There is a particular kind of film in which time seems to stand still, where high drama and incident seldom occur, smaller instances take precedence, and life's banal moments are made revelatory and interesting. Asked to describe a film in this vein and you might just find yourself saying: "Well, nothing really happens, but…"
There is, of course, no true or proper way to define a film where "nothing really happens" (at what point, exactly, does the cinema of nothing tip over into the cinema of something?), and so any list like this can only cater to interpretation. But the picks here, at the very least, emphasise a slower kind of cinema: characters before plot, situations told in condensed or real time, concepts hinged on walking and talking, or just hanging out. Pacing is never rushed; big goals are rarely pursued. People have time to sit, and think, and wonder.
Nothing really happens in any of these movies – and so, as in life, it must be that everything happens.
