A Plot is a literary term that means the order of events in a story through interrelated events. When people use the phrase,” the movie has no plot”, maybe one is unable to understand the film from that perspective. Not every director wishes to make films with extraordinary plotlines like Nolan, etc. There are filmmakers who toss the typical look of cohesiveness filmmaking and still manages to charm crazy cinephiles with surreal visual, charismatic characters, and thoughtful dialogues.
Here are 5 Best films with no storylines or plots
1. THE BEFORE TRILOGY (1995-2013)
Chronicling the love of Jesse and Celine from their first meeting in their twenties to the rude awakening of their lives when they are forty. The three-part romance deals with a relationship that begins, begins again, deepens but gets exhausted in the period of two decades. The film is a window of different stages of life. It is accommodating the possibilities and disappointments of one’s twenties, thirties, and forties.
The conversation is the central spine of the trilogy which holds the narrative. The only parts of the outside world jazz where they talk. Be it the talking booth, a park bench, or the train where it all started, they light up every place with their conversation. The conversation holds a philosophy that is engaging, poetic, and specific.
In Before Sunrise, it all starts when they meet as a stranger on the train and fall in love with each other. In the second part, Before Sunset, the audience waits for their everything for them to reunite. The third part, Before Midnight, holds the complicity of their marriage and their viewpoints differing from each other. We see their 20s, 30, and 40s and how they’ve grown in their relationship.
2. LOST IN TRANSLATION
Set against the background of Tokyo, Lost in Translation is a reflection of two trends of French philosophy, existentialism, and post-modernism. The film depicts a warm platonic love between Bob and Charlotte. The film portrays the feeling of looking for a place in a world where one does not belong.
Bob and Charlotte seek authenticity and recognition in the foreign land of Japan. Cappola shows this through the light on the streets of Tokyo, which feels non-native to the two Americans. Along with it, shows their isolation from the world when they walk through the corridors of the hotel, sleepless searching for a kind of meaning. When both meet each other, they see each other in a way that is missing from their respective partners which draws both of them close to each other.
Along with the connection, both the characters contrast with each other. On one hand, is Charolette’s pale face with innocence. Whereas, on the other hand, is Bob’s wrinkly face drained from his experience of life.
3. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Using incredible cinematography and production design, Sciamma’s Portrait Of A Lady On Fire is a melancholic slow-period drama masterpiece. The film coils with the themes of love, politics, representation, and reality.
In the late 18th century, Marianne, an art teacher in Paris is called by the owner of a Thornfield mansion on a remote island of Brittany. She is hired for the wedding portrait of Heloise, who is reluctant to get portrayed. Marianne is asked to keep her identity as an artist. Soon the tension between the pair prevents them from keeping the secret anymore.
The balance of silence and words; light and darkness and intimacy, makes the film erotic. The characters talk in poetry, interpret books. The decision of their lives imitates art.
4. INSIDE LLWEYN DAVIS
The process of being a successful artist is slow, tiring, and risky most of the time. It takes a lot of struggle and investment to keep it going with excitement.
Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis is a film about failure. The film is a sad and new comedy set in the world of music in American early 60s- Greenwich Village. Davis is a struggling folk singer in New York City whose new album isn’t selling. He has no place to stay and crashes on the couches of his friends’ houses. In one of his friend’s houses, he gets a cat who escapes from the house and since then accompanies him. He visits his sister in hope of borrowing money instead she hands him his box of belongings. The film revolves around Davis’ struggle to get recognized for which he moves to Chicago while dealing with many problems in his life.
The film shows Davis’ struggle between his sense of knowing himself as a gifted artist with his feeling of being a failure. The songs play an important part in the film in reflecting emotions. With everyone seeking success in NYC, Davis’ struggle is still in his failure zone which questions his fear of what the future holds.
