The DU Lounge

The screenwriter invented Wilson the volleyball a companion because otherwise there could be no conflict and no dialogue. Wilson is definitely not a villain but he does provide the possibility for dialogue in implied conversations with the Hanks character.

I also think the animated film My Neighbor Totoro is totally fascinating. Not only are there no villains, but there is not really any conflict. If you study screenwriting, you are told on day one that conflict is the building block of a screenplay. It's just the sweetest movie and I haven't watched it in a long time, but although I could see unknowns and mysteries that needed to be resolved, I never saw drama that I felt rose to the level of "conflict."

Probably ever movie has something that could be described as an "antagonist", even if it is not a villain or an entity with which the protagonist fights or argues. Unless maybe you could show me a movie in which the protagonist doesn't change at all between the first and last frame of the movie.

Great topic!