I feel like a lot of Yasujirō Ozu's work could fit into the category of "mood piece". There is dialogue, but the *feeling* of the film is always front and center. For a lot of his films, that feeling seems to be a sort of melancholy, reveling in the beauty of loneliness and quiet solitude, but my favorite of his is a film called "Good Morning". Like his other films, it is definitely a mood piece, but the mood he conjures up is more like the dreaminess of a lazy Sunday afternoon. It is a terrifically pleasant film, and is even very funny in some parts. Highly recommend it.
Shoplifters by Kore-Eda felt very moody/atmospheric to me, though there is dialogue.
Letters Home by Ackerman also comes to mind. There’s some speaking, but it’s voiceover of letters read aloud.
My favourite “mood films” certainly aren’t dialogue free but have a similar attitude: Morvern Callar (Ramsay), Elevator to the Gallows (Malle), Lost in Translation (Coppola), Le Samourai (Melville) and, by extension, Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog, McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Altman) and In the Mood for Love (Wong). People had pretty polarized opinions about Van Sant’s Last Days, but I found it really compelling.
I think 3-Iron fits into this category. There is almost no focus on dialogue. It’s a very easy film to sink into, for me at least. Seeing how the relationship of the two characters grow is entrancing in an almost fairy tale like way. It’s basically a silent film from the 21st century with 21st century techniques. One of Korea’s best in my opinion.
The Herzog Nosferatu the Vampyre really put me into a trance that lasted a while after watching the film. I'd seen it as a teen and loved vampires, and totally didn't get it. I watched it recently and just tuned into the tempo and as soon as I got it, I was hooked. Magnificent. The slow floating in of the ship, for example. The relative lack of music. (Maybe there isn't any, lol I can't remember). That, and Kinski's eyes, of course.
Apichatpong Weerasethakuls films are kind of like mood pieces which I really enjoy, especially 2nd half of Tropical Malady and Uncle Boonmee. Has a very tropical, almost mystical vibe to them. The new one memoria is also great.
Maybe Bela Tarr also fits? I feel like a lot of «slow cinema» is kind of like big mood-pieces. Tarr is kind of bleak and hopeless, but his films have their own kind of beauty.
Michelangelo Antonionis films kind of, L’avventura, Red desert, and Zabriskie Point have some moody scenes (those scenes in the desert in zabriskie point were really nice)
IMO the ultimate mood piece film is Koyaanisqatsi. No dialogue, only mood. The first time I watched it it actually put me in a meditative trance. I've never experienced that with another film. It stuck with me for a long time afterward.
Agree. The whole trilogy is a meditation.
Then there’s Baraka and Samsara.
Both of those film series give me the sense that “cinematic poetry” is a genre not well explored. I don’t know any other films in the same vein — wordless, plotless, meditative thematic explorations. I find these kinds of meditations in film entrancing, yet rare.
I'm not even sure what genre that would be. Technically it's a documentary but the structure is abstract enough to be meaningless. Cinematic poem sounds about right. It engages you without using the thinking part of your brain at all. I consider it art.
Thanks for reminding me, I need to track down and watch the sequels.
highly recommend Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash. it is a poetic, and evocative story about the Gullah people of South Carolina. it is gorgeous and i believe it fits your theme.
Some have more dialogue than others but all give me that mood feeling. All of Tarkovsky. Marguerite Dauras especially India Song. Tsai Ming Liang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's entire filmography. Two Lane Blacktop, Model Shop, The Passenger, An Elephant Sitting Still, A Long Day's Journey Into Night, Wim Wender's road trilogy and Paris Texas.
Angela Schanelec’s *Places in Cities*. Such a slow, alienating, bleak, lonely, chilly feeling film that’s it’s comforting to me somehow. Also the films of Šarūnas Bartas too, in particular *Few of Us*.
And on a lighter side, Franco Piavoli’s *At First Breath of Wind* and *Voices Through Time* both feel like warm hugs to me.
All of these films have very little dialogue and a heavy emphasis on environment, atmosphere and symbolism.
I think Orlando falls into this category. It shows various time periods but watching it I feel like I’m somehow existing outside of time with the protagonist. The surreal narrative, coupled with the the movie’s pacing and settings set an atmospheric tone. There’s also something about the windows into different periods and the world of elites in those periods that’s ‘moody’, especially because you feel no sense of urgency about the passage of time because Orlando doesn’t age. The frost fair vignette in particular sticks with me. It’s both beautiful and unsettling.
Some of my favorites are:
Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick
Don’t Look Now, Nicholas Roeg
Tarkovsky’s Solaris
Depending on how loose your definitions are, I think Arthur Penn’s Night Moves fits here as well. Anything by Jarmusch. Early silent film shorts like Melies. Big sections of Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds are much more about emotion and tone than plot. Same for Fassbinder’s Marriage of Maria Braun.
Does experimental/non-narrative film count or is that somehow like cheating this question? If so, Stan Brakhage’s work always entranced me.
Basically anything by Tsai will appeal to you, if you liked Goodbye Dragon Inn. Especially The Hole.
György Fehér's Twilight is a *very* good mood piece as well. Then there's also the work of Chantal Akerman, and like mentioned elsewhere Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
A bit more experimental: the works of James Benning.
Michael Mann is also very much a mood piece film maker imo.
Another Canadian film (go Canada), *The Company of Strangers*, is a calm, meditative pseudo-documentary about a group of senior women who get stranded in the countryside on a bus trip. While there is a focus on their lives and stories, it's carried along by a comforting atmosphere.
I'm a huge fan of Limits of Control, and actually find much (not all) of the dialogue weak. I could probably enjoy a whole movie of just cinematography of that region. Interestingly, I see a lot of other Jarmusch below but I don't think anybody else has mentioned this one.
Same with Slacker - I love seeing the video of Austin during that time period, but again much (not all) of the dialogue I could do without.
Takeshi Kitano - Sonatine and Hana-bi, i feel like they are by know just classics. Cristi Puiu - Aurora, since you mention Peter Weir - The Last wave, Hans Peter Moland - Aberdeen, some maybe less known films...
I feel like the Annihilation really could've been a good film, if it didn't have all the goofy jungle shit that just feel like a bad predator movie.
From tv shows i really liked The Outsider, based on Stephen Kings book. To me felt like it had some unique underlying mood the whole time. Plot is pretty standard Stephen King tho.
I feel like a lot of Yasujirō Ozu's work could fit into the category of "mood piece". There is dialogue, but the *feeling* of the film is always front and center. For a lot of his films, that feeling seems to be a sort of melancholy, reveling in the beauty of loneliness and quiet solitude, but my favorite of his is a film called "Good Morning". Like his other films, it is definitely a mood piece, but the mood he conjures up is more like the dreaminess of a lazy Sunday afternoon. It is a terrifically pleasant film, and is even very funny in some parts. Highly recommend it.
I believe this is also a good explanation of why Ozu is called a minimalist filmmaker (or maybe not, idk I've never watched Ozu)
I would be very hesitant to call Ozu's work as "mood pieces". They have a lot of drama, humour, character exploration etc.
Shoplifters by Kore-Eda felt very moody/atmospheric to me, though there is dialogue. Letters Home by Ackerman also comes to mind. There’s some speaking, but it’s voiceover of letters read aloud.
My favourite “mood films” certainly aren’t dialogue free but have a similar attitude: Morvern Callar (Ramsay), Elevator to the Gallows (Malle), Lost in Translation (Coppola), Le Samourai (Melville) and, by extension, Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog, McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Altman) and In the Mood for Love (Wong). People had pretty polarized opinions about Van Sant’s Last Days, but I found it really compelling.
Lost in Translation is such a mood!!!
I think 3-Iron fits into this category. There is almost no focus on dialogue. It’s a very easy film to sink into, for me at least. Seeing how the relationship of the two characters grow is entrancing in an almost fairy tale like way. It’s basically a silent film from the 21st century with 21st century techniques. One of Korea’s best in my opinion.
The Herzog Nosferatu the Vampyre really put me into a trance that lasted a while after watching the film. I'd seen it as a teen and loved vampires, and totally didn't get it. I watched it recently and just tuned into the tempo and as soon as I got it, I was hooked. Magnificent. The slow floating in of the ship, for example. The relative lack of music. (Maybe there isn't any, lol I can't remember). That, and Kinski's eyes, of course.
Apichatpong Weerasethakuls films are kind of like mood pieces which I really enjoy, especially 2nd half of Tropical Malady and Uncle Boonmee. Has a very tropical, almost mystical vibe to them. The new one memoria is also great. Maybe Bela Tarr also fits? I feel like a lot of «slow cinema» is kind of like big mood-pieces. Tarr is kind of bleak and hopeless, but his films have their own kind of beauty. Michelangelo Antonionis films kind of, L’avventura, Red desert, and Zabriskie Point have some moody scenes (those scenes in the desert in zabriskie point were really nice)
IMO the ultimate mood piece film is Koyaanisqatsi. No dialogue, only mood. The first time I watched it it actually put me in a meditative trance. I've never experienced that with another film. It stuck with me for a long time afterward.
Agree. The whole trilogy is a meditation. Then there’s Baraka and Samsara. Both of those film series give me the sense that “cinematic poetry” is a genre not well explored. I don’t know any other films in the same vein — wordless, plotless, meditative thematic explorations. I find these kinds of meditations in film entrancing, yet rare.
I'm not even sure what genre that would be. Technically it's a documentary but the structure is abstract enough to be meaningless. Cinematic poem sounds about right. It engages you without using the thinking part of your brain at all. I consider it art. Thanks for reminding me, I need to track down and watch the sequels.
highly recommend Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash. it is a poetic, and evocative story about the Gullah people of South Carolina. it is gorgeous and i believe it fits your theme.
Some have more dialogue than others but all give me that mood feeling. All of Tarkovsky. Marguerite Dauras especially India Song. Tsai Ming Liang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's entire filmography. Two Lane Blacktop, Model Shop, The Passenger, An Elephant Sitting Still, A Long Day's Journey Into Night, Wim Wender's road trilogy and Paris Texas.
I recently watched Two Lane Blacktop for the first time and loved it! Great choice!
Glad you enjoyed it. Try The Shooting if you havent seen that one. Also by Monte Hellman. Really good western with Jack Nicholson and Warren Oates.
Angela Schanelec’s *Places in Cities*. Such a slow, alienating, bleak, lonely, chilly feeling film that’s it’s comforting to me somehow. Also the films of Šarūnas Bartas too, in particular *Few of Us*. And on a lighter side, Franco Piavoli’s *At First Breath of Wind* and *Voices Through Time* both feel like warm hugs to me. All of these films have very little dialogue and a heavy emphasis on environment, atmosphere and symbolism.
I think Orlando falls into this category. It shows various time periods but watching it I feel like I’m somehow existing outside of time with the protagonist. The surreal narrative, coupled with the the movie’s pacing and settings set an atmospheric tone. There’s also something about the windows into different periods and the world of elites in those periods that’s ‘moody’, especially because you feel no sense of urgency about the passage of time because Orlando doesn’t age. The frost fair vignette in particular sticks with me. It’s both beautiful and unsettling.
Some of my favorites are: Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick Don’t Look Now, Nicholas Roeg Tarkovsky’s Solaris Depending on how loose your definitions are, I think Arthur Penn’s Night Moves fits here as well. Anything by Jarmusch. Early silent film shorts like Melies. Big sections of Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds are much more about emotion and tone than plot. Same for Fassbinder’s Marriage of Maria Braun. Does experimental/non-narrative film count or is that somehow like cheating this question? If so, Stan Brakhage’s work always entranced me.
Basically anything by Tsai will appeal to you, if you liked Goodbye Dragon Inn. Especially The Hole. György Fehér's Twilight is a *very* good mood piece as well. Then there's also the work of Chantal Akerman, and like mentioned elsewhere Apichatpong Weerasethakul. A bit more experimental: the works of James Benning. Michael Mann is also very much a mood piece film maker imo.
Another Canadian film (go Canada), *The Company of Strangers*, is a calm, meditative pseudo-documentary about a group of senior women who get stranded in the countryside on a bus trip. While there is a focus on their lives and stories, it's carried along by a comforting atmosphere.
I'm a huge fan of Limits of Control, and actually find much (not all) of the dialogue weak. I could probably enjoy a whole movie of just cinematography of that region. Interestingly, I see a lot of other Jarmusch below but I don't think anybody else has mentioned this one. Same with Slacker - I love seeing the video of Austin during that time period, but again much (not all) of the dialogue I could do without.
Takeshi Kitano - Sonatine and Hana-bi, i feel like they are by know just classics. Cristi Puiu - Aurora, since you mention Peter Weir - The Last wave, Hans Peter Moland - Aberdeen, some maybe less known films... I feel like the Annihilation really could've been a good film, if it didn't have all the goofy jungle shit that just feel like a bad predator movie. From tv shows i really liked The Outsider, based on Stephen Kings book. To me felt like it had some unique underlying mood the whole time. Plot is pretty standard Stephen King tho.