Movies with Good Conversations

[shogunblade]

The long and short of this thread (Of many I plan to type up for this week), is that I am writing a movie, and I need great conversations, to study.

By that, I mean, movies with conversations that linger in your mind, that make you laugh, that make you cry, all of it. My movie is predominantly conversation based (I'm doing an adaptation of a short story from this woman I know), and while the short story has its own dialogue, it's not particularly the best (intentional to some degree, to be fair), but I want this short to have a little bit more talking in it.

I want to have dialogue that keeps the audience engaged, but still advance the story (a short story, but I want to be able to advance it), and as I want to type this movie up and have it be the best... I have realized that I haven't had a great conversation with anybody...really.

So I figured I would like to check out other writers' styles and other movies to give me some ideas. I understand that if I try to copy wholesale and not create my own style to the writing, the problems that can erupt (Mostly that it would be The Room style conversations, which the exact idea I wish to not emulate).

So, I am asking the Escapist, can you recommend movies with good conversations?

Under my belt, Clerks and Pulp Fiction are considered very good in this category, the latter more so than the former, but, I would like more movies to do research on to make my movie sound natural and/or good.

So, throw them out, if you all do not mind, I appreciate it very much so.

 

[Andy Shandy]

I'm led to believe (and this is based on Community alone, I haven't actually seen said film) that "A Dinner With Andre" may be a film to check out.

 

[Vault101]

Tarantino DUH

thats his trademark thing...

 

[Imthatguy]

You've gotta beware of losing your audience's attention if you want to go down that path however.

 

[MorganL4]

You've gotta beware of losing your audience's attention if you want to go down that path however.

Aaron Sorkin would disagree with you on that..... Look at Charlie Wilson's War or his biggest hit the show West Wing.... If you do it right a conversation can be more engrossing than the biggest most awesome splosion scene in any action film.

 

[socialtangent]

A movie that comes to mind right away is Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds. It's almost entirely dialogue-driven, but the conversations are well-written, fleshed out, and feel real. Tarantino has a talent for writing excellent back-and-forth dialogue. Joss Whedon is also very good at writing conversations, especially on a group level. Nothing demonstrates that better than Firefly.

 

[Imthatguy]

You've gotta beware of losing your audience's attention if you want to go down that path however.

Andrew Sorkin would disagree with you on that..... Look at Charlie Wilson's War or his biggest hit the show West Wing.... If you do it right a conversation can be more engrossing than the biggest most awesome splosion scene in any action film.

Not saying it can't be done mind. You should just never expect your audience to be particularly bright considering motion pictures are a form of relaxation and most individuals don't seek out thought provoking material when relaxing.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I'm going to go with Collateral. Great dialogue in that one.

 

[Stasisesque]

Everything Tarantino. Also 12 Angry Men and The Usual Suspects.

Seven Psychopaths looks like it might be heavily dialogue-driven, but I'm basing this on the short trailers I've seen.

 

[Marter]

Chapter 11 of Vivre sa vie. Start there. Then, as others have suggested, perhaps move to the Tarantino films not named Kill Bill Vol. 1 (too much action, which isn't what you're looking for) or Death Proof (you said good conversations).

Most good dramas will be sufficient. It really depends on the type of conversation you want to write, in what time period your film takes place, and the type of balance you want to strike. Tarantino, for instance, often forgoes advancing the plot for the sake of conversation; that's why things like Pulp Fiction or Inglourious Basterds wind up 2.5 hours long. So, perhaps you don't necessarily want to look to him, or just take the better parts of his writing and do some mental cutting on what's not necessary.

In Bruges and The Social Network also come to mind.

 

[Fatboy_41]

Hunger.

There is a 13 minute single shot scene between Bobby Sands and a Priest. Pure magic

 

[Jacco]

The long and short of this thread (Of many I plan to type up for this week), is that I am writing a movie, and I need great conversations, to study.

By that, I mean, movies with conversations that linger in your mind, that make you laugh, that make you cry, all of it. My movie is predominantly conversation based (I'm doing an adaptation of a short story from this woman I know), and while the short story has its own dialogue, it's not particularly the best (intentional to some degree, to be fair), but I want this short to have a little bit more talking in it.

I want to have dialogue that keeps the audience engaged, but still advance the story (a short story, but I want to be able to advance it), and as I want to type this movie up and have it be the best... I have realized that I haven't had a great conversation with anybody...really.

So I figured I would like to check out other writers' styles and other movies to give me some ideas. I understand that if I try to copy wholesale and not create my own style to the writing, the problems that can erupt (Mostly that it would be The Room style conversations, which the exact idea I wish to not emulate).

So, I am asking the Escapist, can you recommend movies with good conversations?

Under my belt, Clerks and Pulp Fiction are considered very good in this category, the latter more so than the former, but, I would like more movies to do research on to make my movie sound natural and/or good.

So, throw them out, if you all do not mind, I appreciate it very much so.

It depends on what kind of genre is is. Dialogue based anything is difficult to do, much less do right. Especially writing it as you don't have actors to convey emotion.

Titanic has some incredible dialogue. The part where they are talking about the damage to the ship and how it will sink is some of the best conversation in both writing and timing I've ever seen.

What genre are you working in? I might be able to recommend some better examples with a narrower perspective.

(I'm a writer too so I study these things a lot as well)

 

[Guffe]

Tarantino DUH

thats his trademark thing...

Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs should be enough shouldn't it?

So yeah, ninjad' again...

 

[Jamash]

The Man from Earth [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth] is a great film for that.

Without giving too much away, in it's most basic terms it's about a group of friends/colleagues in a room having an intellectual discussion.

It may sound boring and basic, but it's one of the most gripping and interesting films I've seen, not to mention one of the best pieces of Science Fiction I've experienced.

Apart from the brilliant story and screenplay, what makes this film so good are the great actors and the natural, fascinating conversation they have that you can't help be enthralled by and eavesdrop on.

Dialogue and conversation are some of this film's strongest points.

Another completely different kind of film with good, natural dialogue and conversations is Love, Honour and Obey [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth].

It's a British gangster comedy, so it may not be quite right for your purposes, but most of the actors/writer(s)/director(s) are a genuine close knit group of friends who do a lot of works as a collective and most of the film's dialogue is improvised rather than following a script (of which there was only a outline of the story a loose synopsis of the conversations), so as a result you get lots of natural dialogue and conversations between genuine friends.

 

[IamQ]

Both Clerks 1 and 2. There are so many dialogues that are totally irrelevant to the story, but are just great to listen to.

 

[Juan Regular]

Both Before Sunrise and Sunset have some of the best dialogue you´ll ever hear, so definitely check these too out. And pretty much everything else by Richard Linklater.

 

[Cranky]

I'm led to believe (and this is based on Community alone, I haven't actually seen said film) that "A Dinner With Andre" may be a film to check out.

Damn, I was going to recommend that. Here's another, although it is really up to your opinion of it: No Country For Old Men

 

[Dexter Kane]

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a great dialog movie. It's also a lot of fun if you like drinking games - have a drink anytime anyone in the movie has a drink and see if you can stay conscious past the first act.