One of the key barriers of entry to films are their runtimes. Movies which extend well past the two hour mark are often slandered as boring, pretentious or outright excessive. While these all hold true in various scenarios, long films can be equally as engrossing as their zippy counterparts if executed properly, effectively challenging audience and industry demands. The aforementioned criticisms may only be exacerbated by length, rather than directly stemming from this approach itself.
Over the past few months, I have seen an oddly high number of films that go past conventionally expected lengths. In theaters, I watched “Napoleon,” “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon”—clocking in at 158, 181 and 206 minutes, respectively—alongside viewing “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and an extended director’s cut of “Amadeus” on streaming. This abundance of expansive experience has weighed heavily on my mind as a movie fan, giving me an ample supply of contemporary and non-contemporary examples by which I observed varying approaches to lengthy visual storytelling. Despite feeling personally challenged by some of these stories’ presentations, many of my favorite films are also on the longer side, which has contributed to my overall interest in the proper directorial approach to this style.
Perhaps the most obvious component, the subject matter of a long film, must demand the runtime afforded to it. For historical dramas such as the examples mentioned above—save “Lord of the Rings”—this is more easily achievable owing to the time spans covered by these films, typically depicting the lives of their main characters over years (or decades) of development. Thematic throughlines are established in order to narrow the scope of the story and bind its progression together. “Amadeus” does this by observing Mozart from the perspective of rival composer Antonio Salieri, recounting their relationship from an angle oblivious to Mozart. “Napoleon” similarly utilizes our titular emperor’s relationship with Josephine as the story’s center, which influences his psyche and decision-making in various key moments. Although I prefer “Amadeus,” due to its superior pacing, visuals and dialogue, each upholds their legitimate claim to length by developing the core themes of an extensive plot through particular social connections held between historic figures, humanizing their greatness and intrigue for the audience. Their seemingly mythological powers are still, however, emphasized through the use of filmic techniques (i.e. visuals or exaggerated drama) aimed at entertainment.
Surprisingly, most long films I considered were either period pieces or other works based upon reality. However, fictional movies provided another unique angle to understand successful approaches to length. Although the pace of action varies, these examples often make use of a challenging journey as their central focus. As an uninitiated viewer, the plot of “The Fellowship of the Ring” was often dizzying after the initial exposition of our heroes’ central goal. Three hours blow by due to this approach, one in which (generally speaking) our characters venture from place to place, fight enemies and proceed onward into the unknown. The action and setup behind each of these moments is more varied than my summary; however, this language captures the plot’s pace and formula, broadly speaking. This formula excels at surprising and thrilling the viewer. We are given enough time to process the film’s immersive fantasy before being swiftly whisked away to its next chapter, mirroring the addictive structure of any well-written, popular fantasy novel of epic proportions. Contrastingly, Andrei Tarkovsky’s slow cinema purposefully halts potentially grand journeys to the level of closely examined scenes, unfolding by way of philosophical conversation within unique settings that influence the thoughts and actions of travelers. In order for the weight of these conversations to sit with the audience, pace must be stretched to its limits. When the background (such as that of “Solaris” or “Stalker”) has an immense impact on the narrative, it demands to be examined carefully by the director’s lens, visually legitimating the need for length. Even if one finds these conversations to be plodding, their very nature—thoughtful, sparse back-and-forths on lofty ideas—necessitates the extensive time covered by them. Fault may again be found here in the writing rather than the length of the film.
Films can also effectively mix varying paces in order for their entire experience to remain thoroughly interesting. For instance, “Oppenheimer” quickly moves through a number of years in its opening third in order to present the background necessary to understanding the main character, leaving many key scenes to remain simply as vignettes. Right as this approach began to wear on me, the film readjusted its pacing in order to more completely explore its central concerns, such as the build-up to the Trinity Test and the courtroom drama which followed Oppenheimer after World War II. If either of these portions set the tone for the entire three hours, the film would have either given me whiplash or bored me. Oscillating between montage, action and drawn-out dialogue is not necessary to maintaining a film’s runtime, however, and it would be mistaken to consider excitement (such as that of “Lord of the Rings”) as necessary to length, as previously demonstrated by Tarkovsky. In an age dominated by short-form content on social media, the challenges posed by long-form filmmaking deserve to be welcomed with open arms, especially if we choose to value art as something beyond distracted or absentminded entertainment and consumption. A long film which is unenjoyable due to components beyond length can certainly feel like a grating waste of time; however, it is not reason to dismiss all films which move beyond industry standards and audience expectations for length. Many of the films I mentioned are high-grossing, culturally iconic works which have found support from various camps of movie enjoyers. The next time you choose a movie to see on streaming or in theaters, do not let the hours and minutes listed scare you off. You might instead find exactly what you were looking to experience.