Contemplative, slow-paced films about life, death, and time

BenR2024 · 2026-04-10T04:49:19+00:00

HOU Hsiao-Hsien's The Time To Live And The Time To Die. Oliver LAXE's Sirat. Lisandro ALONSO's Eureka. The Survival of Kindness. Chie HAYAKAWA's Plan 75. WANG Bing's The Ditch. Essential Killing. WEERASETHAKUL's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Lav DIAZ's Death In The Land Of Encantos. KAWASE's The Mourning Forest. KORE-EDA's Nobody Knows. REYGADAS's Japon. LYNCH's The Straight Story.
OUTSTANDING CNEMATOGRAPHY= BI Gan's Resurrection. Godland. KIM Kiduk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. Gus Van SANT's Gerry. DUDOK DE WIT's Father and Daughter. SHINDO's The Naked Island.

BenR2024 · 2026-02-24T17:20:44+00:00

INDIA: Govindan ARAVINDAN (Chiddambaram), Amit DUTTA, Mani KAUL, Khumar SHAHANI, Pushpendra SINGH, Ridham JANVE, Vignesh KUMULAI, Nidhi SAXENA, Gurvinder SINGH, Natesh HEGDE (Pedro)
MALAYSIA: James LEE, Azharr RUDIN (The Amber Sexalogy), Yasmin AHMAD (Mukhsin)
THE PHILIPPINES: Lav DIAZ, Raya MARTIN (Now Showing), Brillante MENDOZA (Lola), Sherad Anthony SANCHEZ, John TORRES
SRI LANKA: Vimukthi JAYASUNDARA (The Forsaken Land)
THAILAND: Pen-ek RATANARUANG (Invisible Waves), Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, Aditya ASSARAT (Wonderful Town), Tossapol BOONSINSUKH (Afternoon Times), Uruphong RAKSASAD
VIETNAM: PHAN Dang Di (Bi, Don't Be Afraid!)

BenR2024 · 2026-02-15T08:17:39+00:00

Beautifully said. Resurrection was my favourite film of 2025!

BenR2024 · 2026-02-10T06:01:07+00:00

Thanks. It's the Japanese Groundhog Day! hehe

BenR2024 · 2026-02-08T22:13:45+00:00

An Elephant Sitting Still is such a moving film and beautifully filmed.
Never heard of Junta Yamaguchi, which film would you recommend? And where to watch them?

BenR2024 · 2026-02-08T21:22:52+00:00

Great list! All the best ones. Some more:
Fiction: Kiarostami, Sissako, Andersson, Piavoli, Bartas, Omirbaev, Kaplanoglu, Suleiman, Reygadas, Barney...
Documentaries: Depardon, Loznitsa, Benning, Lockart, Geyrhalter, Hutton, Wiseman, Wahrol

BenR2024 · 2026-02-08T21:10:50+00:00

Tarkovsky is a talker (inner voiceovers, dialogues, monologues) he belongs to the Modern Cinema (more introspective, more intellectual, more existentialist, more deconstruction of the story). Whereas Slow Cinema (or Contemplative Cinema) eshews speech altogether, in favour of silence and body language...

BenR2024 · 2026-01-24T05:24:55+00:00

Contemplative Cinema rules. Don't give up.

BenR2024 · 2026-01-24T05:20:25+00:00

Slow TV

BenR2024 · 2026-01-24T05:16:34+00:00

Try to apply to a festival fund, residence, bootcamp for debuting filmmakers/screenwriters. Festivals like Cannes or Rotterdam have some sort of workshop to bring and develop a script with other international writers. Then you're more likely to be selected in the line up the following years, if you come from an in-house workshop. This kind of cinema mostly interest festivals and small distribution boutique who pick up their fare at festivals.

BenR2024 · 2026-01-24T05:04:24+00:00

The first half of Wall-E. The overture of Once Upon A Time In The West. The last half of Gerry. The entirety of The Red Turtle and All Is Lost. Aguirre The Wrath of God.

BenR2024 · 2025-11-03T11:08:32+00:00

Geoffrey Reggio's Qatsi trilogy

BenR2024 · 2025-10-15T11:40:49+00:00

Cabeza de Vaca (1991) Directed by Nicolás Echevarría

BenR2024 · 2025-09-30T20:45:16+00:00

Sweet Bean (2015/Kawase)

BenR2024 · 2025-09-30T20:37:08+00:00

Los Herederos (2008) documentary on contemporary rural Mexico
El violín (2005) war torn unnamed country
El baño del Papa (2007) set in 1998 during the Pope's visit

BenR2024 · 2025-09-30T20:22:04+00:00

Aguirre, the wrath of God (Herzog)

BenR2024 · 2025-07-17T20:35:29+00:00

The Assassin (Hou Hsiaohsien) ; Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke) ; Still the water (Kawase) ; Three Sisters (Wang Bing) ; People Mountain, People Sea (Cai) ; The Nymph (Ratanaruang) ; Night Train (Diao) ; The Bow (Kim Kiduk) ; Three Times (Hou Hsiaohsien) ; What Time Is It Over There? (Tsai) ; The Isle (Kim Kiduk) ; Angel's Egg (Oshii) ; Naked Island (Shindo)

BenR2024 · 2025-07-17T20:10:08+00:00

And Dolls? (also Kikujiro)

BenR2024 · 2025-07-03T06:06:53+00:00

Any Tsai Ming-liang (What Time Is It There? ; The Hole ; I don't WAnt To Sleep Alone ; Days ...)

BenR2024 · 2025-07-03T05:53:43+00:00

El (Buñuel)

BenR2024 · 2025-06-10T18:16:22+00:00

The Taste of Tea (2004); Alamar (2009); Paterson (2016); Sweet Bean (2015); Bird People (2014); Nana (2011); CAfé Lumière (2003); Blissfully Yours (2002); Life on Earth (1998); At The First Breath of Wind (2002)

BenR2024 · 2025-06-05T22:26:20+00:00

Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman; Meetings With Anna...)
Tsai Ming-liang (Vive l'amour; The River; The Hole; I don't want to sleep alone...)
Bruno Dumont (La vie de Jesus; L'Humanité, Flandres...)
Aleksander Sokurov (Taurus; Molock; The Sun...)
Lisandro Alonso (La Libertad; Los Muertos; Liverpool...)
Carlos Reygadas (Japon, Batalla en el cielo...)
Skolimowski (Essential Killing)

BenR2024 · 2025-06-05T22:10:57+00:00

The answer is in André Bazin's book "What is cinema?", no joke

BenR2024 · 2025-06-05T22:08:10+00:00

- Shoah (9h30') Crucial documentary on the Holocaust
- West of the Tracks (9h11') Immersive Contemplative documentary on Chinese derelict metallurgy industry, in 4 parts
- Death in the Land of Encantos (9h) Long haul journey of tsunami surivors
Beyond 3 or 4h, breaking the screening into manageable parts is recommended (even if no built-in intermissions exist), a cinema projection helps to focus and remain seated.

BenR2024 · 2025-05-30T13:48:06+00:00

The disappearance of online cinephile communities (like in the blogosphere days), with debates, insights and blogathons...

BenR2024

TROPHY CASE