Name your favorite slowly paced movies

[King of Asgaard]

I loved the Spagetti Westerns:

The Good, the bad, the Ugly
For a few Dollars more
Fistful of Dollars

Agreed, and throw Unforgiven in with them.

The Battle of Red Cliff.
If you've read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or just played Dynasty Warriors, you'll be sure to recognize the characters in this movie. Lots of slow scenes between the battles, but when it's not being slow, you get treated to some cinematic kung fu/Chinese warfare scenes that are pure awesomeness.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film in its original Chinese cut, which clocks in at close to five hours, and I agree that it's a great blend of great action and slow building world/character building.

OT: I consider the original Godfather rather slow, but the pay-offs were so wonderfully set up and delivered that it all came together expertly.

 

[Anachronism]

I loved the Spagetti Westerns:

The Good, the bad, the Ugly
For a few Dollars more
Fistful of Dollars

Once upon a time in America was pretty good as well, but I felt it suffered from not having someone like Clint Eastwoods' cooler than cool character to balance out the slow pace.

Agreed on all points. Can you imagine someone being allowed to open a film today the way Once Upon a Time in The West does? With ten minutes of absolutely nothing happening so that it's all the more shocking when Harmonica guns them all down? Not a chance.

Fun fact: those three guys he kills were originally supposed to be Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I guess Cinema Paradiso count? It is a long movie (especially the extended cut version!) since the film is about that boy life and in a same way a life about films in cinema.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Oh come on, you call these slow paced movies? Try watching something by Ozu. It makes Casablanca look like it was made by Guy Ritchie on cocaine.

 

[KissingSunlight]

I would have to go with Unbreakable. I know at the time there was a lot of criticism of the movie being slow. I think it worked to it's favor. Also, it has the bonus of being the only M. Night movie that I couldn't predict the twist early in the movie. In the case of The Village, I was able to predict the twist before I saw the movie.

Captcha is telling me "stop wasting time". Message Received!

 

[diligentscribbler]

Late Summer,

or anything By Yasujiro Ozu.

but i also like Duncan Jone's picture Moon and Wes Anderson's the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

 

[Loop Stricken]

First thing that came to mind was The Ma---

Not sure if it counts but I love The Man from Earth.

Not a single action scene nor any special effects.
It's basically a group of people sitting in a room and talking. That's it.

The story being woven in that single setting is very captivating.
I might be a bit biased though, since I love the topic being discussed.

... yeah. For pretty much the same reasons too.

 

[jademunky]

My pick is The Shining. You may not think of it as slowly paced, but almost nothing happens for most of the movie - it moves like molasses before the final half hour. But (particularly on blu-ray) while it does move slowly in between the handful of WTF moments, the camera work is fantastic, and gives you time to drink in the visuals, making the ending that much more jarring. The visuals are so intricate that they've famously given birth to about a dozen different conspiracy theories about what The Shining is "really" about. I nodded off twice during 2001, but I think this is Kubrick's very best because he finally figured out how to use his trademark snail's pace to a movie's advantage.

This right here

Best adaptation of Stephen King ever (Yes, including "the Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand by Me"). I know King kinda hates the film and yes it takes a lot of liberties with the book, especially with the character of Jack Torrence himself, but it just works so well. The isolation, the use of repetition to build tension, the way something as mundane as a hotel can be made hella-creepy. It really is the kind of film you can watch a dozen times and find something new in it every time.

 

[Lilani]

Babe and Ponyo. Babe is just a movie of wonderful details and character moments. One of the things that sticks out most in my mind about that movie is the way Farmer Hoggett hates how his field gate slams whenever it shuts, so he creates a wind-up contraption to slowly close the gate. It makes a nice whirring noise and some musical pongs and pings, and slowly shuts the gate with one last satisfying click. The look of satisfaction on his face after the first time it works is just great, and says a lot about his character.

There's suspense and tension at times, but it's all broken up by long stretches of smaller moments which are no less satisfying than the bigger ones.

Ponyo is another nice exploration of character moments. Just a nice whimsical ride that feels mostly like a coming of age story, but in children so young the only peril they spend most of their time thinking about is trying to stay together. They aren't bogged down with the pressures of the world just yet, they just want to be together and be a family. Everything else they take in stride.

 

[Hivetyrant7]

Apocalypto for me.

No matter how many times I watch it, it seems to go on forever (And that's not a bad thing)

 

[twistedmic]

'Unforgiven' and 'Road to Perdition' are tied as my favorite slow-paced movies with 'Tombstone' coming in at a very close second. I can watch them from beginning to end and not get bored or wanting to pull out my computer to surf the web or play minecraft.

 

[jacob idstrom]

Stalker is my favorite movie of all time. The movie is pretty slow but its also one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBBR8Pn7eUQ

 

[sextus the crazy]

No Country for Old Men and Fargo.

They're both kind of the exact same movie, too.

Seconded. Just recently watched those movies and instantly loved them.

OT: I'm gunna go with Jin-Roh: the wolf Brigade. I don't watch many 90s anime, but this ones pretty enthralling. I'd say that the slowness of the action scenes themselves adds to the tension during them.

 

[Flutterguy]

2001: A Space Odyssey and The Wolf Children.

Lost Skeleton of Cadavra too, but I don't think it really counts, great parody of cheesy b&w horror.

 

[JagermanXcell]

At the moment the only one I can think of is The Avengers.

For all of it's flaws, the most glaring one is how the entire build up (minus some great performances and lines from the main cast, and the more tense moments of the second act) feels very... nothing.

It's only when they reach the scene with the Hulk in NY where the movie decides: HERE, GET WHAT YOU PAYED FOR X1000 TIMES OVER.

 

[The Sanctifier]

Predator.

It does pick up pace a bit later on, but during the start its mostly twenty minutes of trekking through thick jungle. I find it builds up tension and character development quite well and makes the predator feel a lot more ominous and foreboding.

 

[TristanBelmont]

Blade Runner, for all the extreme weird and confusing in that movie, is slow paced and does it great.

 

[Julius Terrell]

2001: a space Odyssey
An angel's Egg - A brilliant film by Momoru Oshii
A last Day in this Universe - it's a small movie I saw at Otakon some years back. It's depressing and slow, but that what makes this movie so great for me.

Jin Roh - I can't help myself on this.

That's all I can think of for now.
Ghost in the Shell - This movie has some action but the action scenes don't really last all that long. The rest of the movie movies at snails pace which suits me just fine.

Darkside Blues: Another slowly paced depressing movie. I've lost count how many times I've watched this movie.

I tend to like movies like this more so than movies that rely on fast pacing and action to keep your attention.

 

[symphonymarie]

I've had friends complain to me that The Fall is a bit slow, but honestly I think the visual feast makes the film well worth it. It's just so gorgeously done, I truly want to lift stills from the film and paste them all over my walls.
Also, I think Melancholia is one of the best films I would recommend to absolutely no one. I felt completely devastated after watching it, but it was so well done and harrowing and beautiful.

 

[TheRiddler]

12 Angry Men and My Dinner With Andre. Both are really conversation-centered character pieces, and both are really, [i/]really[/i] good.