Five trilogies actually worth watching in one sitting
They say that good things come in threes, and when it comes to cinema, several brilliant movie trilogies have arrived on screen to entertain us for a handful of hours. Indeed, a trilogy is a marvellous thing when done right, as it allows us to invest ourselves in a fictional world for longer than just a single fictional entry.
Characters can develop drastically over three movies, and directors and writers are given more time to tell their stories without the pressure of keeping everything within a tight timeframe. Worlds can grow vast and sprawling, while the complex themes cinema is so great at exploring can be laid down in closer detail.
One of the most extraordinary things to do with a brilliant trilogy is to view the lot in just one go. Of course, this usually means that you’ll be watching for at least four-and-a-half hours (or nine if the films are epic), but if said movies are of high quality, then the experience of watching them separately can be greatly enhanced.
We’ve compiled a list of the greatest movie trilogies to watch in a single viewing. From journeys of childhood to adulthood to iconic fantasy adventures via tales from the dusty prairies of the Old West, it’s time to hunker down for the night and settle in for a lengthy cinematic viewing experience.
The five best trilogies to watch on a single night:
The Apu Trilogy
Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy is a truly masterful work of cinema that explores the myriad experiences of human life. Made up of Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar, The Apu Trilogy tells the story of a young boy from a remote Bengali village and tells the many phases of his life, beginning with his poverty-stricken childhood, into his educational years and his eventual falling in love and fatherhood.
What makes The Apu Trilogy for a single night’s viewing is that it allows one to fully invest oneself in Apu’s life, looking upon his growth journey. With some of the best Asian direction of all time from Ray and some emotional music from the legendary Ravi Shankar, The Apu Trilogy is essential for those wanting to learn more about the human experience.
The Three Colours Trilogy
There’s a deep thematic significance to Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours Trilogy, consisting of Blue, White and Red, which are not only the colours of the flag of France but also represent the ideals of the country, liberty, equality and fraternity. Each film in the trilogy is a separate and distinct story, but they are linked by an overarching theme, making them perfect for viewing in a single evening.
Blue is a tale of grief, with Juliette Binoche in the throes of trauma after losing her husband and daughter to death, while White has more of a comic tone, focusing on a Polish immigrant who seeks out revenge on his humiliating ex-wife in Paris. The trilogy is completed by Red, which tells of the coming together of a young model and a retired judge. Each of the films is rich with emotion and poetry that leaves the heart beating after watching them all in one go.
The Dollars Trilogy
If Western exhilaration is what you’re ever on a cold evening in, then look no further than Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, made up of A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the likes of which practically defined the Spaghetti Western film genre with Clint Eastwood making one of his most iconic roles as ‘The Man With No Name’.
Watching the films back-to-back lets an audience experience the grandeur of Leone’s storytelling, from the grit of the film movie in which a drifter is caught between two rival gangs to the other narratives surrounding bounty hunters and gunslingers in the middle of the American Civil War. With some of the best cinematography on offer and brilliant music from Ennio Morricone, The Dollars Trilogy is the perfect choice for a single-viewing trilogy experience.
The Vengeance Trilogy
For a truly intense and visceral movie night, Park Chan-wook’s The Vengeance Trilogy can provide twists, turns, and shocks. Comprising Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance, this thrilling trilogy explores the depraved and violent depths of the human experience with three distinct yet overarching-in-theme-and-tone movies of striking quality.
It begins with a disabled factory worker who turns to a life of crime to pay for his sister’s kidney transplant before Oldboy tells one of the best thriller stories of all time about a man imprisoned for 15 years without knowing the identity of his captor and then taking his revenge. The Vengeance Trilogy ends with another story of imprisonment revenge, with each tale hitting one right in the gut, providing the perfect triple dose of intense South Korean cinema.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
While there are certainly some more obscure choices on this list, we couldn’t resist including a more obvious selection. Sure, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings is wildly popular, but it’s fully deserving of its attention, and to watch the legendary movie adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic fantasy novels is a genuine feat of cinematic beauty.
From The Fellowship of the Ring through The Two Towers to The Return of the King, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is epic from beginning to end. Watching the formation of the fellowship tasked with destroying the One Ring, the Battle of Helm’s Deep, the showdown at Pelennor Fields and the fate of Frodo, Aragorn and co in just one night is a mighty task in its own right. Still, if you can make it through, there is no experience quite like it.
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