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In Defense of Movies "without plot"
- myra dodd
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Sometimes it's just better if nothing happens.
Through and through, I am a proud defender of movies without one distinctive plot. In fact, I hold the opinion that the less that happens, the better. Show me a day in the life, show me a bunch of loosely connected events throughout someone's life, expand and break traditional story barriers. I struggle to think of a movie that would be improved with more going on. It is almost always the reverse. I'm gonna walk through some of my favorite movies without a traditional plot structure and discuss why they feel so much more impactful to me.
One of the things that most alienates me from a lot of blockbusters and most action movies is the unfathomably high stakes that they present. So much character depth and intrigue are buried among trying to prevent the world from ending. I find personal character stakes much more interesting. A character that only feels like their world is ending.
Perhaps an odd take, but The Straight Story is my favorite Lynch film. It is filled with so much heart it's almost stifling. The main character, Alvin, has a goal, and the film leads up to it. But it doesn't really matter in the end, cause it's his journey that makes this a film about regret, determination, and kindness. Alvin is determined to see his brother again, but we don't even really get to see that part. He is constantly moving toward it, but the whole movie is so much more. We see him travel on his lawnmower through little hiccups that are mended by the generosity of strangers, and it's damn near perfect.
I am a character movie enthusiast, and the lack of a structured story allows the most time for character exploration. Movies can better focus on character stories when we follow them through a wider period of time. This allows the audience to witness change within a person and how they learn to cope with it, and often it is not all at once.
I'm automatically attracted to stories like Sorry, Baby. Centered upon one event, but we get to see Agnes over the course of years. We see her before and after "the bad thing," and the movie is about it, but not really. Bad things happen and we try to move forward, but sometimes we get stuck. We witness Agnes in all parts of this journey, back and forth, healing and then isolating herself. It's funny and harrowing and so deeply personal that I feel it every time we jump to a new part of her life.
My favorite sub-genre of no-plot movies is task movies. A day in the life movie gives us time to explore someone else's world in a fulfilling way. It is immensely satisfying to watch a character work through and complete one job after another.
Pair this with a coming-of-age story about where you belong in the world, and I am so beyond in. It's a beautiful story about creative burnout, as Kiki's magical gift is what she uses to make a living. This becomes increasingly complicated, and she has to establish herself in a new place. The film follows Kiki throughout her start as a new witch and how she handles her new life. Most of the movie revolves around individual deliveries Kiki has to make. Each of these we see feels important, but not as though they are building to anything outside of Kiki's character. I could watch her complete her deliveries all day.
Similar to the rest of the movies on this list, Worst Person in the World is a character-centric story, lacking a real build to anything besides acceptance. We witness four years of Julie's life through 14 chapters, varying in significance but not importance. These moments all lead her to question what it means to be stuck and how different relationships bring out different sides of us. But deep down, we remain the same people. As it progresses, it's clear that Julie's journey is marked by the fact that deep down, we are the same person we have always been. The end doesn't really feel like an accumulation of anything, as the whole film is just choice after choice. Julie's life has many chapters after the movie ends, and they would all be equally important.
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