Movies that explore or feature silence?
#1
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
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Movies that explore or feature silence?
I am looking for some movies that explore silence or use silence to interesting effect. A couple of examples are 3-Iron and Old Joy. Any others you can think of? (And no, silent films don't count, haha.) Thanks in advance for any insights.
EDIT: It just occurred to me that horror/suspense films often use silence, so I should add that I am not really looking for those kinds of movies. More dramas and romances. Thanks!
EDIT: It just occurred to me that horror/suspense films often use silence, so I should add that I am not really looking for those kinds of movies. More dramas and romances. Thanks!
Last edited by illennium; 12-25-07 at 10:21 PM.
#2
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Not complete silence, but in Saving Private Ryan, during the D-Day part when the mortar goes off next to Tom Hanks and the sound gets all muffled I thought was pretty interesting.
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Into Great Silence, Philip Groning's pseudo-documentary about a French monastary, is incredible. There is virtually no dialog or music, yet this is one of the most hypnotic, engaging films I've seen in years.
If you can track it down, Shinji Aoyama's Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani? is quite an interesting take on the "post-apocalyptic" emptiness and seclusion themes in movies and features a bare minimum of dialog and music, using mostly ambient sounds and a smattering of drone/noise music performances (Tadanobu Asano's nearly 10-minute piece near the end is stunning if you're a fan of this sort of thing).
As for an effective use of silence in a particular scene, you can't get much better than Rififi's heist.
If you can track it down, Shinji Aoyama's Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani? is quite an interesting take on the "post-apocalyptic" emptiness and seclusion themes in movies and features a bare minimum of dialog and music, using mostly ambient sounds and a smattering of drone/noise music performances (Tadanobu Asano's nearly 10-minute piece near the end is stunning if you're a fan of this sort of thing).
As for an effective use of silence in a particular scene, you can't get much better than Rififi's heist.
#6
DVD Talk Hero
Riffifi has about half an hour with no music, no dialogue, and only the rustle of people's clothing.
Aren't the scenes in both The Andromeda Strain and On the Beach, when the people explore the empty towns, extremely quiet?
Aren't the scenes in both The Andromeda Strain and On the Beach, when the people explore the empty towns, extremely quiet?
#8
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Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Cosmic Bus
As for an effective use of silence in a particular scene, you can't get much better than Rififi's heist.
Originally Posted by visitor Q
BTW - you did mean Old Boy right?
#10
DVD Talk Godfather
The first part of No Country for Old Men. There's some narration at the beginning, and a short interchange of dialogue later. I believe there's only one or two moments in the entire movie with music, and they don't last more than 10 seconds.
#12
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Check out any of the work of the late great Michelangelo Antonioni, who just died earlier this year. His '60s work is amazing -- "Blow Up" is a fantastic portrait of swinging London that also is a kind of existential murder piece and uses silence for huge swings of the movie. It just has a mesmerizing vibe I think. Ditto with his '70s African movie "The Passenger" which stars Jack Nicholson in a role where he barely talks. Any of his other movies are great too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo_Antonioni
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo_Antonioni
#15
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Surprised no one mentioned The New World yet.
Ok, maybe not complete silence, but the movie goes for long periods of time without spoken word.
Ok, maybe not complete silence, but the movie goes for long periods of time without spoken word.
#17
DVD Talk Limited Edition
cast away
#19
DVD Talk Special Edition
In the beginning of 28 days later there is probably a good minute of silence before the music begins to start. Probably my favorite scene I've seen in any movie so far.
#22
DVD Talk Legend
There's a scene in Road to Perdition where there's a silent shootout (though there may be a musical score), but I don't know if that qualifies as exploring silence.
I think there are also some parts in Immortal Beloved where it's silent to empathize with Beethoven's deafness.
I think there are also some parts in Immortal Beloved where it's silent to empathize with Beethoven's deafness.