How long is too long? In defence of the sub-100 minute film

Maybe it speaks to my lack of an attention span, but I don’t think it’s mere coincidence that many of my favourite films clock in at under 100 minutes: Jean Luc-Godard’s Bande à part, Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Jamie Babbit’s But I’m A Cheerleader and Mark Waters’ Mean Girls all tick this short and sweet box across varied genres. Sure, it takes immense skill to keep a cinema gripped for hours on end, but it’s equally impressive to spawn truly iconic, enduring characters and beloved stories out of more limited windows.