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Recommend some dialogue-focused movies for me (movies that are like plays)

DesertEater

Member
Oct 28, 2017
28
Ok just wanted to make sure Carnage was mentioned here. I saw it knowing little about and thought it was amazing.

I thought Horace and Pete was a pretty damn good show. The closest thing to a play.
 
PayOffWizard

PayOffWizard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
404
Manchester England
Its basically set in one room. If your into low key sci fi then this is a must.

images
 
FeliciaFelix

FeliciaFelix

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,778
Hateful 8. Seriously, make minimal changes and it's a play. Felt like one since I walked out of the theater.
 
BreakAtmo

BreakAtmo

Member
Nov 12, 2017
12,837
Australia
A recent film I saw, The Wife, was wall-to-wall great dialogue and excellent acting (starring Glenn Close and Jonathon Pryce), I highly recommend it.
 
Mr. Bad Example

Mr. Bad Example

Member
Nov 1, 2017
881
The Big Kahuna. Kevin Spacey (yeah, I know), Danny DeVito, and Peter Facinelli in a hotel hospitality suite. It's almost entirely dialogue.
 
jph139

jph139

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,378
The original Long Day's Journey Into Night is pretty much a straight adaptation of the play - I don't think there was even a screenplay or anything, just the original text mostly unedited - but it's damn good at what it does. Top notch performances all around.
 
Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Member
Oct 27, 2017
842
North Carolina
TP-DK said:
Hitchcocks Rope.
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I think one of the best examples here, maybe my favorite. What I love is that Hitchcock shot that movie in single takes, all as long as a single roll of film. If I remember correctly, it's all 16 minute shots because that's how long those rolls of film ran. The scene transitions are him moving behind objects to make it look seamless. So, it was essentially performed as a play as well.
 
Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Member
Oct 27, 2017
842
North Carolina
Munti said:
Dogville.
I didn't saw the whole movie, but what I saw was nice and it is like a play
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God damn, I hope you don't mean nice as in pleasant. That movie is brutal. The barren set just serves to prevent any of the nastiness of that world from being hidden.

Dogville is fantastic, but it's cruel to the main character. If you like drama, horror, and revenge it will work for you. If you don't want to watch a woman be brutalized (in the service of the story), steer clear.
 
Shadybiz

Shadybiz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,111
BigDes said:
Conspiracy starring Kenneth Branagh

Top Nazis in a room calmly discussing the logistics of the holocaust

True banality of evil movie.
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YES. I have watched this 3 times in the past 2 months after finding it. It's on Amazon Prime now (technically, HBO Now, which I get through Prime).

Branagh is just fantastic as Heydrich in this (really, some of the shots of him talking are chilling; he manages to use his eyes to seem completely soulless during some scenes), and Stanley Tucci puts on a great performance as Eichmann.
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,711
United States
A lot of movies from the 1940s and 50s are like this because a lot of them were stage adaptations to begin with. The style of cinema was very much informed by the style of stage because that's the background most people in that era were building off of. Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favorites.

You might also really enjoy the original Twilight Zone.
 
THEVOID

THEVOID

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 27, 2017
22,859
David Mamet

House of Games and Spanish Prisoner are both fantastic.


He wrote Glengarry in your OP.
 
Dervius

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,909
UK
Munti said:
Dogville.
I didn't saw the whole movie, but what I saw was nice and it is like a play, also with cheap assets :D. Is really interesting.

Also I once saw a movie where the whole premise was that a couple had a conversation after an one night stand. Forgot what the name was though.
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Epinephrine said:
God damn, I hope you don't mean nice as in pleasant. That movie is brutal. The barren set just serves to prevent any of the nastiness of that world from being hidden.

Dogville is fantastic, but it's cruel to the main character. If you like drama, horror, and revenge it will work for you. If you don't want to watch a woman be brutalized (in the service of the story), steer clear.
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Came in to say this. Dogville is an excellent film (it really is essentially a filmed play) but dear God it is far from nice. I'd say it fits OP's criteria though.

Locke is another good one.

Hateful Eight works I think, it even had an intermission in the cinema.

I'd argue much of the original Saw film qualifies, as it's so low key. Two guys locked in a room, althought it has some wider external stuff.

I'd add Pressure with Joe Cole, Matthew Goode and Danny Huston. Ends up a small group of guys trapped on the sea bed in a trapped submersible structure. It's slightly more elaborate than a play but the core of the movie could absolutely be converted that way.
 
Hong Kong Hermit

Hong Kong Hermit

Member
Nov 2, 2017
592
Finale Fireworker said:
A lot of movies from the 1940s and 50s are like this because a lot of them were stage adaptations to begin with. The style of cinema was very much informed by the style of stage because that's the background most people in that era were building off of. Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favorites.
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Agreed. As an added bonus, cinema of the 1930s and 1940s owned. The pre-code stuff in particular was incredibly ahead of its time.

Suggestions:

His Girl Friday
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Casablanca
Angels With Dirty Faces
Scarface (the 1932 original pisses all over the Al Pacino version)
 
ArtTeitlebaum

ArtTeitlebaum

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,243
Europe
Lots of good suggestions already in this thread. I'd like to add
- Death of a Salesman (w Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich, adaption of the drama by Arthur Miller)
- Werner Herzog flicks: Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, Nosferatu to name the most popular with the maniacal Klaus Kinski
- Pedro AlmodĂłvar movies: Very colourful, talkative comedies like 'Mujeres al borde de un ataque de "nervios"'( don't know the English title, sorry) with Antonio Banderas.
 
Teh_Lurv

Teh_Lurv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,097
Third recommendation for The Man from Earth. The screenplay IIRC started life in the 1960s as a script for a play.
 
Budi

Budi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,883
Finland
Excellent thread, need to check these recommendations out. To add my own, check Coffee & Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch. Has quite a cast too!

Edit: Sunset Limited directed by Tommy Lee Jones which also stars Samuel L. Jackson is actually based on a play.

edit 2: Oh already mentioned, well I'd still recommend it!
 
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ClamBuster

ClamBuster

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,094
Ipswich, England
The Man from Earth

a man arranges a cabin retreat for his work colleagues as he's moving away and wants to hang with them one last time

he proceeds to tell them he's '.............'

the whole film then consists of his work colleagues questioning him pretty much in one room

is he telling the truth? you'll have to watch...
 
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