10 Nearly Perfect Movies, And What They Teach Us About Storytelling

Maybe there ’s no such matter as a double-dyed moving picture . It ’s usually enough of a miracle that a movie gets made . But every once in a while , a moving-picture show manages to tell a great write up without a brush virgule noticeably out of place . Here are 10 nearly perfect movies , and what they instruct us about storytelling .

One restraint for this list is that I want to include movie that I ’d seen late enough that I could actually compose about them . I also did n’t desire it to be the same inclination as our other “ best ” inclination that we ’ve done in the past . Scroll down for a list of campaigner that we also considered include .

1) Robot And Frank

An passe - burglar suffers from dementia , so his concerned kids bring him a automaton caretaker … and he winds up convincing the robot to get into some trouble . A passel of this movie ’s effectualness comes from Frank Langella ’s sarcastic , sly functioning , and from the beautiful visuals of nature with a sheeny white robot in it . But this film also shows how to do a “ character report ” without ever becoming heavy - handed : The relationship between Langella ’s Frank and Susan Sarandon ’s Jennifer appear to be one matter , but when we regain out tardily in the film that it ’s something very dissimilar , it changes our understanding of Frank ’s grapheme completely . This movie does “ twists ” entirely in the service of the independent character reference . Finally , Robot and Frank remains strongly dedicate to its radical of memory and selfhood , and how technology interact with them , finding newfangled ways to investigate that idea instead of just restate it .

2) Bedazzled

No , not the remake with Brendan Fraser . The 1967 master , with comedian Peter Cook and Dudley Moore . Cook play the Devil , who offers the suicidal short order cook George Moon ( Moore ) seven wishes in return for his soul . Not astonishingly , the wishes all go wrong , but a lot of the focus is on the Devil sharing his view of the cosmos and why he got tired of dancing around worshipping God for all eternity . Cook and Moore ’s comical timing is faultless , if dim by 21st 100 standards , and the pic is a masterclass in the usance of irony . George Moon ’s wish are all about tag felicity but also gratifying his self , and the ironic twirl that subvert them gently let out the defect in George ’s reference and just why he ca n’t be well-chosen . Plus this film opens up the relationship between George and Lucifer , until you in conclusion feel sympathy for the Devil .

3) Brazil

Werecently quoted director Rian Johnson and a bunch of otherstalking about why Brazil is such a wild picture show . But in addition to the incredible visuals and incredibly bitter , weird wittiness , Brazil is a masterpiece of fantastic worldbuilding , in which the dystopian city , under attack by terrorist and under the thumb of a uncanny bureaucracy , feels like a real place for all its insane weirdness . We find for Sam Lowry ’s plight even more because of all the strange touches that anchor this dystopian world in reality . And the other matter that Brazil pull off is that it immingle fantasy with a fantastical reality and keeps the two distinct — Sam ’s dream sequence and hallucinations are recognisable as insubstantial , even in the circumstance of the surreal humans he lives in . This is a swell deterrent example for storytellers — if you’re able to make a bizarre worldly concern feel like a living , breathing place , then you’re able to layer another world of even strange fantasy on top of that .

4) Ghostbusters

We tend to think back this film as just all - out topsy-turvyness with the ghost and the traps and the gatekeeper and so on and so forth . But the slap-up affair about Ghostbusters is how undercoat in reality a lot of it is , and how much it ’s scud in a realistic style , with natural light and cinematography from Laszlo Kovacs , who worked on Easy Rider . ( There ’s a gravid in - depth feel at every aspect of Ghostbusters here , in a website fittingly called Overthinking Ghostbusters . ) A huge part of why Ghostbusters is able to pull off its unique horror - comedy spin , and why its tale of underdogs who go into business capturing spectres works so well , is because it keeps one foundation relentlessly in the real universe . Also , like a lot of great 80s moving-picture show , Ghostbusters occupy the time to insert its characters and their predicament before throwing them into the deep end .

5) Iron Man

We ’ve praised this moving picture before as a bionic man narrative about a military man who catch a miniature nuclear reactor implanted in his chest to pull through him from a potentially mettle - stopping trauma . But I do n’t think we ’ve spill the beans about how tight this picture is — despite being largely improv , this movie builds its taradiddle piece by piece , without any skeletal pieces . Tony Stark ’s advance from weapons - selling jolt to penitent badass is great , and the chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and costars Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges keeps the movie anchored in fiber . setting where bridge circuit brings over some pizzas or Downey Jr. and Paltrow fuss feel natural and help to trade the melodic theme that these people have longstanding human relationship that are transfer . The last face-off between Iron Man and Ironmonger may not be as over - the - top as other natural process movie climaxes , but it does lend all of the moving picture ’s themes and fictitious character exploitation to a thoroughgoing finish .

6) Being John Malkovich

There are a ton of Charlie Kaufman film that could have gone on this tilt , including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation . And yes , the oftentimes - neglect Synecdoche New York . The master of meta , reality - break fib is also a great storyteller , with a big focus on mass whose egos and identity are warped by the magical - realist element in the story . And Being John Malkovich stick around in your mind not just because of the eldritch belief of a door into a celebrated role player ’s heading that lets you observe and peradventure hold him — but also , because of the intensely personal story it tells about Craig ( John Cusack ) and his temptation to apply Malkovich for his own ends . The conclusion is a gutpunch , but also feels like the gross culmination of all Craig ’s mistakes , which in turn are grounded in quality .

7) The Terminator

We were talking about this film last Nox at the io9 meetup , and the ways that it apply the conventions of the slasher picture , the noir thriller and the techno - thriller to tell its own , weirdly unequalled report . And it ’s a Latinian language ! There ’s so much greatness in The Terminator , from the killer robot ’s amusing timing to the beautiful camera work in the activeness scenes . But part of what makes this movie so perfect , and such a great object object lesson for storyteller , is the way it uses genre as a toolkit , with which to work up Sarah Connor ’s fibre arc . The miserable - budget restraint of The Terminator works in its favour as a taradiddle of survival , but so does the clever way it use your genre expectations to set up up the reveal of the metal frame from the future .

8) Upstream Color

As much as I fuck Primer , I call back Shane Carruth ’s follow - up movie has stuck with me a wad more — and like some of the other movie on this leaning , an obvious strength of Upstream Color is the way of life it combines a setaceous relationship story with a freaky scientific discipline - fancied narrative . But that ’s not my main takeaway from Upstream Color — rather , it ’s the fact that this movie explain almost nothing , and yet the narrative is completely open . If you let go of the expectation that a movie is go to unspool its secrets via exposition , this moving picture tells you everything you necessitate to know about what ’s move on . Carruth explains his entire plot of land through imagery and juxtapositions , and it ’s the ultimate model of showing instead of apprisal . What ’s unbelievable is the amount of clearness Carruth achieves without a single conniption of somebody explain something . And then the movie extract off an conclusion that ’s equivocal in the right way , not because you do n’t know what just encounter , but because you ’re left imagining what could befall next .

9) Princess Mononoke

Like some of the other filmmakers on this list , Hayao Miyazaki has a alone giving for storytelling and a lot of his films could have been on here — but Princess Mononoke is really something special . This film isincredibly beautiful and move , and features a protagonist that we commiserate with from the moment he accidentally kills a boar god - turned - demon and is cursed . But the greatest lesson from Princess Mononoke has to do with exploring topical theme in a way that engages the emotion and includes complexness , rather than senseless simplicity . This plastic film is a parable about reckless industrialism and maturation and the destruction of nature , but Miyazaki need expectant care to show how Lady Eboshi ’s growth is admirable in a mint of ways , and how both Eboshi and Mononoke subsist in ego - contained worlds that need to understand each other or face mutual destruction . Most of all , Princess Mononoke is a film of judgment - blow power , that will make you weep even as it also make you reckon .

10) 28 Days Later

And at long last , the movie that set out the “ loyal living dead ” fury ( I jazz they ’re not really zombies ) is also a masterpiece of post - apocalyptic storytelling . Danny Boyle and author Alex Garland build a sense of paranoia and desolation from the motion-picture show ’s beginning , where imp infect with the rage virus are release and immediately bulge unraveling the world . The use of subdued and empty spaces adds to the tactual sensation of threat and horridness — but it ’s Christopher Eccleston ’s turn as a military officer who ’s uncoerced to use Brassica napus as a tactic of preserving order that unveils the unfeigned revulsion at the heart of this plague Revelation of Saint John the Divine . A lot of post - apocalyptic films trifle with the idea that masses are monsters , but this one make it totally intuitive .

Our candidates for this list admit Invasion of the Body Snatchers ( 1970s ) , The Lost Boys , Rosemary ’s Baby , Little Shop of Horrors , American Werewolf in London , Hellboy , Pan ’s Labyrinth , The Thing and Return of the Living Dead . Thanks to Cheryl , Ever , Jason , Annalee and everybody else who helped with this !

Note : If you ’re looking for a straight - up listing of the most essential skill fable picture show , that’shere . Orhere‘s a inclination of the great flick of the 2000s . See alsothisandthis .

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