Just off the top of my head, I love Before Sunrise
I've wanted to see that.
Same with Dear Frankie or Hard Day's Night.
Haven't seen.
Lost in Translation (is also a movie with a very simple story)
And also a movie I didn't think was hot shit! Hm. There may be a pattern here after all. Le sigh.
Oh right, that brings to mind
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
which, at its heart, is also a very simple story, but I loved it. Maybe I require non-linear narrative to hide simplicity. But I hated
21 Grams.
Me neither. Hated it.
I didn't hate it, really, and I loved a couple moments, but I left wondering what all the fuss was about.
Same with Dear Frankie
Oh! Did you cry during this, can I ask? A friend of mine suggested we watch it when I was staying with her one night, and she introduced it in a way that made me think it was going to be this froofy, light, romantic comedy type of thing. And I sobbed pretty much through the second half.
I *liked* it, but I felt as if we'd watched two different movies -- she couldn't understand my reaction (but said her sister's had been the same), and I couldn't understand why she wasn't more affected by Frankie's vulnerability and everything that went on.
What did you
LiT
haterz think of
The Virgin Suicides?
I have not seen it, but I am wary!
Another movie that came to mind was
Garden State,
but I think that actually has a pretty strong story, for the most part. It has a drive, and there's definite character change, and all that. So it worked enough for me.
affected by Frankie's vulnerability
I'm afraid this is what's going to happen to me if I watch
Pursuit of Happyness.
I liked Dear Frankie, but it didn't hit my cry buttons, which are unpredictable and strange.
Also haven't seen
The Virgin Suicides.
It's not a Sofia Coppola thing, it was the story. I LOVED LOVED LOVED
Marie Antoinette.
What are some great movies whose stories are pretty much "Some guy saves a girl, and that's it" or "A man meets a woman," and why do they transcend it?
Most stories can be boiled down to something like that, though. Some of them can be boiled down to even less. I mean, "There's a trivial mystery about this dude's last words, and nobody solves it." Doesn't sound all that interesting, does it?
Maybe I don't get the distinction you're making. If you mean stories with internal conflict instead of external conflict... but even then, I think it's a style issue, not a substance issue. And probably not one you can pin down that easily. Children of Men looked eyeroll-inducing to me from way back, and the more I heard about it the worse it sounded. Can't explain why, but I don't care if it's The Greatest Movie Ever; I don't think
I'll
enjoy watching it.