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Best Sincere Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of sincere cinema — measured across 1,152 indexed frames from 16 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Sincere films over-index on wine glass, neon sign and table lamp — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    Sideways (2004)

    Alexander PayneDP Phedon PapamichaelIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →

    A week before his friend Jack is to be married, best man Miles and the prospective groom head off to wine country for a week of fun, relaxation and - of course - wine drinking. Miles is the oenophile and does his best to teach Jack a bit about the art of appreciating great wine. All Jack cares about is drinking and carousing, something he accomplishes when he meets the attractive Stephanie at one of the vineyards. Miles is something of a sad sack, a high school English teacher who is a failed writer at heart. He has yet to get over the fact that his wife has divorced him and that she has remarried and he now faces that nerve racking wait for word from a prospective publisher. Miles has an opportunity to start anew when he meets Stephanie's friend Maya but when he let's slip that Jack is about to be married any hope of a relationship seems to be lost.

  2. 2

    The Worst Person in the World (2021)

    Joachim TrierDP Kasper TuxenIMDb 7.7TMDB 7.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    A modern dramedy about the quest for love and meaning in contemporary Oslo. It chronicles four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is.

  3. 3

    The Love Witch (2016)

    Anna BillerDP M. David MullenIMDb 6.2TMDB 6.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    Elaine, a beautiful young witch, is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. However her spells work too well, and she ends up with a string of hapless victims. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved will drive her to the brink of insanity and murder. With a visual style that pays tribute to Technicolor thrillers of the 1970s, THE LOVE WITCH explores female fantasy and the repercussions of pathological narcissism.

  4. 4

    The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

    Lana WachowskiDP Daniele MassaccesiIMDb 5.6TMDB 6.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Return to a world of two realities: one, everyday life; the other, what lies behind it. To find out if his reality is a construct, to truly know himself, Mr. Anderson will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more.

  5. 5

    Frances Ha (2012)

    Noah BaumbachDP Sam LevyIMDb 7.4TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Frances lives in New York, but she doesn't really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she's not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren't really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles. Frances wants so much more than she has but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness.

  6. 6

    Blindspotting (2018)

    Carlos López EstradaDP Robby BaumgartnerIMDb 7.4TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Collin (Daveed Diggs) must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles (Rafael Casal), work as movers and are forced to watch their old neighborhood become a trendy spot in the rapidly gentrifying Bay Area. When a life-altering event causes Collin to miss his mandatory curfew, the two men struggle to maintain their friendship as the changing social landscape exposes their differences. Explores the intersection of race and class set against the backdrop of Oakland.

  7. 7

    Marie Antoinette (2006)

    Sofia CoppolaDP Lance AcordIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    "All eyes will be on you," says the Austrian Empress, Maria Theresa to her youngest daughter Marie Antoinette. The film, marketed for a teen audience, is an impressionistic retelling of Marie Antoinette's life as a young queen in the opulent and eccentric court at Versailles. The film focuses on Marie Antoinette, as she matures from a teenage bride to a young woman and eventual queen of France.

  8. 8

    Cold Mountain (2003)

    Anthony MinghellaDP John SealeIMDb 7.2TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    In this classic story of love and devotion set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, a wounded Confederate soldier named W.P. Inman deserts his unit and travels across the South, aiming to return to his young wife, Ada, who he left behind to tend their farm. As Inman makes his perilous journey home, Ada struggles to keep their home intact with the assistance of Ruby, a mysterious drifter sent to help her by a kindly neighbor.

  9. 9

    Heavenly Creatures (1994)

    Peter JacksonDP Alun BollingerIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme met in school during the 1950s. Instant best friends, they proceeded to spend every minute possible together, often writing about a fantasy land of their own invention. More and more estranged from their respective families, the two girls realise that they are extremely different from most other people, and agree to take any steps necessary to ensure that they are not seperated. The two families are increasingly concerned about the girls' friendship in a strictly moralistic era.

  10. 10

    House (Hausu) (1977)

    Nobuhiko ObayashiDP Yoshitaka SakamotoIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    Oshare (Gorgeous) is excited about spending summer vacation with her father, until she finds out that his beautiful, freakishly serene girlfriend Ryouko would be going as well. Oshare decides she will be going to her aunt's house in the country instead. She brings with her her friends from school - Fanta (who likes to take pictures, and daydreams a lot), KunFuu (who has very good reflexes), Gari/Prof (who is a major nerd), Sweet (who likes to clean), Mac (who eats a lot), and Melody (a musician). However, the girls are unaware that the house is actually haunted. When they arrive at the house, crazy events take place and the girls disappear one by one while slowly discovering the secret behind all the madness.

What sincere films are made of

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

  • wine glass3.2×
  • neon sign2.4×
  • table lamp1.9×
  • trees1.7×
  • tree1.7×

How sincere 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 sincere from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 24%widevs 20% baseline
  • 84%eye levelvs 69% baseline

What breaks the pattern

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) 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 1,152 frames from 16 films carrying the sincere label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 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/sincere

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