10 Best Structured Movies of All Time

Movies aren’t all about the writing or the acting or the fancy camera work. The great ones rely on the underlying structure of the story.
It’s time to take a look at 10 of the best structured films of all time.

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[lukepereira-ogan]

These lists kick the shit out of watchmojo

[adrianbyrne]

Soundtracks. Soundtracks. Please do soundtracks. Soundtracks. 10 Best Soundtracks.

[paperbullet]

#10 - Die Hard, with a three-act structure
#9 - High Noon, with an uninterrupted stream of time
#8 - The Godfather Part II, with a multiple timeline structure
#7 - Ajami, with a "hyperlink" narrative
#6 - Citizen Kane, with a flashback narrative
#5 - Irreversible, with a backwards narrative
#4 - Rashomon, with a repeating (iterative) narrative
#3 - Before the Rain, with a circular narrative
#2 - The Sweet Hereafter, with a nonlinear narrative
#1 - The Mirror, with an emotional/oneiric structure

[jamesmiddleton]

In Bruges?! That film is the tightest I've ever seen. Not a shot or a line wasted. Everything is important to the story and it never feels forced.

[DungeonBricks]

5 minutes in and I feel is my fault for not knowing monst of the mentioned movies.

[doicare]

Top 10 Worst Structured Movies: #1 Suicide Squad

[laurenjcoates]

I'm surprised groundhog day wasn't even mentioned

[bitofingeralastname]

I'm surprised you left out Groundhog Day for #4, telling the same story over and over but in a different way. It's structure is superbly crafted. And Bill Murray puts in a tremendous performance.

[nelsonhoffman]

Another really well structured film with 3 acts The Place Beyond the Pines...oh and also American History X.

[dariussonofjazzlin]

I myself really like the structure of In Bruges. All of the events in that movie just tie together so well; even the events which you'd expect to be inconsequential.

[miriam]

My husband saw Irreversible as a teenager, and not only does he still occasionally have nightmares about it, he's built his scholarly career on examining renaissance revenge tragedies. The movie is such a brutal, honest look at violence that it's rightfully difficult to watch, and impossible to forget.

[squamish]

Amadeus. How did we get to this crazy old man in a mental hospital, ranting about how he murdered Mozart?

[Indoor_Carrot]

Kind of a cheat, but I loved how the Bourne Supremacy ended with a scene which is mid-way through Ultimatum, and Ultimatum begins right after Bourne killed the assassin chasing him in Supremacy as he escapes the police, also tying some loose ends along the way (where Pam and Nicky ended up)

Plus the Identity begins with Bourne being discovered in deep water at night and Ultimatum ends with him disappearing into water at night... Nice touch :)

[BadMouseProductions]

I'd love Cinefix to do a worst of movie list.
Like the Worst Structured, or Worst editing etc.

[yjxnckw]

Full list:
Jaws (1975)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Star Wars (1977)
Back to the Future (1985)
Witness (1985)
The Fugitive (1993)
10. Die Hard (1988)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Fail Safe (1964)
Tape (2001)
Rope (1948)
Before Sunset (2004)
United 93 (2006)
9. High Noon (1952)
Intolerance (1916)
The Fountain (2006)
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Days of Grace/ Días de gracia (Spanish, 2011)
8. The Godfather Part II (1974)
Amarcord (Italian, 1973)
Kanchenjungha/ কাঞ্চনজঙ্ঘা (Bengali, 1962)
Nashville (1975)
Short Cuts (1993)
Babel (mostly English or Spanish, 2006)
Amores perros (Spanish, 2000)
21 Grams (2003)
Paris je t'aime (mostly French or English, 2006)
Crash (2004) as dishonorable mention
7. Ajami/ עג'מי (Arabic and Hebrew, 2009)
Fight Club (1999)
All About Eve (1950)
American Beauty (1999)
Casino (1995)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Goodfellas (1990)
Melancholia (2011)
6. Citizen Kane (1941)
Momento (2000)
Betrayal (1983)
Peppermint Candy/ 박하사탕 (Korean, 1999)
5x2/ Cinq fois deux (French, 2004)
Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind (2004)
5. Irreversible (mostly French or English, 2002)
Run Lola Run/ Lola rennt (German, 1998)
Mr. Nobody (2009)
Hero/ 英雄 (Mandarin, 2002)
Go (1999)
Basic (2003)
Last Year at Marienbad/ L'Année dernière à Marienbad (French, 1961)
Inland Empire (2006)
JFK (1991)
4. Rashomon/ 羅生門 (Japanese, 1950)
All the time travel films
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Dead of Night (1945)
Lost Highway (1997)
3. Before the Rain/ Пред дождот (mostly Macedonian or English, 1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
I'm Not There (2007)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Japanese and English, 1985)
Annie Hall (1977)
500 Days of Summer (2009)
2. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
The Tree of Life (2011)
The Phantom of Liberty/ Le Fantôme de la liberté (French, 1974)
Enter the Void (2009)
8½/ Otto e mezzo (mostly Italian or French, 1963)
1. The Mirror/ Зеркало (Russian, 1975)
Note: Those shown but not verbally mentioned are not on here.

[alexwells]

I have to watch The Mirror now because it's in literally every Cinefix list

[don_brodka]

Blue Valentine definitely deserves a nod on this list. The structure of that movie is incredible and the movie wouldn't work any other way.

[GeahkBurchill]

Honorable mention for Edge of Tomorrow on the "Repetition" discussion.

[UltimaPowers]

So the best structured film of all time has no structure?

[ChickenGeorgeClooney]

Lists like these are my favorite, where I go into it not knowing much about a side of filmmaking and come out of it learning how to appreciate the work and effort that goes into it.