Low on dialog.. heavy on subtext, visual metaphors, cinematography, etc.

I just recently watched a few Jarmush films and I really enjoy the subtle way his characters unfold without relying heavily on dialog. Specifically Ghost Dog where Forrest Whittaker and Isaach De Bankolés' characters develop a close bond w/out any coherent verbal communication.

So if you can think of any, post some examples.

..brad pitt gave a solid performance


..and miles to go before i sleep...

..not exactly heavy, but certainly brooding

still, the cast was on point.



..and miles to go before i sleep...

Its not for everybody, tho.

On the dock of that bay serving a life sentence,even if I’m going to hell I’m gonna make an entrance

In an interview, the director said that while shooting, he kept cutting lines from the script.

Also, I haven't seen Albert Nobbs, but the director made a big point in an interview about saying that if you find yourself adding words, you're in trouble, because it means you're trying to explain something you should be showing.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Every hundred years, all new people

..silent movies are an entirely different beast


..and miles to go before i sleep...

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Every hundred years, all new people

non-dialogue, heavy on the subtext and mood, well let's see:

*You should check out all of Jarmusch's films. GHOST DOG is probably his most dialogue-heavy. STRANGERS IN PARADISE is one I particularly enjoy.

*LE SAMOURAI, it's by Jean-Pierre Melville, and is the movie Jarmusch (quite liberally) takes from for GHOST DOG. Alain Delon all but invents the silent killer in this film.

*Melville was the king of the moody, silent pieces, a father to many of the French New Wave. Just about all of his movies would work for what you're looking for, I'd personally recommend THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD.

*There's the Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone "Man with no name" trilogy: A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY.

*You could always watch Kevin Smith's CLERKS with the sound off...

*THE LAST LAUGH. An old German film, stars the amazingly talented actor Emil Jannings. Doesn't really fit your requirements, but I think it still works pretty well.

*LA JETEE would work pretty well.

*BAGDAD CAFE. Especially if you enjoy the "Jarmusch style" of characterization.

*Peter Weir's movies have and use dialogue, but I still feel like his early films fit what you're looking for. THE LAST WAVE, and especially PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, do more with mood and subtext than movies that don't have dialogue. PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK is incredible.

*LE QUATTRO VOLTRE. Trust me, you'll never see a "funny but I don't know why" scene better than the one with the goat.

*UGETSU is like a dream, although it is a dialogue-dependent.

*Crap, I almost forgot, there's the "Qatsi Trilogy." No dialogue, no characters, just images and video footage that together builds into something. The incomparable Philip Glass did the score for all three of them (I think, I know he did for the first two). In order, they are: KOYAANISQATSI, POWAQQATSI, and NAQOYQATSI.

*ASHES OF TIME REDUX by Wong Kar Wai is a great choice out of his films. Probably his least dialogue-dependent film, and it works just beautifully. I don't understand how people haven't seen his films.

*Some folks have recommended to me A SERIOUS MAN by the Coen Bros. for reasons that fit with what you're looking for, but I've never seen it. Worst case scenario, you spend two hours watching a Coen Bros. movie (there are worse ways to spend two hours).

*You'll have a lot of luck with the Italian New Wave stuff too. They're real big on that style. Michelangelo Antonioni "malaise trilogy" of L'AVVENTURA, LA NOTTE, and L'ECLISSE is probably the best way to go.

*There's the incomparable LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD.

*There's a Jacques Tati film I'm thinking of that's PERFECT for this list, but for the life of me I can't think of it.

*Fuck it, THE BELLBOY by Jerry Lewis. Because there's little in this "genre" that's funny.

*Someone on this board should be able to remind me of what DAVID BOWIE movie I'm thinking of; there's a great sci-fi film he's in that works for this.

*You could spend a few hours watching RADIOHEAD music videos.

*GOODBYE, DRAGON INN is an amazing movie, perfect for what you're asking for, and I swear I'm the only who has ever heard of it.

That should keep you busy, if I think of anything else, I'll be sure to add on.
Peace


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

I have the movie poster at home and I'm considering framing & hanging it when I have my apartment painted.

It's also one of the first movies I bought when I succumbed to the dvd ownership fever.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Every hundred years, all new people

I spotted the DVD at a local used store. I knew nothing of the movie, or anybody in it. All I knew was two things:
1. That the DVD cover -
http://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Dragon-Inn-Kang-sheng-Lee/dp/B0006TPDUM/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1330719454&sr=1-1
- was too good to be for a subpar movie; and
2. Everything on the DVD case was in English, meaning it wasn't an import, meaning some American distribution company - with the limited overhead they must have for foreign films nobody has ever heard of - STILL chose to make these available for Region 1 DVD players.
So glad I picked this up.

"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

It didn't take me long to realize that one of their programmers for Asian films had tastes that perfectly matched mine. For a few years, I would look through the program carefully to see what movies he had chosen, and I'd go see those. He was named director of the Hong Kong Intl Film Festival last year.

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Every hundred years, all new people

Lots of voiceover in that film.

Sponge is absolutely right.
I meant to put MELANCHOLIA instead of LA JETEE (I have the two of them next to each other here).
MELANCHOLIA is also fairly dialogue-dependent, but I enjoy for it's more subtler moments.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Very, very little dialogue.

the 1st one of its kind.

Barely any dialogue. The latter film L'intrus is basically a film made up of a bunch of different metaphors for the concepts of intrusion and foreignness. Because of those characteristics, L'intrus can piss some people off by coming off as impossible to decipher.

The former film Vendredi Soir is one of the most romantic mood films ever made. Sensuous viewing.

Both films are shot by Agnes Godard. One of the greatest DoPs in the world.

All Denis films have very sparse dialogue.

I'd hit youtube to see clips of their films to see where you wanna go as I currently don't have the time to write the kind of descriptions I'd like to write:


Aki Kaurismaki films are less stylish than Jarmusch's but still spare and deadpan

Bela Tarr (particularly Werckmeister Harmonies, Satantango, and Damnation)

Andrei Tarkovsky (particularly Mirror, Stalker, Nostalghia)

Victor Erice's Spirit of the Beehive

Tsai Ming-liang (particularly What Time Is It There?, I Don't Want To Sleep Alone, and the already mentioned Goodbye, Dragon Inn)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (particularly Syndromes and a Century, Tropical Malady, and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives)

Theo Angelopoulos (particularly Landscape in the Mist for Region 1 DVDs)

Jean-Pierre Melville (already mentioned)

Alexander Sokurov (particularly Mother and Son and The Second Circle)


There are a bunch more, but I got to run. Maybe I'll be back with more.

..."The Secret of Kells".

Marginally "Dreamgirls", unless music counts.

In The Mood For Love & No Country For Old Men

..the dialogue wasn't sparse, just patient

the movie seemed quiet because of the score


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Especially "The Last Days".
shit, I had to put on the subtitles just to understand all the mumbling (which wasn't anything prolific.)

On the dock of that bay serving a life sentence,even if I’m going to hell I’m gonna make an entrance

Blew my mind apart.

**********
Peace to the Gods.

"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Posters in High Griffinition.

Don't think-FEEEEEEEEEEEEEL! © Bruce Lee

Pretty fucked up movie about a school shooting. The fly on the wall perspective makes the words spoken throughout the film not even seem like dialogue. Haven't seen this in a long time though, so maybe it doesn't fit

3-Iron
The Isle
Samaritan Girl
Breath
Bad Guy

Great Great films. Very little dialogue, slow paced, all building up to a rewarding payoff. Even if an occasionally very disturbing one...

I think some of his other gangster flicks are the same way.

Fireworks is good too, but there was something about the playfulness of Sonatine followed by the grittiness of its ending that just hit really hard.

Takeshi Kitano is a terrific director though. He has a lot of great movies. I would almost say that some of his non-gangster films are his best movies. He's one of my favorite filmmakers.

although the sparse dialog is fucking chalked full of awesome.

Such a dope movie. The direction and lack of dialogue make viewing it a very hypnotic experience. Plus, I will never forget the shot of that dude eating the hand...

starring Jack Nicholson

"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Looking forward to checking it out within the next few days.

especially the first 20 minutes.




>Low on dialog.. heavy on subtext, visual metaphors,
>cinematography, etc.
>
>I just recently watched a few Jarmush films and I really enjoy
>the subtle way his characters unfold without relying heavily
>on dialog. Specifically Ghost Dog where Forrest Whittaker and
>Isaach De Bankolés' characters develop a close bond w/out any
>coherent verbal communication.
>
>So if you can think of any, post some examples.

It's entirely ridiculous, but they were able to do a lot with the protagonist as a sociopath rubber tire.

Bonus points: Fat Neil from Community is featured in this.