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Best Rural area Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of rural area cinema — measured across 2,588 indexed frames from 40 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Rural area films over-index on dirt path, dirt road and sky — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    My Neighbour Totoro (1988)

    Hayao MiyazakiDP Hisao ShiraiIMDb 8.1TMDB 8.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    Two young girls, 10-year-old Satsuki and her 4-year-old sister Mei, move into a house in the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. Satsuki and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by magical creatures called Totoros (pronounced toe-toe-ro). They soon befriend these Totoros, and have several magical adventures.

  2. 2

    Wolf Children (2012)

    Mamoru HosodaDP Ryo HoribeIMDb 8.1TMDB 8.2See in full on FrameThrower →

    After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident while hunting for food for their children, a young woman must find ways to raise the werewolf son and daughter that she had with him while keeping their trait hidden from society.

  3. 3

    For A Few Dollars More (1965)

    Sergio LeoneDP Massimo DallamanoIMDb 8.2TMDB 8.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    With his reputation preceding him after a white-knuckle duel eighteen months ago, a taciturn American bounty hunter rides into the godforsaken town of Tucumcari. After all, nothing can stop him--this time, the solitary stranger is after El Indio, a psychopathic bandit leader bent on destruction and mayhem. But the sadistic outlaw and his murderous jackals have already set their sights on robbing the impenetrable Bank of El Paso. As a result, the poncho-clad Americano has no choice but to break an unwritten personal rule: join forces with Colonel Douglas Mortimer, a hawk-eyed marksman with a hidden agenda. Now, two seasoned hunters, The Man with No Name and The Man in Black, are after the same prey. And as silent double-crosses and fragile allegiances pave the way for a bloody showdown at high noon, a question arises. Once, the nameless American risked life and limb for a fistful of dollars. Is it worth dicing with death for a few dollars more?

  4. 4

    Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)

    Thomas VinterbergDP Charlotte Bruus ChristensenIMDb 7.1TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    The story of independent, beautiful and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan), who attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a sheep farmer, captivated by her fetching willfulness; Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge), a handsome and reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), a prosperous and mature bachelor. This timeless story of Bathsheba's choices and passions explores the nature of relationships and love - as well as the human ability to overcome hardships through resilience and perseverance.

  5. 5

    God’s Own Country (2017)

    Francis LeeDP Joshua James RichardsIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →

    Spring. Yorkshire. Isolated young sheep farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe, employed for the lambing season, ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path.

  6. 6

    Princess Mononoke (1997)

    Hayao MiyazakiDP Atsushi OkuiIMDb 8.3TMDB 8.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    While protecting his village from rampaging boar-god/demon, a confident young warrior, Ashitaka, is stricken by a deadly curse. To save his life, he must journey to the forests of the west. Once there, he's embroiled in a fierce campaign that humans were waging on the forest. The ambitious Lady Eboshi and her loyal clan use their guns against the gods of the forest and a brave young woman, Princess Mononoke, who was raised by a wolf-god. Ashitaka sees the good in both sides and tries to stem the flood of blood. This is met by animosity by both sides as they each see him as supporting the enemy.

  7. 7

    The Village (2004)

    M. Night ShyamalanDP Roger DeakinsIMDb 6.6TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →

    M Night Shyamalan's The Village revolves around a desolate town in Pennsylvania. The residents of this town live by strict rules - They are not to leave the village or the monsters beyond their boundaries will surely attack them. Lucius and Ivy have an attraction - a strong one. But when Noah - a man with an intellectual disability and who also has feelings for Ivy, finds out that the two are In love, Noah attacks Lucius. He will die if brave Ivy (who is blind) does not breach the borders and find help to save Lucius.

  8. 8

    Koyaanasquatsi (1982)

    Godfrey ReggioDP Ron FrickeIMDb 8.2TMDB 7.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    This experimental film looks at the world and more specifically the effect man has had on the landscape and the environment. Without narration, the film shows the world in a pristine condition and untouched: blue skies, beautiful landscapes and endless vistas. The man-made world is much less appealing. Essentially a montage using a variety of film techniques to provide a visually stunning montage of images.

  9. 9

    Amarcord (1973)

    Federico FelliniDP Giuseppe RotunnoIMDb 7.8TMDB 7.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    One year in a small northern Italian coastal town in the late 1930s is presented. The slightly off-kilter cast of characters are affected by time and location, the social mores dictated largely by Catholicism, and the national fervor surrounding Il Duce aka Benito Mussolini and Fascism. The stories loosely center on mid-teen Titta and his household, including his adolescent brother, his ever-supportive mother who is always defending him against his father, his freeloading maternal Uncle Lallo, and his paternal grandfather who slyly has eyes and hands for the household maid. Other townsfolk include: town beauty Gradisca, who can probably have any man she wants but generally has none as most think she out of their league; Volpina, the prostitute; Giudizio, the historian; a blind accordionist; and an extremely buxom tobacconist. The several vignettes presented include: the town bonfire in celebration of spring; life at Titta's school with his classmates and teachers; Titta's father Aurelio at his beachfront construction worksite and his and his workmates' encounter with Volpina; Titta's confessions to the priest about his burgeoning sexuality; Aurelio being questioned by authorities about his anti-Fascist leanings; a fantasy sequence at the luxurious Grand Hotel; a family outing with Aurelio's institutionalized brother Teo; many townsfolk embarking on a sail to witness a marine event passing by their town; an annual car race; Titta's fantasy encounter with the tobacconist after closing hours coming true; events surrounding the big snowfall that year, including a family tragedy; and an event centering on Gradisca and her future.

  10. 10

    Tremors (1990)

    Ron UnderwoodDP Alexander GruszynskiIMDb 7.2TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    A small town gradually becomes aware of a strange creature which picks off people one by one. But what is this creature, and where is it? At the same time, a seismologist is working in the area, she detects _tremors_. The creature lives underground, and can 'pop up' without warning. Trapped in their town, the town-folk have no escape.

What rural area films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a rural area frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — dirt path is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • dirt path5.6×
  • dirt road4.6×
  • sky3.9×
  • grass3.0×
  • clouds2.8×
  • mountain2.8×
  • boy2.6×
  • dirt2.4×

How rural area films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate rural area from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 29%widevs 20% baseline
  • 37%mediumvs 48% baseline
  • 55%naturalvs 43% baseline
  • 52%dayvs 42% baseline

What breaks the pattern

Mirrors (2008) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 2,588 frames from 40 films carrying the rural area label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (408,752 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/rural-area

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