Films with one actor, actress: complete list

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Modern cinema, unfortunately, is increasingly aimed specifically at making money, rather than art as such. For one real creative picture, free from any commercial research, today there are sometimes several dozen so-called blockbusters. The viewer quickly gets tired of these cinematic stampings, and now even the most sophisticated super special effects, with which the creators of these "masterpieces" try to cover up the semantic and intellectual nakedness of their creations, cause only boredom and irritation.

The article is about a completely different movie. About the so-called mono-pictures, or, as they are most often called, films with one actor. Every year they attract more and more attention.

Of course, everyone understands that the leading actor in the vast majority of cases will not be completely alone all one hundred percent of screen time in the mathematical sense of the word. However, he will doanother focus for the viewer - it will capture all his attention and thoughts so much that all other characters caught in the frame will be perceived no brighter than a distant cloud floating somewhere far away on the horizon …

So let's make a list of one-man movies you'll never regret watching. Let's get started!

Full list of monofilms

Having de alt with the very concept of a monofilm a bit, it would be nice to study it with specific examples. As a result of a small study, it turned out that there are actually very few such paintings. With the exception of their top ten representatives, which we will elaborate on in the following paragraphs of this article, the list of all films from single-actor films barely exceeded two dozen.

So, what mono-pictures are included in it? Let's start in order.

The brightest such pictures in the 60s of the last century were only two films - "The Old Man and the Sea" (1958) and "The Human Voice" (1966)

Below in the photo you can see a frame from the movie "The Old Man and the Sea"

In the 70s, five paintings stood out at once - “Johnny Got His Gun” (1971), “Duel” (1972), “Silent Escape” (1972), “The Man Who Sleeps "(1974), as well as the work of the brilliant Arkady Raikin "People and Mannequins", published in 1974.

Below in the photo you can see a frame from the painting "People and Mannequins".

In the 80s, the only representativefilms with one actor was the drama "Secret Honor" (1984), which won the prize at the Berlin Film Festival.

The 90s were just as scarce for this kind of cinema. During this period, only one such film was released - Grey's Anatomy (1996).

But in the 2000s, monofilms became quite regular, but still infrequent. We all remember such interesting and original paintings as "Phone Booth" (2002), "Hole" (2005), "1408" (2007), "In the Wild" (2007), " Victim" (2010), "Steel Doors" (2010), "Brake" (2011), "Fight" (2011), "Love" (2011), "Conquering Time" (2012), Life of Pi (2012), The Martian (2015), Explore the Unknown (2016), Shallows (2016). The latter is the unique movie "Manifesto" (2016), the photos of the numerous characters of which, performed by the only actress Cate Blanchett, can be seen below.

Now let's start reviewing the list of the best and brightest films with one actor.

Nerves on edge

Our list of the best rightfully opens with the 1992 tragicomedy starring Steve Oedekerk as the main and almost the only role.

In the 90s, this unexpected picture-monologue of an enraged man who was fed up with everything in the world made quite a stir and was extremely popular. Indeed, no one has ever seen such sparkling and, one might say, sophisticated humor in the cinema.

Chiefthe hero of the film "Nerves on the Limit" is a writer of secrets brought to a state of boiling. During one beautiful day, which the audience will almost fully experience with him, he will tell and shout the truth about everything in the world, from the amount of milk in a cup of cornflakes to some strange hooded guy who turns out to be nothing. other than Death itself, whose fleeting role was played by the famous Jim Carrey, the best friend of actor Steve Oedekerk.

Outcast

In 2000, the premiere of the drama "Outcast" took place, telling the amazing story of the many years of struggle for survival of the manager of the courier delivery service Chuck Noland, whose lifestyle is iron discipline and almost fanatical worship of the passage of time, literally every minute of it, which is not in no case should he go to waste, since the prosperity of the company he honestly and faithfully serves depends on it.

For this prime example of single-actor films, the high rating is a well-deserved reward for the pleasure and absolutely fantastic experience that all viewers get when watching it. Judge for yourself - as a result of a plane crash, Chuck Noland, whose image was brilliantly embodied on the screen by Tom Hanks, is the only survivor and ends up on a desert island. Very soon, the hero of the picture is faced with all the problems that a civilized person can only face on an island surrounded on all sides by an endless ocean, and the onlywhose friend is a ball with a painted face. But the main test is not even in these difficulties, but in the fact that on his island there is absolutely no such thing as time …

I Am Legend

Our review continues the fantastic utopian film "I Am Legend", released in 2007. Based on the novel of the same name by writer R. Matheson, this film tells about the terrible days of the scientist Robert Neville, the last man on earth.

It was he who came up with a miracle cure for cancer, which as a result killed all of humanity. It was he who destroyed his own family, as well as billions of other families on the planet. It is he who is serving his term in solitary confinement, whose name is empty New York. And it is he who repeats over and over again attempts to find a way to change everything.

Brilliant dramatic performance by Will Smith. A mesmerizing sight of a depopulated planet. Despite everything - faith in humanity…

“Moon 2112”

The leading role of the 2009 fantasy film "Moon 2112" starred actor Sam Rockwell, who became a rather unexpected choice of its authors, since the main property of Sam's filmography at that time was the role of the complete villain William Wharton from the cult film "The Green Mile". The image of a purely negative hero, who stuck quite firmly to this amazing actor for many years.

In "Moon 2112" the viewer sees the personal drama of astronaut Sam Bell, who lived alone for three yearson the lunar station, and whose only interlocutor all these years was a robot. On one of the cosmic days in Earth's orbit, Sam suddenly learns the truth that his dreams of a home and returning to his family are just the thoughts of the real Sam Bell, who never left the Earth, and he himself is his clone. As well as all his successors, sleeping in suspended animation chambers until the expiration of the three-year term of the next astronaut of the lunar station. And that there really is no way home, just like the house itself…

127 hours

The next outstanding single-actor film was the 2010 biopic 127 Hours, which tells the tragic accident that happened to young extreme Aron Ralston, as a result of which his hand was tightly wedged among the stones in the middle of a lifeless canyon, into which he went in search of adrenaline.

The main role in this drama, based on the events that took place in reality, was played by actor James Franco. His prototype Ralston actually spent 127 hours without food or water, desperately fighting for his life and keeping a video diary in which he talks about all the changes in his condition and, in fact, says goodbye to everyone. When he is on the very edge, he decides on the most incredible act…

It is noteworthy that the real Aron Ralston showed the recordings of that video diary only to his relatives. The only people on the planet who have ever seen them are 127 Hours director Danny Boyle and actor James Franco.

Buried Alive

Another masterpiece of this genre was the drama "Buried Alive", presented to the audience in 2010. Ryan Reynolds, later known as "Deadpool", starred in this incredible film.

His on-screen character is called Paul, and he is a contract soldier in Iraq. Having fallen into an ambush, he loses consciousness and comes to his senses in absolute, and also very close darkness. Using a lighter, Paul makes a terrible discovery for himself - he is buried in a coffin.

From this moment begins the inhuman struggle of the main and only hero of the picture for his life. Ahead of him are terrible physical and psychological trials, and still hope. Incredible hope of being saved and lust for life.

I don't want to talk about the ending of the movie. Better to see it for yourself…

Gravity

Actresses in single-actor films also have a place on our list. One of them was the famous Sandra Bullock, who starred in the 2013 film Gravity. Her character is medical astronaut Ryan Stone, who is on her first space mission. Her day-to-day research duties are fairly routine, but they are suddenly interrupted by disaster.

Of the survivors, only she and the shuttle captain Matt Kowalski, played by actor George Clooney, remain. All around them is the gaping depth of space, and all they can do now is fly in orbit. Earth is like space debris. The heroine of Sandra Bullock does not immediately, but still comes to the realization that Kowalski, who is trying to help her, is actually just a figment of her imagination. And now she can only hope for herself…

It is noteworthy that the outstanding film director James Cameron, after the release of "Gravity", recognized this picture as the best film about space in the history of world cinema.

Lok

In the same 2013, the great actor Tom Hardy played in the dramatic thriller "Lock", which tells the story of a construction worker and an exemplary family man, Ivan Locke, who is to be promoted tomorrow, and he is looking forward to it. But when evening falls, an unexpected phone call breaks into Ivan's life, turning everything around.

During almost the entire film, the viewer sees only the face of the hero Tom Hardy and his endless conversations on a mobile phone while driving through the night city. However, this does not make the picture boring. Rather, on the contrary, because after a short time, the viewer seems to plunge into life behind the screen, becoming a kind of accomplice to all events.

Hardy's hero is all alone. There is only him, his car, the road and the arrow of the navigator. And, of course, an important decision that he must make.

Hope will not fade away

In the 2013 film, actor Robert Redford played a lone traveler sailing his luxurious yacht through the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. However, soon his serene swimmingwas interrupted by a strong impact of a container floating in the water, which pierced the side of his ship. As a result, his yacht begins to sink, and the storm that breaks out only aggravates the situation of the hero Redford, who is forced to enter into an unequal battle with the elements.

This film is notable for being the only film in the last hundred years to have only one actor and one screenwriter and director JC Chandor. Only a few lines will be said by the hero of Robert Redford for the entire screen time, but this film, by and large, does not need any words, because the main thing in it is the silent and gloomy duel of a stubborn middle-aged man with the ocean and circumstances.

Collector

The final in today's review of films with one actor was the wonderful work of one of the best contemporary actors in Russia, Konstantin Khabensky, who played, perhaps, in the only domestic film that represents the topic of our discussion today.

Arthur, the protagonist of the thriller "The Collector", released in 2016, is a real professional in knocking out debts from large debtors. He is a cynical and self-confident virtuoso of his craft, a subtle psychologist and a master of reincarnation. The hero of Khabensky is satisfied with absolutely everything in his life, only in the heat of his never-ending work, he does not notice at all how he turned from a collector into a target and a debtor.

The hunter became a victim, but the world does notreacted, and in the window of the office of the lone collector Arthur, the lights of the metropolis are still blinking measuredly. He is completely alone. There is only a phone and a few hours of time to escape…