10. Elephant (2003)
Using a cast of mostly non-actors, Gus Van Sant’s 'Elephant' takes on the high school shooting epidemic, as both cultural polemic and elegant fiction. It is an unorthodox creation of gun culture, disaffected youth, sensitivity and erudition.
9. WALL-E (2008)
This is a stunning animation from Pixar Animation Studios, a children’s film, which has loftier ambitions than most would expect. Touching on themes of overpopulation, corporate overconsumption, the environment, waste management, dominion, responsibility, and all with a sentimental lip, director and co-writer Andrew Stanton has a lot to say, and does it with very little dialogue.
8. Playtime (1967)
Jacques Tati's movie 'Playtime' is a 70mm masterpiece. It is a subtle yet visual comedy, where dialogue is just a background conceit to garish physical camp, and genius tightly-choreographed. 50 years since it was filmed and 'Playtime' still plays out as fresh and foolish as ever.
7. Solaris (1972)
One of legendary Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s most applauded efforts, 'Solaris', adapted from Stanisław Lem’s science-fiction masterpiece, is a philosophical feat of strength. Tarkovsky is more interested with color symbolism, religious imagery, and compounded, creepingly-paced narrative then with using dialogue.
6. There Will Be Blood (2007)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s ruthless masterpiece deserves to be on this list primarily for its bravura first act, where not a word is spoken until about the half hour mark. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the infamous oil baron, Daniel Plainview, one of the best performances of all time, for which he won an Oscar for Best Actor.
5. Eraserhead (1977)
David Lynch’s surrealist fantasia 'Eraserhead' is a charcoal comedy, obsessed with body horror and grotesque characters. Starring Lynch’s greatest muse, Jack Nance as Henry, 'Eraserhead' is an acquired taste, but it’s also an enduring one, and a great midnight movie, too.
4. Under the Skin (2013)
A deeply thoughtful, penetrating, and profoundly shocking exploration of civilization and humanity, 'Under the Skin' is a fascinating and hallucinatory experience, impossible to ignore, it worries, teases and taunts the viewer for days afterwards. And for her part, Scarlett Johansson is outstanding, she shines in a zero cool, controlled and calculating process, all while saying very little.
3. The Driver (1978)
'The Driver', is an influential movie which Quentin Tarantino has referenced repeatedly in his work. The movie presents an almost claustrophobic subterranean underworld of parking lots, filling stations, dangerous reprobates, a dodgy detective, as well as at least one risqué lorelei and potential femme fatale.
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' contains many memorable sequences with excellent dialogue, the film is bookended with lengthy dialogue-free passages, deeply psychedelic and substantially influenced by György Ligeti’s music and eye-popping visuals. Formally untouchable, technically immaculate, and artistically overwhelming, '2001' is the finest science-fiction film ever made and its silences somehow speaks volumes.
1. Dunkirk (2017)
There is no need to talk when you see war, images just say everything. That's what Christopher Nolan did with 'Dunkirk', a war masterpiece relied on significantly less dialogue, instead letting tension and suspense fill the screen as the action sequences unfolded. In fact, Nolan once considered shooting the movie without a script at all. Most of the movie is propelled by the action and suspense from the Dunkirk evacuation and all the intensity that comes with it.