

Following!

[e-]

My Dinner with Andre-1981

Two guys have a conversation at a restaurant for the whole film. It's absolutely fascinating if you get into it.