A Glean movie guide
Short & Sweet: Best Movies Under 90 Mins
Maximum impact, minimum runtime.
Masterpieces of brevity that prove you don't need three hours to tell a great story.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Run Lola Run
A high-octane, stylistic sprint through Berlin that never lets up for a second.
Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manni. He lost 100,000 DM in a subway train that belongs to a very bad guy. She has 20 minutes to raise this amount and meet Manni. Otherwise, he will rob a store to get the money. Three different alternatives may happen depending on some minor event along Lola's run.
- 02
Before Sunset
A breathtakingly intimate romance that unfolds in near real-time on the streets of Paris.
Nine years later, Jesse travels across Europe giving readings from a book he wrote about the night he spent in Vienna with Celine. After his reading in Paris, Celine finds him, and they spend part of the day together before Jesse has to again leave for a flight. They are both in relationships now, and Jesse has a son, but as their strong feelings for each other start to return, both confess a longing for more.
- 03
Toy Story
The film that changed animation forever with its perfect pacing and heartfelt storytelling.
Led by Woody, Andy's toys live happily in his room until Andy's birthday brings Buzz Lightyear onto the scene. Afraid of losing his place in Andy's heart, Woody plots against Buzz. But when circumstances separate Buzz and Woody from their owner, the duo eventually learns to put aside their differences.
- 04
Airplane!
A relentless barrage of visual gags and puns that remains the gold standard for parody.
An ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.
- 05
What We Do in the Shadows
A hilariously dry mockumentary that finds endless wit in the mundane lives of vampires.
Vampire housemates try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster some of the perks of being undead.
- 06
Rope
A masterclass in suspense filmed in long, sweeping takes to create a seamless real-time thriller.
Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.
- 07
Perfect Blue
A haunting psychological thriller that expertly blurs the line between reality and nightmare.
Rising pop star Mima quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.
- 08
Fruitvale Station
A devastatingly powerful and concise look at the final day of a young man's life.
Oakland, California. Young Afro-American Oscar Grant crosses paths with family members, friends, enemies and strangers before facing his fate on the platform at Fruitvale Station, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.
- 09
Following
Christopher Nolan’s lean debut is a twisty, noir-soaked mystery that makes every minute count.
Bill, an idle, unemployed aspiring writer, walks the crowded streets of London following randomly chosen strangers, a seemingly innocent entertainment that becomes dangerous when he crosses paths with a mysterious character.
- 10
Host
A terrifyingly effective supernatural horror captured entirely through a 57-minute video call.
Six friends hire a medium to hold a séance via Zoom during lockdown — but they get far more than they bargained for as things quickly go wrong. When an evil spirit starts invading their homes, they begin to realise they might not survive the night.
- 11
Office Space
The ultimate workplace comedy that perfectly captures the absurdity of corporate life.
A depressed white-collar worker tries hypnotherapy, only to find himself in a perpetual state of devil-may-care bliss that prompts him to start living by his own rules, and hatch a hapless attempt to embezzle money from his soul-killing employers.
- 12
My Neighbor Totoro
A gentle and wondrous Ghibli classic that captures the magic of childhood with effortless grace.
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.