Frame Narrative Movies
Kinora's catalogue lists 100 films built around a frame narrative, spanning 1939–2024. Each is tagged by where and when it takes place — filter by real-world setting, era, and environment, or open any film for its full tagged world.
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- 2013
12 Years a Slave
Ruraldir. Steve McQueen - 1963
8½
Urbandir. Federico Fellini - 1992
A League of Their Own
Urban · Ruraldir. Penny Marshall - 1992
A River Runs Through It
Ruraldir. Robert Redford - 2002
About Schmidt
Suburban · Ruraldir. Alexander Payne - 1950
All About Eve
Urbandir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz - 1984
Amadeus
Urbandir. Miloš Forman - 1999
American Beauty
Suburbandir. Sam Mendes - 2023
American Fiction
Urban · Coastal Seadir. Cord Jefferson - 2012
Amour
Urbandir. Michael Haneke - 2023
Anatomy of a Fall
Mountain · Ruraldir. Justine Triet - 1966
Andrei Rublev
Ruraldir. Andrei Tarkovsky - 1977
Annie Hall
Urbandir. Woody Allen - 2018
Annihilation
Wilderness · Coastal Seadir. Alex Garland - 1979
Apocalypse Now
Wilderness · Ruraldir. Francis Ford Coppola - 2016
Arrival
Ruraldir. Denis Villeneuve - 2007
Atonement
Rural · Urban · Coastal Seadir. Joe Wright - 1987
Au Revoir les Enfants
Ruraldir. Louis Malle - 1975
Barry Lyndon
Ruraldir. Stanley Kubrick - 1967
Belle de Jour
Urbandir. Luis Buñuel - 1945
Brief Encounter
Suburbandir. David Lean - 2005
Caché
Urbandir. Michael Haneke - 2018
Capernaum
Urbandir. Nadine Labaki - 2002
Catch Me If You Can
Urbandir. Steven Spielberg - 1988
Cinema Paradiso
Rural · Urbandir. Giuseppe Tornatore - 1941
Citizen Kane
Urbandir. Orson Welles - 1990
Close-Up
Urbandir. Abbas Kiarostami - 1972
Cries and Whispers
Ruraldir. Ingmar Bergman - 1990
Dances with Wolves
Wilderness · Ruraldir. Kevin Costner - 1995
Dolores Claiborne
Island · Ruraldir. Taylor Hackford - 1944
Double Indemnity
Urbandir. Billy Wilder - 2021
Drive My Car
Urbandir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi - 2024
Dune: Part Two
Desert · Off Worlddir. Denis Villeneuve - 2014
Enemy
Urbandir. Denis Villeneuve - 1982
Fanny and Alexander
Urbandir. Ingmar Bergman - 2020
First Cow
Wilderness · Ruraldir. Kelly Reichardt - 2018
First Reformed
Ruraldir. Paul Schrader - 1994
Forrest Gump
Rural · Urban · Coastal Seadir. Robert Zemeckis - 1991
Fried Green Tomatoes
Ruraldir. Jon Avnet - 1988
Grave of the Fireflies
Urbandir. Isao Takahata - 2005
Grizzly Man
Wildernessdir. Werner Herzog - 1959
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Urbandir. Alain Resnais - 2010
Inception
Urbandir. Christopher Nolan - 2013
Inside Llewyn Davis
Urbandir. Joel Coen - 2021
Judas and the Black Messiah
Urbandir. Shaka King - 2023
Killers of the Flower Moon
Ruraldir. Martin Scorsese - 1965
Kwaidan
Rural · Wildernessdir. Masaki Kobayashi - 2005
Lady Vengeance
Urbandir. Park Chan-wook - 1962
Lawrence of Arabia
Desertdir. David Lean - 2012
Life of Pi
Coastal Sea · Islanddir. Ang Lee - 1981
Mad Max 2
Desert · Wildernessdir. George Miller - 2000
Memento
Urbandir. Christopher Nolan - 1968
Memories of Underdevelopment
Urbandir. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea - 2011
Midnight in Paris
Urbandir. Woody Allen - 1975
Mirror
Ruraldir. Andrei Tarkovsky - 2001
Mulholland Drive
Urbandir. David Lynch - 2021
Nightmare Alley
Ruraldir. Guillermo del Toro - 1984
Once Upon a Time in America
Urbandir. Sergio Leone - 1968
Once Upon a Time in the West
Desert · Ruraldir. Sergio Leone - 2023
Oppenheimer
Desert · Urbandir. Christopher Nolan - 2019
Pain and Glory
Urban · Ruraldir. Pedro Almodóvar - 2006
Pan's Labyrinth
Rural · Undergrounddir. Guillermo del Toro - 1998
Perfect Blue
Urbandir. Satoshi Kon - 2007
Persepolis
Urbandir. Vincent Paronnaud - 1966
Persona
Coastal Seadir. Ingmar Bergman - 2019
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Island · Coastal Seadir. Céline Sciamma - 1950
Rashomon
Wildernessdir. Akira Kurosawa - 2002
Russian Ark
Urbandir. Aleksandr Sokurov - 1998
Saving Private Ryan
Ruraldir. Steven Spielberg - 1952
Singin' in the Rain
Urbandir. Gene Kelly - 2008
Slumdog Millionaire
Urbandir. Danny Boyle - 1972
Solaris
Off Worlddir. Andrei Tarkovsky - 1950
Sunset Boulevard
Urbandir. Billy Wilder - 2007
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Ruraldir. Andrew Dominik - 1966
The Battle of Algiers
Urbandir. Gillo Pontecorvo - 1998
The Big Lebowski
Urbandir. Joel Coen - 2024
The Bikeriders
Urbandir. Jeff Nichols - 2023
The Boy and the Heron
Rural · Undergrounddir. Hayao Miyazaki - 1971
The Conformist
Urbandir. Bernardo Bertolucci - 2001
The Devil's Backbone
Ruraldir. Guillermo del Toro - 1972
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Urbandir. Luis Buñuel - 1991
The Double Life of Véronique
Urbandir. Krzysztof Kieślowski - 2014
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mountaindir. Wes Anderson - 2019
The Irishman
Urbandir. Martin Scorsese - 1986
The Name of the Rose
Ruraldir. Jean-Jacques Annaud - 2001
The Others
Rural · Islanddir. Alejandro Amenábar - 2006
The Prestige
Urbandir. Christopher Nolan - 2016
The Salesman
Urbandir. Asghar Farhadi - 2009
The Secret in Their Eyes
Urban · Ruraldir. Juan José Campanella - 1999
The Sixth Sense
Urbandir. M. Night Shyamalan - 2010
The Social Network
Urbandir. David Fincher - 1995
The Usual Suspects
Urban · Coastal Seadir. Bryan Singer - 2009
The White Ribbon
Ruraldir. Michael Haneke - 1939
The Wizard of Oz
Ruraldir. Victor Fleming - 1997
Titanic
Coastal Seadir. James Cameron - 1995
Twelve Monkeys
Urban · Undergrounddir. Terry Gilliam - 1971
Walkabout
Desert · Wilderness · Urbandir. Nicolas Roeg - 1957
Wild Strawberries
Ruraldir. Ingmar Bergman - 1987
Wings of Desire
Urbandir. Wim Wenders - 2001
Y Tu Mamá También
Coastal Sea · Ruraldir. Alfonso Cuarón
Frequently asked
How many movies are built around a frame narrative?
Kinora's catalogue lists 100 films built around a frame narrative, spanning 1939–2024.
What are some movies built around a frame narrative?
Films built around a frame narrative in our catalogue include 12 Years a Slave (2013), 8½ (1963), A League of Their Own (1992), A River Runs Through It (1992), and About Schmidt (2002).
What is the oldest movie built around a frame narrative?
The Wizard of Oz (1939) is the earliest film built around a frame narrative in our catalogue; the most recent is The Bikeriders (2024).