are there any movies where no one dies or falls in love?

[openyourize]

i dont think i can think of any!! ha!

[Dilman]

An Inconvenient Truth. First movie that came to mind.

[striving4peace]

madagascar 1

[ChaosKiwi]

Lost in translation (the main characters form a deep bond but I dont think they fall in love).

[bluedragon]

Juno
Take the Lead
Shall We Dance

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by bluedragon

Juno
Take the Lead
Shall We Dance

The two main characters definitely fall in love in Juno. Haven't seen the other movies.

[Dan.Linehan]

Great thread! I can't think of any off the top of my head..

[Dan.Linehan]

I just went through the top 250 on IMDB and couldn't find a single one.

[JimOfferman]

There's at least four:

Enchanted April

Once

Goodbye Lenin

Das Leben Der Anderen (The Lives Of Others)

There's human interaction in all of these, of course, but none of the stories revolve around the death of or a romance between the main characters.

[Dan.Linehan]

I haven't seen those four, but the IMDB synopsis on Once says:

A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story.

[handle]

Tigger movie...among other cartoon favorites

[Addict]

Primer. it's one of my favorites.

love and death are the essentials of drama though, so you won't find too much fiction without either.

We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see.

-Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

[carenkh]

My Neighbor Totoro, one of the best kids' movies ever made.

Also by Miyazaki, Spirited Away

The White Balloon, a very sweet, simple movie from Iran

which reminds me of the classic, The Red Balloon

Interesting that all of these are made elsewhere than the US

[ns123]

I LOVE Totoro!

[NeedMyCoffee]

A few comedies come to mind.

Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers. All couples are already in love.
Home Alone
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (unless you count school girl crushes as falling in love)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles

[John P]

Home Alone.

I don't know why, but that was the first movie that popped into my head.

[missing]

The White Balloon, a very sweet, simple movie from Iran

I'm surprised to see this one mentioned although I've never seen it. Same filmmaker did "Mirror" which is also an interesting film about a girl who wanders the streets of Tehran alone when her mom doesn't show up to bring her home from school. There is a bizarre twist in the middle, that completely transforms the film. There is a bad accident in this film with a scooter, though you don't know if anybody died (it's implied). That's about it though.

Interesting that all of these are made elsewhere than the US

indeed. For American filmmakers where nobody dies, try James Benning or Stan Brakhage. The first guy points his camera at landscapes, the second guy scratches lines into the film. No death, no love, no people (well, sometimes you see them).

Aside from that, lots of documentaries don't feature love or death. That might be cheating. I don't think anybody died in "Stranger than Paradise". "Slacker and "Waking Life" come to mind but I might be forgetting deaths in those.

[JimOfferman]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

I haven't seen those four, but the IMDB synopsis on Once says:

The synposis is off. They're just friends in the story... she's already married!

Incidentally, you should check out the music from that movie, 'cause it's awesome! (The album is called "The Swell Season").

[kpreston]

Shawshank Redemption?

[Riggs]

Glengarry Glen Ross. Great movie.

[evevera]

I would say a whole heap of kids movies... The land before time?

[Michael Chui]

My first thought was Citizen Kane, though considering the whole thing is effectively a giant obituary...

Originally Posted by Addict

love and death are the essentials of drama though, so you won't find too much fiction without either.

Sure, love is, but falling in love isn't.

Originally Posted by evevera

I would say a whole heap of kids movies... The land before time?

I'm pretty sure Land Before Time starts out with a death.

[carenkh]

Four Weddings and a Funeral!

Just kidding.

[missing]

I can't believe I missed it the last time around when mentioning Iranian films, but "Taste of Cherry" has technically has no deaths in it. The catch is that you spend the whole time focusing on a guy looking for somebody to help kill himself. You might think I just gave away the ending, but you might also be surprised to find that perhaps I didn't!

I don't think anybody actually dies in the "Insider", although it's all about deadly, evil, tobacco companies.

[danas]

Originally Posted by ChaosKiwi

Lost in translation (the main characters form a deep bond but I dont think they fall in love).

I my opinion they definately fall in love
its one of my favorites

[danas]

Originally Posted by missing

I can't believe I missed it the last time around when mentioning Iranian films, but "Taste of Cherry" has technically has no deaths in it. The catch is that you spend the whole time focusing on a guy looking for somebody to help kill himself. You might think I just gave away the ending, but you might also be surprised to find that perhaps I didn't!

I don't think anybody actually dies in the "Insider", although it's all about deadly, evil, tobacco companies.

Doesnt he die at the end of "Taste of Cherry"? Anyway in the film "Ten" by the same Iranian director no one dies or falls in love, great film too

[missing]

Originally Posted by danas

Doesnt he die at the end of "Taste of Cherry"? Anyway in the film "Ten" by the same Iranian director no one dies or falls in love, great film too

Never seen any of his other works, but I'm sure they'd be worth checking out. TEN though actually sounded like it might be boring to me. I like interesting camera work and it sounds like he just parked the DV cam on the dashboard. I loved how "Taste of Cherry" alternated between the stark beauty of Tehran's outer industrial landscapes, with the claustrophobic interior of the vehicle. Simple but effective. Others though, might not care as much as I do about this kind of thing.

as for whether or not the protagonist in TOC died, well I'll give away the ending, sorta

(spoiler)




















I don't believe there is any indication that he died. There is no indication that he lived either though. We think we are going to find out but all we see is the "behind the scenes" video footage of the actor, cameraman, director, extras, etc. What I think the filmmaker was trying to express was the very thin division between the artificiality of film, and the reality of life. Or symbolically, the thin line between that separates life and death. Or to be even more specific, the thin line the decision to live, and the decision to die. It's a fairly controversial ending; some love it, others hate it. Me, I'm undecided. I think he could have expressed the same thing without being so obvious, ie; he could have just showed the protagonist taking the pills and lying in the grave and ending it ambiguously. On the other hand, I think that would have been kind of a cop out, and going the direction that he did, he amplified the gravity of the situation into something more "real" than it would have been otherwise.

[allirowe23]

alice in wonderland

[seeker5]

Pursuit of Happyness.

[Michael Chui]

Originally Posted by seeker5

Pursuit of Happyness.

I see what you did there.