Movies in a Building
What are the best movies where most of the action happens in a building?
There must be literally thousands of films that take place in a building because that is one of the lowest cost and therefore most obvious story and production environments – especially for independents.
Having said that – the good thing is, that now everything boils down to a great script, great directing, great acting and – because we never talk about this here – great set design.
I’ll start with one that I just saw two days ago:
- The Disappearance of Alice Creed – (UK 2009/2010 by J Blakeson, starring Gemma Arterton): One location, three actors, half a dozen of great story twists and – to cite a quote from the Co-Director of Toronto IFF - ”Not since Reservoir Dogs has a hostage standoff been handled with such intelligence“.
- Moon (UK 2009 by Duncan Jones – it is his debut! -, starring Sam Rockwell and the voice of Kevin Spacey) plays on the inside of a lunar space station, is extremely well plotted, written and directed and also delivers one of the most stunning performances of an actor I have seen for a long time:
- The Others (E, F, USA 2001 by Alejandro Amenábar, starring Nicole Kidman and Christopher Eccleston) which is one of the most recent and well done Gothic novels on film I can remember.
- The Hole (UK 2001 by Nick Hamm, starring Thora Birch and introducing (!) Keira Knightley) about four teenagers who decide to explore an underground bomb shelter … and get locked up in there. I think, one of the most underrated films of the last decade:
- I also have to add Saw (USA 2004 by James Wan with the amazing Tobin Bell) – for obvious reasons.
Then of course there are a few films by Alfred Hitchcock that do not require any comment at all:
- Rope
- Rear Window
- Psycho
Read more on QUORA: What are the best movies where most of the action happens in a building?
