Films where city is a character in the film

@nycineaste
I suppose that is a better description to what I mean - sometimes you don't know how to phrase something in order to learn more about it, which then helps one phrase it.
I understand what you are saying and it does make sense, a city can't be a character, but one, I think, can learn a lot about the story or the character from the city or landscape - if you shoot it that way obviously. Let the interaction or the character of the city help expose the character traits of the character, or help create a mood about the story, or stand as a metaphor for some subject matter or idea in the story.

I suppose to put it another way, one can learn a lot about characters from the environment that they interact with and live in.

I watched All the Presidents Men probably 5 times this past weekend. Although a lot to do about lighting, there was still a divide between the bright, no shadow office space as oppose to the darkness of the crannies of the city. The city set a mood and at least to me, in some weird way, became a supporting character (for the lack of a better description), not so much a mood, but a sub-character if you will. Navigating the city, exploring the dark crannies of what it is hiding, and it is hiding the truth which is found as Woodstein talk to the actual characters.

See, I'm trying to get at something but I just can't quite explain it in a way that even really reflects what I'm getting from it. It is also most likely not the intention of the director AT ALL, and I'm reading too much into it. But as it is said, one develops one's own style and approach to cinematography, seeing the city as a "character" if you will, is something I'm exploring, and likely due to not having a full grasp on what my perception of it is yet, not how to describe it.

District 9 for me is not so much what I'm looking for. Yes Wiekus interacts with the slums and city, but what I'm exploring District 9 isn't exactly it. For me it creates a backdrop, but personally not a mood. Maybe it is because I live in South Africa that it doesn't.....not sure. Maybe that is actually just it, just my frame of reference which gives deeper meaning to some city backdrops over others merely cause of my personal surroundings.

The exploration continues...
 
well yeah, of course, I'm just making a niggly point about something technically being "a character", I don't want to get in the way of people pointing out these movies, since one or more of them may be what you're looking for. Everyone gets what you mean.

Here I'll even do one:

The Third Man?
 
I really enjoyed The Third Man as a matter of fact, should actually watch it again. The oldest movie I have is Safety First, and again, I get pulled into it rather quickly.

I want to see how other film makers capture the soul of a city. Maybe that is a better way of saying it. My intention is to not copy their methods, but just to learn from them so that I can apply it to the documentary project I'm working on. We will travel through 43 countries, and I'd like to capture the essence of the cultures and how it has affected the architecture without becoming a documentary about architecture or culture. Those are elements of the documentary but not the be all and end all. Hence me coming at this as seeing the city as alive, and the landscape as alive, as characters and if you have to look at it as characters, how would you shoot it...and shoot it with cinematic flair at that.

Which I suppose is also a silly question since it depends on the person, how they see it, the research they've done, the type of city and the people living in it etc. Suppose it does boil down to seeing how other film makers would approach (and have approached) the object of including a city as integral to the film or story, trying to capture the essence of the city in the story without making it a story about the city.

I think two of my split personalities are starting to oppose one another and leading to less sense :-P
 
weird that everyone is posting sci fi stuff. Here are a couple movies that come to mind that aren't sci fi and i don't think were mentioned. i think when talking about location/city as a character that you're looking for something where the location continuously plays a part in the storytelling.

i apologize if i repeat anything. I hope this list is helpful. I feel like these are movies everyone knows but maybe forgot about in regards to this topic.

Do the Right Thing
City of God
Slumdog Millionaire
Gone with the Wind
It's A Wonderful Life
Amelie
Casino
Taxi Driver
 
Lost in Translation

Though this could be any fish out of water location, Tokyo does a great job of isolating the two main characters from the larger world.
 
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