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Realistic-looking people?
What's your favorite movie that features average-looking people? We all know the industry selects for youth and attractiveness mostly, but have any good movies risked casting only normal-looking people?
Edit: TV show suggestions are also welcome!
I'm not very cultured when it comes to movies, but series the first one that comes to mind is Stranger Things.
… I mean they definitely selected for youth, there. But, you know what I meant. :)
The Shining comes to mind. I recall hearing once that Kubrick made a deliberate choice not to pick overly attractive actors to make the characters feel like normal people, to imply that the Overlook could corrupt anyone.
First (mainstream American movie) thing that comes to mind is Fargo. The cast is all exceptionally average looking, and the dialogue is so natural sounding that it hardly seems scripted. It's one of my favorite movies.
If we're allowed to suggest TV shows, the British police drama Foyle's War is my first pick. Come to think of it, British media in general is typically less appearance-focused than the stuff coming out of Hollywood. For an American show, Roseanne was a pretty realistic/unglamorous depiction of a blue-collar midwestern family.
Yeah one thing I love about older movies (anything made during or before the 80's) was that both the actors and extras looked like they were taken off the street and put infront of the cameras. Everyone was so sweaty, the hairstyles were often scruffy, and the clothes looked worn out.
One of my favourite scenes of all time is the wedding scene at the opening of The Godfather. Simply because every single person looks and acts so natural, clumsily eating cake while the hot sun blinds them.
just start watching movies from any country that is not the USA and you'll have lots of amazing movies with normal looking people and generally more realistic looks. i can reccomend french an nordic movies and british an nordic series!
Totally agreed! And to add onto that, you don't even quite need to go all the way outside of the USA. Sometimes you just need to go outside of Hollywood and the big studios. American indie movies have a lot of regular looking people - Short Term 12 and Frances Ha comes to mind. Mind you, the people are still good looking, but they're not model-levels of gorgeous that is seen in blockbusters.
I'd be interested in some recommendations, I've been working on expanding my horizons with this stuff.
just some stuff that comes to my mind or i've seen recently.
series:
Movies:
i realize now that that are all kind of old already... i might not be really up to date on modern cinema
Not South Korean films, though. Everyone there is straight up gorgeous.
True, i have no idea of the asian movie szene
Submarine. A film directed by Richard Ayoade. It's a slice of slice coming of age sort of film, but its REALLY quaint. All the characters feel like teachers/neighbors/crushes you actually had in school because it's not filled with soley 'photogenic' people
I love how the characters in Glengarry Glen Ross looked like average burnt out salesmen, but still managed to be interesting thanks to their brilliant dialogue. Hell, they even managed to make Al Pacino not look like a Hollywood super star.
One of my favourite movies ever!
I'm going to add on to one of my old comments. Some of these are Asian films, which is sort of inconvenient for people who don't speak the language or can't find subtitles.
12 Angry Men. A 1957 American courtroom drama film. "This courtroom drama tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt, forcing the jurors to question their morals and values." The movie did really well in making these 12 men ordinary people, unique in personality and beliefs.
La Grande Vadrouille. "A 1966 French comedy film about two ordinary Frenchmen helping the crew of a Royal Air Force bomber shot down over Paris make their way through German-occupied France to escape arrest." None of the actors are particularly good looking. I don't remember a lot about the film since I saw it years ago, but I remember it was funny.
Band of Brothers. "The series dramatizes the history of "Easy" Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training in the United States through its participation in major actions in Europe, up until Japan's capitulation and the war's end." I like this one because they focused on a group of people instead of one 'hero'. Supposedly they also did a very good job of capturing what WWII was like.
Farewell My Concubine (霸王别姬) This is the exception I make, there are some famous Chinese actors in here. But most of you won't know them, so it doesn't really matter. This movie is art. It tells the story of two male stars in a Beijing opera troupe and spans many periods of Chinese history, from the end of Qing to the republic of China, to the Japanese invasion, then the liberation of China, the cultural revolution and then the aftermath.
In the Heat of the Sun （阳光灿烂的日子）[1995], a Chinese film about a group of teenagers growing up in Beijing during the cultural revolution. The main character and his friends are free to roam the streets of Beijing day and night because the cultural revolution has caused their parents and most adults to be either busy or away and school was basically stopped. Fairly light-hearted, basically about all the foolish things you do as teenagers. Beijing then was very different from Beijing now, no skyscrapers, a lot of hutongs, no cars.
Memories of Murder (살인의 추억) [2003], a Korean film about two detectives trying to catch a serial murderer. The story takes place in a small town in 1986 and is based on a true event. A very good crime film, and I think it fairly accurately describes the political and cultural environment of Korea at the time - corruption, injustice of police, etc.
Seven Samurai （七人の侍）[1954], a black and white Japanese film about villagers hiring samurai to defend their village against bandits. The story takes place in 1586 in a Japanese village. I've heard that the clothes, war tactics, weapons, buildings, etc are all fairly accurate.
The Full Monty has a bunch of average dudes.
Naked by Mike Leigh