What are the great "loner" films

..and why not?
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GoogaMooga
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What are the great "loner" films

Postby GoogaMooga » 27 Aug 2019, 04:23

I'm a card-carrying Asperger and my life has not had any real semblance of normality since, oh, perhaps the seventh grade, 1976. I think that might be why I feel drawn towards the great loner films, the human dramas with those existential characters who opt out of society and refuse to have the social values and structure control their lives. In the films they are defined by their struggle to find their true selves and some meaning in life through personal responsibility and individual choice. The characters are heroic because they accept the precondition that man is fundamentally alone and must be guided by personal choices in a society or world that is arbitrary and absurd. They go about their business with quiet despair, stare into the abyss and are not afraid of what they see, an imperfect world that seeks to restore order through control. Wealth, pleasure, and honor don't matter to them, because such desires are ultimately futile in as much as they do not lead to any real definition or understanding of true self.

Here, then, are some all-time classics:

Taxi Driver
The Driver
Le Samouraï
Le Diable, Probablement
Diary of a Country Priest
Pickpocket

Ha ha, three of them are by Robert Bresson, he must be the king of loner films!
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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joels344
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby joels344 » 28 Aug 2019, 22:09

Great choices there, Googa. Here’s some more I’d like to add:

The Conversation
Badlands
Paris, Texas
The Man Who Sleeps
Stroszek
90s Cup Champion, The Prog Cup 2019 Champion

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GoogaMooga
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby GoogaMooga » 29 Aug 2019, 02:31

joels344 wrote:Great choices there, Googa. Here’s some more I’d like to add:

The Conversation
Badlands
Paris, Texas
The Man Who Sleeps
Stroszek


I hear ya on Conversation and Badlands, The Man Who Sleeps I don't think I've ever seen.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Matt Wilson » 29 Aug 2019, 14:26

Cool Hand Luke
Hombre
Hud
The Sand Pebbles

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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Brickyard Jack » 29 Aug 2019, 14:48

Wall-E

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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Jimbly » 29 Aug 2019, 22:51

Silent Running
So Long Kid, Take A Bow.

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Hepcat
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Hepcat » 30 Aug 2019, 21:59

GoogaMooga wrote:I think that might be why I feel drawn towards the great loner films, the human dramas with those existential characters who opt out of society and refuse to have the social values and structure control their lives.


Horror of Dracula (1958)

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8-)
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The Modernist
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby The Modernist » 31 Aug 2019, 20:29

Five Easy Pieces
Serpico
The Trial
Morgan a Suitable Case For Treatment
Pierrot le Fou

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Fonz
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Fonz » 01 Sep 2019, 09:45

The Punisher (Dolph Lundgren)

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He Never Died [Rollins)

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Heyyyy!

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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Artgar » 01 Sep 2019, 10:23

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bingleton

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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby The Modernist » 02 Sep 2019, 15:36

Naked is the ultimate example. Great shout!

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GoogaMooga
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby GoogaMooga » 02 Sep 2019, 19:49

I really need to see that again. I vaguely remember the ending being very bleak.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Artgar » 02 Sep 2019, 20:48

The whole film is bleak, really. But it's powerful stuff and leaves you thinking.
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby ` » 03 Sep 2019, 08:54

Peter Sellers as the unknowing and unknowable Chauncey Gardiner in Hal Ashby's Being There

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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Flower » 28 Sep 2019, 17:31

A Fist Full of Dollars
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Jumper K » 29 Sep 2019, 08:21

Let The Right One In
One Hour Photo
The Hunt
Factotum

Does A Room For Romeo Brass count? Although the central relationship would indicate not, Paddy Considine's character definitely does.

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GoogaMooga
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby GoogaMooga » 29 Sep 2019, 08:32

Jumper K wrote:Let The Right One In
One Hour Photo
The Hunt
Factotum

Does A Room For Romeo Brass count? Although the central relationship would indicate not, Paddy Considine's character definitely does.


Romeo Brass is a good movie, but whether it counts is up to you. Been too long since I saw it. Th Hunt - is that the Danish film with Mads Mikkelsen?
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Jumper K
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Jumper K » 29 Sep 2019, 08:42

GoogaMooga wrote:
Jumper K wrote:Let The Right One In
One Hour Photo
The Hunt
Factotum

Does A Room For Romeo Brass count? Although the central relationship would indicate not, Paddy Considine's character definitely does.


Romeo Brass is a good movie, but whether it counts is up to you. Been too long since I saw it. Th Hunt - is that the Danish film with Mads Mikkelsen?

Yes. I watched it again recently and it resonates even more in todays post-truth, fake news society.

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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Geezee » 07 Oct 2019, 09:04

just to make it a bit more precise -

GoogaMooga wrote:I think that might be why I feel drawn towards the great loner films, the human male dramas with those existential characters who opt out of society and refuse to have the social values and structure control their lives.
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Re: What are the great "loner" films

Postby Samoan » 07 Oct 2019, 10:10

Into the Wild

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