The running time of a movie is crucial. Some films drag on for far over three hours, yet the story demands that the pace be slow. In addition to being among the best movies of all time, several of the longest films ever created also hold the record for running the longest.
The majority of Andrei Tarkovsky’s, Bela Tarr’s, and Sergio Leone’s films each have a run duration that is around 150 minutes long on average.
In general, longer films are enjoyable because they allow for more in-depth looks at the characters and the worlds they inhabit, as well as the documentation of epic storylines that span many decades.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s check out the world’s longest films. We were careful to include only noteworthy long-form cinematic works on this list.
This page will answer queries like “how long is the longest movie” and “what is the longest movie ever filmed.” Have you seen the longest film available on Netflix?
Table of Contents
20. Our Common Humanity (1959-1961)
The three parts of Masaki Kobayashi’s blazing epic were first published in Japan between 1959 and 1961. It’s the longest film Kobayashi has ever created, clocking in at more than 9 hours and 39 minutes, and is widely regarded as one of the longest fiction films of all time.
‘No Greater Love,’ ‘Road to Eternity,’ and ‘A Soldier’s Prayer’ tell the story of a Japanese socialist attempting to survive in a totalitarian Japan during World War II. Amazingly ambitious, it succeeds in captivating you with its naked humanity and empathetic representation of the human condition.
https://youtu.be/fwtwAmrAle8
19. Satantango 2 (1994)
Bela Tarr is a Hungarian filmmaker famous for his languid, unhurried style, which allows for contemplative looks at everyday life. You might compare Tarr to Andrei Tarkovsky and claim he’s the gloomier, cynical cousin.
This 7-hour masterwork shows a lonely town and the ruined daily lives of its residents and is typical of his works in terms of length and pace. Tarr’s trademark extended takes force the viewer to pay attention to every frame and the range of feelings shown in it. It is stunning in its eeriness, brutal in its honesty, and surprisingly funny in its gloom.
https://youtu.be/g43a7iZLg04
18. The Prime of One’s Youth (2003)
‘The Best of Youth’ follows a massive narrative framework typical of Italian epics, chronicling the many social and political changes that occurred in Italy in the middle and latter decades of the twentieth century.
A family, including two brothers, who live through and report on the country’s drastic political and cultural upheavals over the course of four decades are used as a comparison.
The movie was supposed to be a TV miniseries, but it ended up being converted into a movie instead and winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival for “Un Certain Regard.” The long-running time (366 minutes!) may put you off, but you’ll be glad you committed.
17. La Commune (Paris, 1871)
The problems of the 19th-century Parisian working class are shown in Peter Watkins’ play, which is told in a factual format yet has a distinctly fictional feel. Most of the performers in the film are amateurs, and they all had to learn a great deal about the Paris Commune to play their parts convincingly.
As a result of their work, the picture has a more genuine, authentic aspect that has been sorely lacking up to this point. The initial runtime of the film was over 340 minutes, and it mostly comprises interviews with members of the working class and the bourgeoisie who are shown on television. In modern times, “La Commune” has been recognised as one of the most important movies ever.
16. 1900 (1976)
It’s safe to say that Bernardo Bertolucci’s most renowned film, “Last Tango in Paris,” is the most notorious example of the director’s reputation for making controversial and shocking films.
But four years after his shattering sexual drama shocked the world of cinema with controversy, he also filmed an enormous historical drama starring Robert De Niro in 1976, and this film appears to have been forgotten.
The two best friends from their youth in Emilia had quite different experiences with the many political changes that occurred over the twentieth century, and their lives are chronicled in this expansive epic.
The film was released in two parts and various formats around the globe, with the United States getting a reduced 247-minute version. It takes around 317 minutes to see the film in its original format.
15. Alexander and Fanny (1982)
Ingmar Bergman was a master at touching on the deepest, darkest, and most private parts of the human mind. Almost therapeutic, his presentation of you and your place in the world as he sees it is starkly bare.
Perhaps the Swedish master’s greatest work is “Fanny and Alexander.” The film follows two brothers as they deal with life’s many challenges and ultimately learn to lean on one another.
It’s a massive story that includes everything: happiness and sadness, joy and sorrow, triumph and tragedy. Its terrible portrayal of childhood would have the same impact as seeing a brilliantly detailed picture and stay with you for a long time.
One of the longest films ever produced at 312 minutes, “Fanny and Alexander” is also a breathtaking piece of art that seems to have been poured out of the director’s soul.
14. Mystery of Lisbon (2011)
This lengthy Portuguese costume drama (a total of 272 minutes) was shown as a miniseries in numerous countries, with each episode running for 60 minutes.
Its expansive plot is full of unexpected turns, ambiguous characters, flashbacks, and alternating perspectives from different characters. The film nearly functions as an anatomy of storytelling, with the numerous storylines involving different people going through different stages of life and fighting with their own identities all elegantly intertwined.
The theme of destiny is important to the plot and drives the plot forward. It’s aesthetically stunning, full of rich emotion, and exudes a haunting beauty that won’t let you forget it.
13. THE TRAVELLING PLAYERS
The film follows a band of traveling players as they travel through Greece, trying to play out a well-known erotic play. Gradually, the characters and their episodes of affection, envy, and madness begin being fleshed out.
some characters are killed, some are sold out, some are even tormented and banished below the iron hand of tyranny. “The Traveling Players”, however moderate and requesting, demonstrates itself to compensate and altogether amazing.
there’s near imaging feeling to “The Traveling Players”, particularly as a lot of shots move in the area as well as in time; Angelopoulos’ coordinating, be that as it may, is so shamelessly keen that you never truly observe the change from past to present or future.
12. WAR AND PEACE
Along these lines, Sergei Bondarchuk’s colossus of a film, “War and Peace“, was born.
the most costly artistic creation to be made in the country at the astounding expense of $67 million “War and Peace” was a massive achievement and is even viewed as one of the most significant movies made during the 60s.
A maddeningly aspiring adjustment of Tolstoy’s large book, its generation esteems coordinate those of staggering Hollywood works of art like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Gone with the Wind”.
pleasant and overwhelming, it was the sole Soviet film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and is right up ’til the current time the longest film.
11.SHOAH
One of the most important documentaries ever made, “Shoah“ may be nerve-racking and honestly change film going expertise.
almost 10-hour long film that tries to catch the pain and evil dead against the Jewish people throughout the Holocaust, “Shoah” is extraordinary and persistent.
initially planned by the Israeli specialists who approved the movie to be a 2-hour long documentaries shot over year and a half, the desire of “Shoah” in its narrating ascended from the brain of its executive, Claude Lanzmann, who might embark to shoot 350 hours of crude film and take eleven years to discharge it.
Lanzmann, the kid of Jewish foreigners, wished to catch the incredible horror of the unimaginable horror through the declarations of survivors, witnesses, and even culprits of world war II.
10. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF KING
The Lord of the Rings: The return of the King may be a 2003 epic dream drama movie directed by Peter Jackson dependent on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
it’s the third and last portion in the Lord of the Rings series, following The Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers.
As Sauron launches the last phases of his triumph of Middle-earth, Gandalf the Wizard and Théoden, the King of Rohan rally their powers to help safeguard Gondor’s capital Mina’s Tirith from the looming threat.
9. GANDHI
This acclaimed account drama presents major events in the life of Mohandas Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), the beloved Indian leader who stood against British rule over his country.
Dedicated to the idea of nonviolent resistance, Gandhi is at first who by English officers, including the influential Lord Irwin (John Gielgud), but eventually, he and his cause become internationally famous, and his gatherings of passive protest move including towards independence.
This movie was released on November 30, 1982, won many awards and the actor who played Gandhi’s role won Oscar too.
8. A Sunny Summer Day (1991)
Culturally, Southeast Asian films frequently seem foreign to me. There’s an emotional distance that I can’t seem to go over in even the movies I love the most.
Even though I have my usual problems, Edward Yang’s “A Bright Summer Day” touched me profoundly and humorously. The video depicts the violent escalation of a fight between two juvenile gangs in a neighbourhood.
Cultural and racial identity, as well as violence, sexuality, love, and adolescence, are all examined. The film runs for 237 minutes, yet sitting through it will be an experience you won’t soon forget.
7. The Itinerant Performers (1975)
Theo Angelopoulos, a renowned Greek filmmaker, has always been deeply interested in his country’s history. The Traveling Players is a monumental achievement that exemplifies everything Angelopoulos has worked for as a director.
It’s one of the longest films ever produced, clocking in at just under four hours, and it’s monumental in scale and ambition, following a troupe of theatre performers as they see the different political turmoil their beloved home nation has had to undergo.
6. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
This sombre masterwork by Sergio Leone is a patchwork of memories from infancy, fantasies, lost loves, and regrets. Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” popularized the gangster film genre with its highly stylized, glamorized depiction of mafia dons, but “Once Upon a Time in America” looks at the individuals who aren’t discussed, those whose hopes and goals aren’t given any attention.
These guys are regular dudes trying to make it through the day-by-day grind and deal with the harsh realities of life. Unlike Coppola’s groundbreaking masterwork, in which the dons play a central role, Leone’s focus is squarely on the victims and perpetrators of gang violence.
Folks who could as well be our dads or granddads. The company notably cut the picture down to 139 minutes, which was met with widespread criticism and box office failure. Even decades after its first release, critics and audiences alike still consider the 229-minute cut to be among the best films ever.
5. Seven Samurai (1954)
akira Kurosawa’s groundbreaking masterwork often cited as the best action picture ever produced, clocks in at over 227 minutes yet never drags.
In the film, a seasoned samurai and a community of farmers face up against a gang of robbers who have come to their town to take their harvest. Despite its age, the high-octane action scenes in ‘Seven Samurai,’ which are lauded for their technical and narrative advances, nonetheless manage to make the film seem more engaging and interesting than the vast majority of action films produced today.
Most of the film’s innovations are now standard precise, so a new generation of moviegoers may have trouble appreciating its magnificence. However, the picture is worth seeing because of the ground-breaking ideas it contains and the sheer fun it provides throughout.
4. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
A three-and-a-half-hour-long movie in which a lady prepares a meatloaf, peels potatoes, goes grocery shopping, takes a bath, and does housework. If you’re still confused, I just gave you a synopsis of “Jeanne Dielman,” the revolutionary feminist masterwork by Chantal Akerman. Instead of trying to deceive or create compassion for her character, Akerman has you watch as the monotony of her life slowly and brutally destroys her spirit. ‘
Jeanne Dielman’ is one of the best feminist films of all time and is generally recognised as a milestone of avant-garde filmmaking.
https://youtu.be/q9H-p1ERaDk
3. The Boat (1981)
The narrative of a U-boat crew during World War II, “Das Boot” shows the crew’s challenges, inner tensions, ennui, and how they push themselves onward as the ridiculous cruelty of war starts to take its toll.
The film’s portrayal of war, and especially the devastatingly personal element of it, is very gritty and unflinchingly bold. Those serving in the military aren’t presented as heroes.
They’re simply regular guys doing their best to defend their nation, but the harsh realities of a drawn-out, fruitless war are starting to get to them. The film has been released in many different cuts, the longest of which clocks in at about 209 minutes.
2. Andrei Rublev (1966)
Andrei Tarkovsky created several masterpieces over his career, but “Andrei Rublev” is perhaps his most intimate and heartfelt. The film follows a Russian icon painter from the 15th century as he deals with the spiritual and personal devastation of his homeland as a result of its intricate political and cultural disputes.
The picture runs for over 205 minutes and takes its time to establish the tale, but the payoff is spectacular and the total experience is much too deep to put into words, as is the case with most Tarkovsky films. There has never been a more heartbreakingly accurate portrayal of a period and a culture caught up in all its flaws and inner turmoil.
1. Part II of The Godfather (1974)
The most heartbreaking example of character metamorphosis in the film is perhaps Francis Ford Coppola’s Shakespearean tragedy The Godfather, in which an idealistic war hero becomes a cold-blooded mafia don via involvement in the family business.
The film’s dual narrative approach examines both sides of the tale, the ascent of Vito Corleone as a mobster and the decline of Michael, and is led by the electric Al Pacino in both.
Some readers may have preferred the considerably shorter first instalment, but it was only in the longer, more complex follow-up that the characters were given the depth they deserved.
The Godfather half II maybe a 1974 American epic crime movie produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay co-composed with Mario Puzo, featuring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
Somewhat obsessed on Puzo’s 1969 novel The Godfather, the film is each continuation and prequel to The Godfather, introducing parallel shows:
one grabs the 1958 story of archangel Corleone, the new Don of the Corleone crime family, making certain the privately-run company within the fallout of a shot to kill he;
Top 10 Lists of the people, things, places, most expensive, animals, most popular, luxury and high rankings of world. World's Top Insider focuses on the top ten lists of best, greatest and top rankings in the world.
