Films without a linear structure / narrative

[Mandalore464]

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[Ultimatehero]

Seems to me you'll love TREE OF LIFE. THE FOUNTAIN also comes to mind from what you've described. SMART PEOPLE comes to mind as the best slice of life film I've seen, it has no narrative structure - it's seeing these characters lives in a moment in time and like life ends open-ended which may piss off those who want a clean bow at the end, to me I liked how accurate that was. Some other indie films do this as well.

As a writer, I love a lot of foreign independent films even though it's early and none come to mind at the moment lol other than I'M GLAD MY MOTHER IS ALIVE (especially if you're looking at disjointed moments from the past, current, and future that weave together). But in the states we have this notion of beginning, middle, end - a,b,c. I've always hated that personally. Overseas, it's more of a slice of life without any of the narrative limitations Hollywood typically has.

 

[Mandalore464]

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[Max J Power]

I was just re-watching Tarkovsky's The Mirror, which is one of the most beautiful and poetic films I know of, and this time I didn't really focus on cinematography and actually tried to experience what the film had to offer.

I was stunned. The way the story seems to go nowhere, depicting random life events one after the other, going back and forth between present and past, eventually binding them all in a beautiful visual essay on life, love and memories really got to me, and I think its sheer strength was the way all those scenes were edited together in one seamless way, yet totally freed from any chronology issue. It's like the narrator has put his stream of consciousness into images and sounds.

I am now looking for other similar movies, and I figured some of you cinemaniacs out there might want to enlighten me.

Of course, please spare me any film which follows a linear structure save for a final flashback of flash-forward... I'm actually looking for films who totally rely on their lack of chronology or absence of classical narrative to tell their story.

I already know of Memento, and Tree of Life of course. Any lesser-known gems I should seek out?

I'd say Waking Life fits that description.

 

[antsman41]

Anything in the mumblecore might be up your alley...

 

[childeroland]

Distant Voices, Still Lives

 

[bubbadoom]

PULP FICTION and KILL BILL come to mind...

 

[kvz5]

The Prestige
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

 

[Mandalore464]

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[Naked Shia]

last year in marienbad.
Memories

 

[kewlmatto]

'Synecdoche New York' seems linear at first. Until you rewatch it and it completely blows your mind the second time.

Love that movie.

 

[Hotwire]

I guess 500 Days of Summer is to "mainstream", as well. A film's target audience really should not disqualify a film.

 

[Naked Shia]

I like mainstream movies. David Lynch movies are usually not that linear.

 

[Mandalore464]

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[Hotwire]

That's not what I meant. Mainstream is good. Some of the films listed that I qualified as "too mainstream" are in my Top 10 best movies of all times (The Fountain for example).

When I say that some films are too "mainstream", it means that they are so well-known there is just no way I could have not seen them yet.

I am looking for films I have never heard of, and therefore more "obscure films", because I watch dozens of films every week. Very often, the films I never hear of are more experimental, small budget films that don't get released to the "GA" on a large scale. The "mumblecore" genre seems to fit that description perfectly.

That's all I meant by "too mainstream". And 500 days of Summer was very good.

Thanks for clarifying. It kind of came off as a hipster saying everything was too mainstream. Makes more sense now.

You may enjoy, The Jacket.

Also, I found this list that might help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nonlinear_narrative_films

 

[Mandalore464]

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[Crockett]

I don't know if you've seen it yet but I'd recommend The Color of Pomegranates (aka Sayat Nova). It's a biography on the life of poet Sayat Nova but in an abstract take as it tell the poet's life from childhood to death like a series of tableau, so it's linear but still if you're interested you should give it a chance since Parajanov's style is quite reminiscent of Tarkovsky's (could be because Ivan's Childhood really unlocked his artistic side) anyway it feels so unique, the combination of art direction, cinematography and music for this is pretty stunning, it's somewhat cryptic but one can't help but marveled the sight of it all.

 

[Mandalore464]

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[Farren]

Memento
Roshomon

PULP FICTION and KILL BILL come to mind...

Also Reservoir Dogs.

Quentin Tarantino really likes nonlinear storytelling.

 

[Naked Shia]

premium rush ^^