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A recurring theme in most of my favorite films is that they are immersive - they transport me to a time and place. The film makers don't just use locations and time periods as set dressings, but as integral to the production. They become almost like another character. This can encourage all kind of feelings, like excitement (Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift / Point Break), terror (The Shining) anxiety (Blade Runner) or ultimate chill (The Big Lebowski). One thing that has to exist to make a movie feel immersive is breathing room. I think this is why not a single Nolan film pulls it off - his films are so tight that not a single word of dialogue or second of footage is allowed to immerge that isn't directly moving the plot forward. Movies with creative cuts & transitions and other visual contrivances kind of destroy immersion, which is why Guy Ritchie movies don't really pull it off when they likely otherwise would. (I'm not saying Nolan or Ritchie movies are bad, I'm just saying they aren't immersive).
A good example of immersive vs non-immersive would be the first 3 Fast and the Furious movies (mainly 1 & 3) contrasted against all the other ones. The first one and third one are so intrinsically linked to their setting and the setting is used so well (even though mostly fake in #3) that they couldn't really be set anywhere else. From 4 onwards, the movies shift to a kind of world tour format where no location ever has a chance to breath - there is nothing memorable apart from some action sequences. You don't feel like you are there, like 1 & 3 pulled off, IMO. Many studio-shot movies and movies overly reliant on visual effects fail to capture genuine feelings of place, and I think they feel souless because of it.
What movies do you find immersive? Here's my list and the locations / time period they are set in:
Chinatown - Los Angeles 1930s (Roman "Pedo" Polanski)
Bullitt - San Francisco 1960s (Peter Yates)
The Big Lebowski - Los Angeles 1990s (Coen Brothers)
Point Break - Los Angeles 1990s (Kathryn Bigelow)
The Shining - Overlook hotel 1980s (Stanley Kubrick)
Blade Runner - Los Angeles alternate 2010s (Ridley Scott)
A Separation - Tehran 2010s (Asghar Farhadi)
Heat - Los Angeles 1990s (Michael Mann)
Miami Vice - Miami 2000s (Michael Mann) (Tragically underrated film)
Sicario - Mexico 2010s (Denis Villeneuve)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco - San Francisco 2010/2020s (Joe Talbot)
The Godfather - New York 1940s-1950s (Francis Ford Coppola)
The Godfather II - New York, Sicily, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas variious time periods (Francis Ford Coppola) (One of the few movies that skips around in time & place yet still feels immersive)
Le Samouraï - Paris 1960s (Jean-Pierre Melville)
The French Connection - New York 1970s (William Friedkin)
Wings of Desire - Berlin 1980s (Wim Wenders)
La La Land - Los Angeles 2010s (Damien Chazelle) (Even though it's a musical, it still manages to be immersive)
I think it's no surprise that Los Angeles pops up so much. It's the one location that is reliably available to film in at all times (because of the weather and because most of the movie studios are there). It's very hard to make a movie that feels immersive without shooting on location.
Of all of the above, I still find Bullitt to be the most immersive. It might be because of the starkly real performance of Mcqueen or the sheer amount of screentime given to...not much at all. Its possibly the most anti-Nolan movie ever made. For me, it works but I know it isn't a universally loved film. It isn't the best film though out of that list. The Big Lebowski manages to be incredibly immersive and a damn good film at the same time and is endlessly rewatchable. When I watch it, I feel like I'm sinking into a big comfy leather armchair - you are totally transported to that place, the stakes are low, and you just want to hang out and maybe bowl a few frames. It's my #1 pick.
(Aside - Point Break & The Big Lebowski are both set in early 1990s Los Angeles [though TBL was filmed later] and both feature different members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I feel like there's an opportunity for a side story where tweaker Anthony Kiedis and nihilist Flea meet up and form a rock band)
What say you?
A good example of immersive vs non-immersive would be the first 3 Fast and the Furious movies (mainly 1 & 3) contrasted against all the other ones. The first one and third one are so intrinsically linked to their setting and the setting is used so well (even though mostly fake in #3) that they couldn't really be set anywhere else. From 4 onwards, the movies shift to a kind of world tour format where no location ever has a chance to breath - there is nothing memorable apart from some action sequences. You don't feel like you are there, like 1 & 3 pulled off, IMO. Many studio-shot movies and movies overly reliant on visual effects fail to capture genuine feelings of place, and I think they feel souless because of it.
What movies do you find immersive? Here's my list and the locations / time period they are set in:
Chinatown - Los Angeles 1930s (Roman "Pedo" Polanski)
Bullitt - San Francisco 1960s (Peter Yates)
The Big Lebowski - Los Angeles 1990s (Coen Brothers)
Point Break - Los Angeles 1990s (Kathryn Bigelow)
The Shining - Overlook hotel 1980s (Stanley Kubrick)
Blade Runner - Los Angeles alternate 2010s (Ridley Scott)
A Separation - Tehran 2010s (Asghar Farhadi)
Heat - Los Angeles 1990s (Michael Mann)
Miami Vice - Miami 2000s (Michael Mann) (Tragically underrated film)
Sicario - Mexico 2010s (Denis Villeneuve)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco - San Francisco 2010/2020s (Joe Talbot)
The Godfather - New York 1940s-1950s (Francis Ford Coppola)
The Godfather II - New York, Sicily, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas variious time periods (Francis Ford Coppola) (One of the few movies that skips around in time & place yet still feels immersive)
Le Samouraï - Paris 1960s (Jean-Pierre Melville)
The French Connection - New York 1970s (William Friedkin)
Wings of Desire - Berlin 1980s (Wim Wenders)
La La Land - Los Angeles 2010s (Damien Chazelle) (Even though it's a musical, it still manages to be immersive)
I think it's no surprise that Los Angeles pops up so much. It's the one location that is reliably available to film in at all times (because of the weather and because most of the movie studios are there). It's very hard to make a movie that feels immersive without shooting on location.
Of all of the above, I still find Bullitt to be the most immersive. It might be because of the starkly real performance of Mcqueen or the sheer amount of screentime given to...not much at all. Its possibly the most anti-Nolan movie ever made. For me, it works but I know it isn't a universally loved film. It isn't the best film though out of that list. The Big Lebowski manages to be incredibly immersive and a damn good film at the same time and is endlessly rewatchable. When I watch it, I feel like I'm sinking into a big comfy leather armchair - you are totally transported to that place, the stakes are low, and you just want to hang out and maybe bowl a few frames. It's my #1 pick.
(Aside - Point Break & The Big Lebowski are both set in early 1990s Los Angeles [though TBL was filmed later] and both feature different members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I feel like there's an opportunity for a side story where tweaker Anthony Kiedis and nihilist Flea meet up and form a rock band)
What say you?
