If you like movies with a narrator, which one is your favorite?
There is maybe more than a few good reasons why the use of narration in a film could benefit the storytelling. Watching the new movie “Motherless Brooklyn” where the lead character constantly narrates made me wonder what other films with a narrator is worth checking out. Thanks.
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I usually don’t like narrators, but movies with minimal narration – usually introductory narration – are OK with me.
Examples:
The Devil’s Disciple
Casablanca
Just remembered my favorite sci-fi film Bladerunner has a narrated version and used to like it but not anymore.
Shawshank Redemption — narrated by Mr. Morgan Freeman.
The critics guide will tell you a film with narration is flawed, but I can think of several where the narrator enhanced the film.
Already mentioned is The Shawshank Redemption and the original cut of Blade Runner. I will add Apocalypse Now and Fight Club.
Watching a Netflix documentary about night in Africa and what the animals do. I don’t know who is narrating but I don’t like her Sam I Am.
The Jerk.
Without Steve Fartin’s revelatory intro, how could the audience possibly know that he ”...was born a poor black child”? ;-)
To Kill A Mockingbird and The Gods Must Be Crazy come to mind.
Rather than a favorite movie, I would say I have a favorite narrator. James Earl Jones has, IMHO, the perfect voice quality for narration.
There is no doubt though that Shawshank Redemption was masterfully done. I love what Morgan Freeman has contributed to entertainment. Lol, I used to watch him after school on The Electric Company.
I do not have such a category, and my thinking on films does not easily categorize them by “has a narrator”. However I did years ago start a supposed sorted list of favorite films years ago (in response to the periodic questions here asking about favorite films), and going through that list from top to bottom, I tried to spot the first one with a narrator, and I got a fair way through the list before I first noticed one, which was:
The Meaning of Life (1983, Monty Python)
Other examples of favorite films with narrators:
Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman)
Fight Club (1999) – a great example already mentioned by @filmfann
Kick Ass has some narration too.
Incredible Shrinking Man
Grand Budapest Hotel
Lavender Hill Mob
Moby Dick. Tom Jones Amadeus
Another vote for Atkinson, ehhh Atwood, ehhh Attenborough.
The Man Who Sleeps is my favorite movie with a narrator. It’s special because the entire movie is structured from a narration. It’s really surreal, but from what I can understand, it’s about a man who loses hope in the world, and his hopelessness soon turns into a form of narcissism which later comes crashing down on him. The narration is that of a woman, and she uses the pronoun “you” to address the guy. Who the narrator is is up to you, someone who knows the man, the man’s own inner voice…
I had never seen anything like that before I knew of the movie. It’s actually one of the inspiration for my comic :)
I like this 8 minute short film The Gunfighter narrated by Nick Offerman.
His great voice and the clever concept makes this one of my favorites.
Enjoy!
^^Ooooo…gonna watch this later.
@lucillelucillelucille…OMG! I have never known someone else who had seen The Gods Must be Crazy!! Have you seen the sequel? I thought it was even better.
Wait, I know the Gods Must Be Crazy movie sequel. First time I saw it and on the big screen too, I almost slid off my seat laughing. That sequence with the badger was the funniest for me.
Right? I just bought the first for $4.99 from Prime. The two kids always reminded me of my two youngest. It hurts my heart.
^^Ha ha ha outrageously funny!
Refresh my memory on The Gunfighter.
@Dutchess_lll You need to watch it. It’s only 8 minutes. Link is above. I don’t want to give away the story. It’s worth the watch. :-)
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