MOVIES WITH A MINIMALIST AESTHETIC
My mood is easily impacted by what I’m watching or reading, and I’ll often choose a film based purely on the kind of spaces I want to virtually inhabit for a couple of hours. Aesthetically, minimalism tends to make me feel cleaner and calmer, and some of the films below have that effect (even when the nature of their plot is just the opposite…)
1. GATTACA (1997) This futuristic world is assembled from iconic elements of California’s architectural past - the characters glide down minimalist roadways in electrified Citroens and inhabit monumental Brutalist, Futurist or International Style structures - utilised selectively to reflect the film’s thematic world of authoritarianism, social engineering, and antiseptic perfectionism.
2. AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000) Minimalism is rare in an 80′s-set movie, and here it’s intended to reflect the obsessive narcissism (and inscrutable facade) of a homicidal maniac. Toronto stands in for Manhattan, and Mies Van Der Rohe’s Toronto–Dominion Centre features as an apartment building coveted by the monochrome-loving psychopath.
3. THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (2015-2017) This TV series has a distinctive aesthetic and a love of minimalist architecture and fashion- especially where these can be used to represent chilly and impersonal beauty. Its glass towers and sparse interiors can feel over-stylised, but they do embody an antiseptic elegance which is in line with the show’s themes. Even though the second series features more striking architecture, Series 1 is more effective, because Riley Keough’s great performance provides a counterpoint to the visual austerity.
4. INTERIORS (1978) Unlike most Woody Allen films, production design plays an essential thematic and narrative role here. There may be nothing uplifting in the bleak, subdued tale of a waspish interior designer and her slowly imploding family, but the cool, sparse, perfectionism of the world she has constructed is nonetheless compelling (and inspiring).
5. ENEMY (2013) In this wilfully cryptic but stylish film, Denis Villeneuve created an ethereal and obliquely sinister Toronto full of deserted apartment complexes and inhospitable brutalism: a hazy, empty, dream city presided over by a giant wraith-like spider.
6. THE PHANTOM THREAD (2018) Although Woodcock’s dresses are elaborate, the interiors and overall feel of the film are spare and meticulous, especially within the Georgian townhouse where much of it takes place. This atmosphere is accentuated by the slow, considered, nature of the performances by Vicky Krieps and Daniel Day‑Lewis.
7. PLAYTIME (1967) Jaques Tati poked fun at Modern architecture, but depicted it onscreen more beautifully than perhaps any other filmmaker has. This classic comedy might be slow-moving and subtle by contemporary standards, but it definitely rewards our patience.
8. MOON (2009) Movies set in space often favour an aesthetic of restrained Modernism. This lean and stylish thriller (from the son of Ziggy Stardust himself) has a particularly appealing, understated look.
9. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) You can’t get much more minimalist than the monolith. And in a particularly Kubrickian take on product placement, major 1960′s manufacturers and furniture designers were invited to create projected versions of how their products might look decades later in the year 2001. Obviously, pretty much everyone thought ‘Less is More’ would be the look of the future.
10. MANHATTAN (1977) The neuroses of 1970′s NY intellectuals plays out against an uncluttered monochrome backdrop of low-key interiors and spectacular urban architecture. All of the female characters - Meryl Streep’s especially - are icons of understated style.
11. BEGINNERS (2010) Neutra’s Lovell Health House evades it’s ‘villain’s lair’ typecasting to a portray a much-loved family home, in perfect complement to this film’s soft, minimal feel.
12. ARCHIPELAGO (2010) The only movie on this list whose action is even more sparse than its aesthetic. This is director Joanna Hogg’s trademark - visually beautiful, but incredibly slow and understated dramas. Here, Tom Hiddleston and co. are on a rancorous family holiday in the Isles of Scilly. (In the later EXHIBITION (2013), they’re in a Modernist London townhouse).
13. ALIEN (1979) Though usually associated with H R Giger’s elaborately beautiful alien set-pieces, to me this movie also has a great soft minimalist vibe, from the muted futurism of the ship’s living spaces, to Sigourney Weaver’s white cotton singlet and knickers combo.
14. PANIC ROOM (2002) I’ve always loved the atmosphere of ‘moving in’ films: acres of empty wooden floors, bare walls, and stacked boxes. This is the ultimate, as Jodie Foster and a pre-teen Kristen Stewart relocate to the gloomy beauty of the sparsest Upper West Side ‘Townstone’ imaginable.
15. SINGLE WHITE FEMALE (1992) The overall aesthetic of this, in terms of both fashion and architecture, is a kind of pared-back 90′s ‘Atelier Chic’. (Was it really customary in the ‘90′s to specify your skin colour in a roommate ad though?!)
16. HEADHUNTERS (2012) In this Norwegian thriller, the protagonist lives in a Modernist house, the muted interiors of which were presumably chosen by his gallery-owner wife, who styles herself in an equally chic, understated manner. This serene aesthetic proves to be totally at odds with the gory and chaotic action which unfolds.
17. BASIC INSTINCT (1992) One in a series of Sharon Stone films which were shockers from a critical standpoint (SLIVER, anyone?) but which had an appealing, pared-back look - sort of Alfred Hitchcock meets 90′s minimalism, and which starred a super chic, super brainy Stone as a kind of R rated Grace Kelly.
18. Unembellished, ‘futuristic’ Modernism is often a popular choice in sci fi movies. It’s been done with varying degrees of success - always more effective when the aesthetic feels like a considered and original part of the film’s world, rather than just derivative visual shorthand for ‘the future’. Some additional examples to those above include: EX MACHINA (2014), MINORITY REPORT (2002), SOLARIS (1976), TRON LEGACY (2010). (Images: York University, Toronto by Vik Pahwa (The Girlfriend Experience S2), Still from Interiors, 1978.)
Any additions? let us all know in the comments :-)
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