I gave myself a little criteria check list for compiling this and I found out that the best one-on-one films are when 1) There are only two characters (obviously). Three or more gets too out of control character development-wise (the movie Carnage with Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet is a good example). 2) The movie is set in one place - one building or one city - not jumping around to different locations. It distracts from the characters. 3) Strangers have to meet. Not old friends meeting up. The exception is obviously Before Sunset but I'm letting it slide because the two characters don't "meet up", they run into each other and it's a continuation of a story (and it's so damn good, ok). 4) It must be set in real time. All of these movies document an hour and a half of the characters' time. We watch them walk, talk, and live every minute right before our eyes. It makes for a more intimate and raw exposure of personalities and stories.
6. Two Night Stand, 2014, dir. Max Nichols
This one is probably the cheesiest and most deliberate of them all but all the basics are there: two strangers connecting on a deeper level only because they're being unintentionally forced to by a snow storm. Even better: it takes place in a tiny Brooklyn apartment.
5. Night Owls, 2015, dir. Charles Hood
Wonderfully acted for two relative unknowns, Night Owls also takes place in a home over the course of a night. The concept is simple: two strangers who were meant to just leave it as a random hook up end up spending the night together, one keeping the other awake all the while gossiping, flirting, and cooking a casserole that involves potato chips. Past issues are brought up, personality flaws are brought to the table, and, in the end, the two become more or less friends.
4. Before We Go, 2015, dir. Chris Evans
Chris Evans' directorial debut is pretty solid for a superhero! But for real, this isn't a terrible movie, it's just a bit dragged out. But what I do like about Before We Go is that the relationship between the two main characters remains, for the most part, pretty platonic. No sex is ever shown between the two which I found refreshing. I also like that it's set throughout New York City during the wee-hours of the morning - the best time, in my opinion, to be wandering the streets having intimate conversations.
3. Interview, 2007, dir. Steve Buscemi
Another movie that features its director in the main cast. Interview is probably the most heated of all the films I've picked out. The two characters are constantly trying to one-up each other, catching one another in a lie or picking out flaws from their personal lives, when their relationship was supposed to be just business related. As with most of these movies, the characters learn something about themselves through the other person which somehow makes the arduous night all worth it the next morning.
2. Before Sunrise, 1995, dir. Richard Linklater
The mecca of all one-on-one films is the Before trilogy by Richard Linklater. The first film in the series, Before Sunrise, takes place, again, during the early morning hours in Vienna, Austria. The conversations here are pure. They're full of curiosity, naïveté, passion, and love. They're harmless and inquisitive and innocent and there's never a lull even though the entire movie follows Jesse and Céline wandering around Vienna at night.
1. Before Sunset, 2004, dir. Richard Linklater
The reason I chose Before Sunset as number one was because of a few things: 1) it takes place during the day, in the late afternoon. Every other film on this list takes place at night where it's easier to have intimate, private conversations that can be hidden by the dark, night colored blanket. Jesse and Celine's conversations are exposed by the afternoon Parisian sunlight. 2) There's an already establish rapport between the two characters. Even though this is Jesse and Celine's first time meeting in nine years, their conversations still flow like the first time they met.
