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In a Lonely Place

By: Lights in the Dusk

Passenger

A list of films that beautifully capture that feeling of an endless drift, towards nothing or oblivion; where journeys are made, both into the world and into oneself, in an attempt to escape life and its various responsibilities. Where the loneliness of characters, or their own often restless attempts to make a connection with the people and places that thrive and flourish all around them, leads them into a greater adventure, or alternatively into harm. These films evoke an overwhelming sense of solitude and isolation, either through the emptiness of a place, the spaces between people or the general desperation of late night ennui. However, they also reveal the more personal truths that are found in quiet contemplation, in the landscape, in memory, or in the thousands of little stories that exist in the spaces between everyday conversations.

These particular films explore both the fragility of the human spirit, when faced with the often breathtaking spectacle of life, and the perseverance of it.

I have subsequently posted more images inspired by this list at the blog: Lights in the Dusk.

 

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Christian K.

9Apr12

Have you seen any Tsai Ming-liang films?

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Clarice the Specter

9Jan11

Great list! I recommend Robert Kolker's selections from his book A Cinema of Loneliness, which is about the American New/Independent Cinema of the 1970s. He includes Arthur Penn, Kubrick, Coppola, Scorsese, and Altman (and in subsequent editions replaces Coppola with Spielberg and Oliver Stone.)

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Martinus

27Dec10

Ikiru (Kurosawa, 1952), Umberto D (De Sica, 1952), Marty (Delbert Mann, 1955), Peeping Tom (Powell, 1960), Simon of the Desert (Buñuel, 1965), Rachel, Rachel (Paul Newman, 1968), The Conversation (Coppola, 1974), Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-Wai, 1995), Seul Contre Tous (Gaspard Noé, 1998), The Insider (Michael Mann, 1999), One Hour Photo (Mark Romanek, 2002), Japon (Carlos Reygadas, 2002), Into the Wild (Sean Penn, 2007), Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 2008), Synecdoche New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)

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Charles Deckert

30Nov10

You could add Paul Schrader's "Light Sleeper" (which is a theoretical sequel to his script Taxi Driver) and his most recent "Adam Ressurected" which fall under the criteria you've written.

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Jeremy Smith

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Jack Lehtone​n

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Christi​an K.

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Laali

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lianli