The Best Movies That Take Place in Real Time
Movies that take place in real time tend to be character-driven and in many cases have become cult classics among cinephiles. Early examples of the technique from Hollywood's Golden Age include Rope and The Set-Up. Among more modern films to use it are '90s German drama Run Lola Run and 2015's Victoria - notable for being shot in only one uninterrupted 138-minute take.
Real-time movies employ a method of storytelling in which the events in the film match the audience experience. Another way to think of it is that if the real-time movie plot takes place over 90 minutes, then that's the same run time as the film. In order to maximize screen time, handy tricks like split screens may be used to demonstrate plots taking place simultaneously, along with time-measurement devices like clocks or stopwatch-style timers, which serve to reinforce the real-time film narrative to viewers.
1Eileen Brennan, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren
2Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley![Phone Booth]()
3Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker- 4George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Sam Mendes
During World War I, two British soldiers -- Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake -- receive seemingly impossible orders. In a race against time, they must cross over into enemy territory to ...more - 5Franka Potente, Armin Rohde, Moritz Bleibtreu
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Tom Tykwer
Run Lola Run is a 1998 German thriller film written and directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Franka Potente as Lola and Moritz Bleibtreu as Manni. The story follows a woman who needs to obtain 100,000 ...more ![Dog Day Afternoon]()
6Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning
