Character development vs. plot driven story.

I wonder what is more important in a movie. My favorite movie of all time use to be For A Few Dollars More. Having watching it again though, it feels like the story is more plot driven than character driven. The characters don't really go through any major changes.

But if you compare it to a movie like Cell 211, the protagonist and the antagonist go through complete 180 degree changes by comparison.

So what do you think is more important in a movie? Plot and atmosphere, or character development?

Barring Fight Club and Whiplash, my favourite movies are all deed-oriented, plot-heavy and eventful. I hate that notion that character development is some quota that fiction has to fulfill in order to be good. They Live, for example, has almost no character development and it's still a GOAT

Doesn't matter. There's no formula to success. It's more important to be cohesive.

Hitchcock said that the 3 most important things in film-making are 'The script, the script and the script'. So for narrative driven stories it would probably lean on the side of the plot. But where would we be without amazing art like the films of Bella Tarr, Tarkovsksy etc

The first rule to film club is that there are no rules to film club.

I don't know, first I don't think anything is important, but apart from that, I tend to like character driven films and looking at my favorites the atmosphere is as important, relevant as the character. I think the plot born to be amusing, entertaining, to create clichés, to make people wait for something, which is okay. We can generalize, but there's always exceptions to everything.

I'm not sure I would put plot and atmosphere in opposition to character development, one of the most effective tools in cinema is creating an atmosphere which informs your drama.

Yeah it's not in opposition to character development, but there are times when the writer will favor one over the other it seems.

Another example, would be The Sting compared Taxi Driver. The Sting is driven a lot by plot, but the characters are not hugely changed in the end. They are still very much the same people from the start. Where as Taxi Driver doesn't have near as much plot by comparison, but the character is a completely different person by the climax.

I don't think one is more important than another, but I love a great character study.

Depends on the type of movie. A focus on either can work if the film commits to it and tells a story consistent with that choice (and vice versa).

If you're making a film about a 50-year-old divorced woman coming to grips with re-entering the dating scene, yeah, you should probably spend a lot of time on character development. If you're making a sci-fi thriller full of plot twists and techno-speculation, maybe spend more time on plot.

Thinking of a recent movie, Joker, is character driven, at least I think it is, have plot as well, but, the atmosphere is very important to make that character, is as or more important than the plot itself. Maybe ironpony meant something different by atmosphere. Taxi Driver as well, the atmosphere is very important forming the character, is maybe the most important actually. One of the things that I pay more attention in a character study kind of film is the atmosphere, is more important than words, the atmosphere is like a report, a background.

I would say Joker is a lot more character driven than plot driven, where as if you compare it to The Dark Knight, there is a more plot going on in comparison, but Joker and Batman are still very much the same characters by the end of the story, with no huge changes, accept for the Harvey Dent character.

That's actually a great example, because it's ostensibly "about" the same character (albeit not the main character in both), and yet they're two totally different films, and either being more like the other in the plot/character focus split wouldn't make as much sense.

I think a movie to be character driven doesn't necessarily have to have personality changes, or any type of changes for that matter, it simply needs to be centered on a character actions, thoughts, etc. It's more fashionable, sold able to have changes though, might also be easier to make drama out of it also. But I see your point, it's a good example.

I basically agree what what everyone else already said: it depends on the movie style.

But one thing...your last sentence in bold seems to suggest that plot and atmosphere go hand and hand in a movie, that's not always the case. Many plot driven movies have little in the way of atmosphere. I would equate atmosphere more with world building, but even then both of those are separate things. Think of Bladerunner and how it uses character development, plot, atmosphere and world building to achieve it's goals.

Oh okay, well I meant how important are character arcs for a movie story. When it comes to picking what you think is the best movie of all time, that movie should have a powerful emotional response within you, right? My best movie of all time has been For A Few Dollars More over the years. But I watch it again and think, there are no drastic character changes or arcs in this movie, so why is it the best movie of all time for me? Shouldn't one pick a movie with more character development?

Many people would say yes, that a movie has to hit emotionally hard to make it memorable, those are often the most memorable movies. But not always...personally I find that subtle 'quietly reflective' films can do more for me than a movie with the 'big ending'.

That's a great movie, it satisfies the need to see an outsider-underdog who suffers horribly at the hands of the evil antagonist, finally rise up and give pay back. Revenge films, especially 'emotionally justifiable revenge' films are often people's favorites. Seeing how For A Few Dollars More is set in a world apart from our own real world, the violence and revenge can be enjoyed without guilt as it has no real world consequences...Hope that makes sense.

I love Sátántangó where there’s very little script or action, but I find it enormously compelling.

Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman movie (another huge favorite) has very little script, but watching this woman move through her day was fascinating to me.

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Oh okay, I thought that revenge without consequence, makes the movie less deep, and therefore less emotional, and therefore less powerful, if that makes sense.

Well, it could be intellectually appealing, artistically appealing and they don’t necessarily mean emotional significant, or they do? I don’t know, there are movies I like very much that they don’t make me sad, or joyful, I simply appreciate them, I like to contemplate there hypothesis, someone else’s creativity, imagination.

No, one doesn’t pick a favorite movie, it does, but not like a choose he have to make, the reasons you like that movie are probably unknown to you, and that’s a good thing because it makes it honest. I like to say my favorite movies are my favorites for all the wrong reasons; people need someone to tell them there’s nothing wrong, it’s okay, and that’s one of the reasons I tend to like character driven movies, doesn’t mean everyone else should or have to, maybe you like the vibe, the ambient, the way they talk, the way they react, can be many things you like subconsciously, because they’re a remembrance, or could be something else and you don’t even realize what it is, that’s why I believe that’s for the best, it’s genuine somehow, at least is what I think. That’s why I say it’s difficult to review and rate a movie, most of the times we can’t put many things aside, I tried to avoid it for a while.

I would say character development is part of the plot. But at the least if you ask me plot is everything! If the movie doesn't tell a good story, what good is anything else?

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My Favorite Films

It’s becoming almost fashionable among indies artist making movies without plots, or unimportant ones, the non commercial movies, while the commercial movies (not Marvels & Co.) are trying to be more narrative, how hilarious. My favorite American director Jim Jarmusch makes movies with unimportant plots, and I love them for it. The story is one of the things people instinctively pay more close attention, don’t know if they should.