Cities as characters
by jujyfruits01 | created - 14 Oct 2014 | updated - 26 Aug 2019 | PublicMovies where the city is not just the background but an essential part of the film and couldn't be changed to any other city without radically altering the film.
The city has to be an essential part not just thematically but aesthetically too. This means movies in which the city is important but it's featured just as a theme, and its aesthetic, architectonical, geographical qualities are not featured don't qualify for this list.
I don't necessarily love every film I include in the list but I'm reticent to include movies I really hate.
This is a work in progress and I'll be adding movies as well as commentaries for each movie. Recommendations are welcome.
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1. L'Immortelle (1963)
M | 101 min | Drama, Mystery
A sad man meets a beautiful, secretive woman who may or may not be involved in some conspiracy ring dealing in kidnapped women used as prostitutes. After several days of their sadly ... See full summary »
Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet | Stars: Françoise Brion, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Guido Celano, Ayfer Feray
Votes: 1,392
Istanbul, Turkey
2. The Third Man (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Votes: 181,882 | Gross: $0.45M
Vienna, Austria
3. Don't Look Now (1973)
R | 110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania
Votes: 62,351 | Gross: $0.98M
Venice, Italy
4. Roman Holiday (1953)
Passed | 118 min | Comedy, Romance
A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power
Votes: 147,693
Rome, Italy
5. Collateral (2004)
R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo
Votes: 433,267 | Gross: $101.01M
Los Angeles, USA
6. Happy Together (1997)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A couple take a trip to Argentina but both men find their lives drifting apart in opposite directions.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Chang Chen, Gregory Dayton
Votes: 34,064 | Gross: $0.19M
Buenos Aires, Argentina
7. In Bruges (2008)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.
Director: Martin McDonagh | Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds, Elizabeth Berrington
Votes: 461,657 | Gross: $7.76M
Bruges, Belgium
8. My Winnipeg (2007)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary, Comedy, Drama
Fact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this portrait of film-maker Guy Maddin's home town of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Director: Guy Maddin | Stars: Darcy Fehr, Ann Savage, Louis Negin, Amy Stewart
Votes: 5,635 | Gross: $0.16M
Winnipeg, Canada
9. The Great Beauty (2013)
Not Rated | 141 min | Drama
Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
Director: Paolo Sorrentino | Stars: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso
Votes: 97,427 | Gross: $2.85M
Rome, Italy
10. Our Man in Havana (1959)
Not Rated | 111 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Jim Wormold, who is a vacuum cleaner salesman, participates as an Agent in the British Secret Service. But he soon realizes that his plans by lying are going to get him into trouble.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Alec Guinness, Maureen O'Hara, Burl Ives, Ernie Kovacs
Votes: 6,102
Havana, Cuba
11. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,985
Los Angeles, USA
12. Naked (1993)
Not Rated | 131 min | Comedy, Drama
An unemployed Mancunian vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge, Greg Cruttwell
Votes: 43,966 | Gross: $1.77M
London, UK
13. King of New York (1990)
R | 103 min | Crime, Thriller
A drug kingpin is released from prison and seeks to take total control of the criminal underworld in order to give back to the community.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: Christopher Walken, David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne, Victor Argo
Votes: 42,125 | Gross: $2.55M
New York, USA
14. Nightcrawler (2014)
R | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
When Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
Director: Dan Gilroy | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed
Votes: 604,852 | Gross: $32.38M
Los Angeles, USA
15. London (1994)
Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary
An inspiring tale through London by pictures narrated by Paul Scofield.
Director: Patrick Keiller | Stars: Paul Scofield, John Major, Norma Major, Dennis Skinner
Votes: 760
London, UK
16. Killer of Sheep (1978)
80 min | Drama
Set in the Watts area of Los Angeles, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.
Director: Charles Burnett | Stars: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett
Votes: 7,539 | Gross: $0.40M
Los Angeles, USA
17. Lost Book Found (1996)
35 min | Documentary, Short
Director: Jem Cohen | Stars: Monroe D. Cohen, Todd James Colby
Votes: 157
New York, USA
18. Point Blank (1967)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the money that was stolen from him.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O'Connor
Votes: 23,239
Los Angeles, USA
19. The Naked City (1948)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor
Votes: 15,506
New York, USA
20. Tangerine (2015)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A hooker tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart.
Director: Sean Baker | Stars: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O'Hagan
Votes: 35,529 | Gross: $0.70M
21. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
R | 116 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, Jane Leeves, Cherise Bates
Votes: 39,378 | Gross: $17.31M
22. Under the Silver Lake (2018)
R | 139 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Sam, a disenchanted young man, finds a mysterious woman swimming in his apartment's pool one night. The next morning, she disappears. Sam sets off across LA to find her, and along the way he uncovers a conspiracy far more bizarre.
Director: David Robert Mitchell | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace, Callie Hernandez
Votes: 51,365 | Gross: $0.05M
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