Minimalist film

In film, minimalism usually is associated with filmmakers such as Robert Bresson, Chantal Akerman, Carl Theodor Dreyer, and Yasujirō Ozu. Their films typically tell a simple story with straightforward camera usage and minimal use of score. Paul Schrader named their kind of cinema: "transcendental cinema".^[1] In the present, a commitment to minimalist filmmaking can be seen in film movements such as Dogme 95, mumblecore, and the Romanian New Wave. Abbas Kiarostami,^[2] Elia Suleiman,^[3] and Kelly Reichardt are also considered minimalist filmmakers.

The Minimalists – Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus, and Matt D'Avella – directed and produced the film Minimalism: A Documentary,^[4] which showcased the idea of minimal living in the modern world.

This type of film includes the works of directors like:

• M. Night Shyamalan^[5]
• Tsai Ming-Liang^[6]
• Robert Bresson^[7]
• Chloé Zhao^[8]
• Kelly Reichardt^[9]
• Yasujirō Ozu^[10][11]
• Gus van Sant^[12][13]
• Andy Warhol^[14]
• Morgan Fisher^[15]
• Don Hertzfeldt^[16]
• James Benning^[17]
• Jafar Panahi^[18]
• Jim Jarmusch^[19]
• Alexander Sokurov^[20]
• Norman McLaren^[21]
• Paul Driessen^[22]
• Michelangelo Antonioni^[23]
• Hollis Frampton^[24]
• Peter Roehr^[25]
• Ernie Gehr^[26]
• John Cassavetes^[27]
• Walter Hill^[28]
• John Carpenter^[29][30]
• Don Siegel^[31]
• Michael Snow^[32][33]
• Larry Gottheim^[34]
• Abbas Kiarostami^[35][36]
• Louis Malle^[37]

• The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodore Dreyer, 1928)
• Dots (Norman McLaren, 1940)
• Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)
• Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948)
• I Shot Jesse James (Samuel Fuller, 1949)
• Gerald McBoing Boing (Robert Cannon, 1951)
• Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953)
• The Tell Tale Heart (Ted Parmelee, 1953)
• Tokyo Story (Yasujirō Ozu, 1953)
• Billy Boy (Tex Avery, 1954)
• The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955)
• Ordet (Carl Theodore Dreyer, 1955)
• A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956)
• The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956)
• 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957)
• Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, 1958)
• Murder by Contract (Irving Lerner, 1958)
• Plan 9 from Outer Space (Ed Wood, 1959)
• Surogat (Dušan Vukotić, 1961)
• An Autumn Afternoon (Yasujirō Ozu, 1962)
• Eegah (Arch Hall Sr., 1962)
• Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman, 1963)
• Diamonds of the Night (Jan Němec, 1964)
• Fail Safe (Sidney Lumet, 1964)
• Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
• Au hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
• Mouchette (Robert Bresson, 1967)
• Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
• Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967)
• The Fly (Vladimir Jutrisa and Aleksandar Marks, 1968)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
• Surface Tension (Hollis Frampton, 1968)
• Bambi Meets Godzilla (Marv Newland, 1969)
• Lemon (Hollis Frampton, 1969)
• Serene Velocity (Ernie Gehr, 1970)
• Duel (Steven Spielberg, 1971)
• Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
• Silent Running (Douglas Trumbull, 1972)
• Fantastic Planet (Rene Laloux, 1973)
• Dark Star (John Carpenter, 1974)
• Sisyphus (Marcell Jankovics, 1974)
• Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Ackerman, 1975)
• Assault on Precinct 13 (John Carpenter, 1976)
• Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
• David (Paul Driessen, 1977)
• Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
• Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
• The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978)
• Halloween (John Carpenter 1978)
• Mad Max (George Miller, 1979)
• My Dinner with Andre (Louis Malle, 1981)
• Liquid Sky (Slava Tsukerman, 1982)
• Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1983)
• Charade (Jon Minnis, 1984)
• Secret Honor (Robert Altman, 1984)
• Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
• Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
• Down by Law (Jim Jarmusch, 1986)
• Luxo Jr. (John Lasseter, 1986)
• Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)
• Swimming to Cambodia (Jonathan Demme, 1987)
• Alice (Jan Svankmajer, 1988)
• Leningrad Cowboys Go America (Aki Kaurismaki, 1989)
• The Seventh Continent (Michael Haneke, 1989)
• The Match Factory Girl, (Aki Kaurismäki, 1990)
• Metropolitan (Whit Stillman, 1990)
• Blue (Derek Jarman, 1993)
• Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
• Clerks (Kevin Smith, 1994)
• Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995) and the sequels Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013)
• Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)
• Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1997)
• Little Dieter Needs to Fly (Werner Herzog, 1997)
• A Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)
• Festen (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)
• American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999)
• The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 1999)
• The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami, 1999)

• Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis, 2000)
• In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
• Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan, 2000)
• Y tu mamá también (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001)
• Tape (Richard Linklater, 2001)
• Gerry (Gus van Sant, 2002)
• Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)
• Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)
• Open Water (Chris Kentis, 2003)
• The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet, 2003)
• Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess, 2004)
• Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005)
• The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, 2005)
• Hard Candy (David Slade, 2005)
• Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006)
• I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007)
• Once (John Carney, 2007)
• There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
• Baghead (Jay and Mark Duplass, 2008)
• WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
• Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 2008)
• 500 Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)
• Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009)
• 127 Hours (Danny Boyle, 2010)
• Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2010)
• Winter's Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)
• Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)
• Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)
• The Turin Horse (Ágnes Hranitzky and Bela Tarr, 2011)
• It's Such a Beautiful Day (Don Hertzfeldt, 2012)
• The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
• Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
• All Is Lost (J.C. Chandor, 2013)
• Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, 2013)
• Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
• Locke (Steven Knight, 2013)
• Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
• Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
• Visitors (Godfrey Reggio, 2013)
• Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014)
• It Follows (David Robert Mitchell, 2014)
• The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015)
• The Revenant (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2015)
• Room (Lenny Abrahamson, 2015)
• Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt, 2016)
• My Life as a Zucchini (Claude Barras, 2016)
• Piper (Alan Barillaro, 2016)
• The Red Turtle (Michael Dudok de Wit, 2016)
• 10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg, 2016)
• Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017)
• The Rider (Chloé Zhao, 2017)
• A Quiet Place (John Krasinski, 2018)
• Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018)
• Away (Gints Zilbalodis, 2019)
• First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)
• Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2019)
• Friend of the World (Brian Patrick Butler, 2020)
• If Anything Happens I Love You (Will McCormack and Michael Govier, 2020)
• Minari (Lee Isaac Chung, 2020)
• Nomadland (Chloé Zhao, 2020)
• Wolfwalkers (Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, 2020)
• The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo, 2020)
• Belfast (Kenneth Branagh, 2021)
• Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
• The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen, 2021)
• Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021)
• Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Dean Fleischer Camp, 2022)
• My Year of Dicks (Sara Gunnarsdóttir, 2022)
• Saint Omer (Alice Diop, 2022)
• Tár (Todd Field, 2022)
• Women Talking (Sarah Polley, 2022)
• Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki, 2023)
• Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023)
• Perfect Days (Wim Wenders, 2023)
• Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, 2023)
• Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt, 2023)

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• Arthouse animation
• Maximalist film
• Postmodernist film
• Slow cinema
• Minimalist music
• Art film
• American Eccentric Cinema
• Modernist film
• Arthouse musical
• Vulgar auteurism
• American independent cinema
• Structural film

• Minimalism and Maximalism: The 42nd New York Film Festival - Senses of Cinema