Over the course of one night? I gotta give it up for Scorsese’s After Hours. Criminally underrated.
Also, @moviegique, I love your mention of One Cut of the Dead. Just a spectacular movie all the way around. It’s very spoiler-sensitive, so I can’t even discuss the slightest details, but suffice it to say that it’s very, very good.
High Noon is such an obvious choice, I’m kicking myself for not thinking of it. Though I run hot and cold on the movie, the “real-time countdown” is very, very effective.
Locke is a remarkable film. Could’ve just been hardy sitting on a stage doing a (near) one-man show. And despite that, it has that sort of distinct tension I’m talking about. You feel like by the end of the drive—when Locke finally gets out of his car—the whole world will have changed for him.
It is not, but that looks good. This one was much more indie, possibly shot on video instead of film.
And can I say I absolutely hate trailers that keep throwing up quotes from reviewers. Thanks to the internet you can find dozens of positive reviews for anything, since anyone can start a review site. Just let me watch the ding-dang trailer and make up my own mind.
If I recall correctly the horror flick ATM is pretty much realtime. I don’t know if Cosmopolis is or not, I couldn’t maintain interest the first time I tried to watch it. Since it’s Cronenberg though I’ll probably give it another try some time.
And I concur, The Warriors is an absolute classic.
I picked up Criterion’s transfer when it came out. The last time I watched it, I started focusing on the actors playing the restaurant staff. They play it so straight and the blocking is really interestingly complex which gives it a cool kinetic energy.
The only other Malle movie I’ve seen was “Elevator to the Gallows” from 25 years before… really only to see the Miles Davis soundtrack in context. It has some long “real time” stretches.
Apparently it was filmed in the dead of winter and the restaurant didn’t have working heating, so all those ‘staff’ members (plus Shawn, Gregory, Malle, etc.) were freezing the whole time, which makes everyone’s performances even more interesting.
The Swimmer was released three years after it was filmed, because no studio wanted to touch it. And it actually downplays the surreal magic realism of the original short story, in which the guy actually seems to be moving through years of his life during his trip through the pools.