Minimal Dialogue Movies
Movies with minimal dialogue to tell a story (no silent movies, well maybe one or two for very good reasons.) I'm sure there are more movies out there, but I can't think of them at the moment. (Listed alphabetically.)
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- DirectorEsteban SapirStarsAlejandro UrdapilletaValeria BertuccelliJulieta CardinaliThis near-silent black and white film from Argentina tells the story of a city that has lost its voice, stolen by Mr. TV, and the attempts of a small family to win the voice back. Similar in design to early German expressionist films.An almost silent film, but good use of subtitles in a world of silence…
- DirectorJan SvankmajerStarsKristýna KohoutováCamilla PowerA surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.Surreal piece from the master of live-animation.
- DirectorMike van DiemStarsWillem NijholtMaeve van der SteenCoen van Vrijberghe de ConinghA slaughterhouse worker appears to be romantically involved with his boss's wife. They plan to leave the country together, but at the airport she waits for him in vain. Slowly but surely the three of them get entangled in a fateful web of betrayal, jealousy, and revenge.A little gem with hardly any dialogue.
- DirectorJ.C. ChandorStarsRobert RedfordAfter a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face.Silence in the great wide ocean...
- DirectorFrancis LeeStarsKate WinsletSaoirse RonanGemma Jones1840s England, acclaimed but overlooked fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever.Winslet and Ronin just need to look into each others eyes without having to say much...
- DirectorJuan ZapataStarsDaniela EscobarMarlon MorenoPeter KetnathYou know the moment when your sorrow is so profound that you can't help but imagine yourself somewhere far away... this is the story of someone who did more than just imagine.A journey through love, loss and rediscovery...
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsTuro PajalaSusanna HaavistoMatti PellonpääA Finnish man goes to the city to find a job after the mine where he worked is closed and his father commits suicide.Aki Kaurismäki is a director who doesn't like his characters talking too much…
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsBrad PittCasey AffleckSam ShepardRobert Ford, who has idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the resurgent gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.There are words, and then there are moments of brilliant silence...
- DirectorKitty GreenStarsJulia GarnerOwen HollandJon OrsiniA searing look at a day in the life of an assistant to a powerful executive. As Jane follows her daily routine, she grows increasingly aware of the insidious abuse that threatens every aspect of her position.Kitty Green manages to tell the story without relying on narrative dialogue, instead stringing together scenes depicting the torment of an assistant under duress from an office brute...
- DirectorLuc BessonAtmospheric soundtrack follows this compilation of nature footage that focuses on the ocean and various life forms that live, mate and die in it.Besson underwater.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsMartin SheenSissy SpacekWarren OatesAn impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.Somehow Malick's films do have plenty of dialogue, but they seem to be minimal because his style of shooting lends itself to the long landscape shots his characters are caught up in…
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsTchéky KaryoBart the BearYouk the BearAn orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.No talking animals here…
- DirectorCarroll BallardStarsKelly RenoMickey RooneyTeri GarrAfter being shipwrecked with a magnificent horse off the coast of Africa in the 1940s, a boy bonds with the stallion, and trains him to race after their rescue.Ballard understands nature and the language of silence it speaks…
- DirectorPablo BergerStarsMaribel VerdúEmilio GaviraDaniel Giménez CachoA twist on the Snow White fairy tale that is set in 1920s Seville and centered on a female bullfighter.Who needs sound in this day and age when you have creative filmmakers who can tell a story visually...
- DirectorVincent GalloStarsVincent GalloChloë SevignyCheryl TiegsProfessional motorcycle racer Bud Clay heads from New Hampshire to California to race again. Along the way he meets various needy women who provide him with the cure to his own loneliness, but only a certain woman from his past will truly satisfy him.Gallo doesn't need to say much…
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsTom HanksHelen HuntPaul SanchezA FedEx executive undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island.Hanks in a silent world of survival…
- DirectorIngo HaebStarsVicky KriepsLena LauzemisSteffen MünsterIn this coming out story with a difference, Lynn - a painfully shy hotel maid with OCD - voyeuristically watches a guest's encounter with a dominatrix. She then decides to hire the call girl to help her shed her own inhibitions.Through Lynn's interesting fetish, she meets a dominatrix who opens up Lynn's secluded world...
- DirectorJames FrancoStarsScott HazeTim Blake NelsonJim ParrackA dispossessed, violent man's disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order.A deranged World according to a homeless necrophiliac...
- DirectorSergei ParajanovStarsSofiko ChiaureliMelkon AlekyanVilen GalstyanThe life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from childhood to death: his spiritual journey, artistic endeavors, and inner conflicts within the cultural and historical context of Armenia. Hailed as revolutionary by Mikhail Vartanov.A visual poem about a poet's life full of stunning framing compositions and art direction, but let down by the lack of mood lighting...
- DirectorAnh Hung TranStarsLe Van LocTony Leung Chiu-waiNu Yên-Khê TranWhen a poor bicycle-taxi driver has his cyclo stolen, he is forced into a life of crime. Meanwhile, his sister becomes a sex worker.Anh Hung Tran is a master in telling his stories with stunning images.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsAlain DelonRichard CrennaCatherine DeneuveAfter a shaky first heist, a group of thieves plan an even more elaborate and risky second heist.The silent heist. Melville is the king of minimal dialogue.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsWarren BeattyGoldie HawnGert FröbeA bank security expert plots with a call girl to rob three safety deposit boxes containing $1.5 million in cash belonging to three very different criminals from a high-tech security bank in Hamburg, Germany.Caper films are perfect for minimal dialogue and Brooks has fun with this.
- DirectorWalter HillStarsRyan O'NealBruce DernIsabelle AdjaniA getaway driver becomes the latest assignment for a tenacious detective.Walter Hill's action thriller masterpiece where the driving does all the talking...
- DirectorLucile HadzihalilovicStarsPaul HiltonRomane HemelaersRomola GaraiA 50-year-old caretaker is employed to look after 10-year-old girl. His most important task is to maintain her dentures that are made of ice and must be changed several times a day.Hadzihalilovic's strange and mysterious world for the thinking person and beyond in this surreal dark treat that seems to go nowhere with its minimilist, but when digging deep, you'll will be rewarded...
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsElias McConnellAlex FrostEric DeulenSeveral ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.The kids are not alright…