Hi everyone!
We’re back to close out this abbreviated week, featuring some of the films we caught while on break. We’ll be continuing the next two weeks catching up on Golden Globe and Oscar nominees, which includes today’s bonus review from Andrew Campbell. I’ll admit, I’ve been fascinated by 1917 ever since seeing the behind the scenes video playing during the pre-show at our local theater. I’ve also been a fan of the long-take, especially BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) which I caught in the theater after a particularly dark episode in my life. I’ve also now become a fan of the one-take, especially after Andrew began pestering me to watch the super-incredible ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (Episode #625). So, it’s only because he introduced me to that masterpiece that I allowed him to cover this one-take film. Check out his review for that film here, along with his reviews for JOJO RABBIT (Episode #631), PARASITE (Episode #628), and KNIVES OUT (Episode #652).
Before the review, we’ll have a promo from our good friends at the Ocho Duro Parlay Hour. Every week, the ODPH Crew cover a massive spectrum of topics, from sports to films to comics to television. Something for everyone who likes sports and/or pop culture. You can find them on Twitter and Instagram @odparlayhour and on Facebook @ochoduroparlayhour. Be sure to like, follow, rate, and subscribe! They’ve been some of our best supporters in 2018, and we look forward to working with them in the new year!
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Here we go!
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Hello film fans!
Andrew here. Joseph was kind enough to lend me the keys two days in a row. I took in a number of powerful films during December, mostly working to catch up on the major 2019 titles that I had missed out on during the year ahead of awards season. However, the one film that really blew me away has yet to be released nationwide. Every December, the studios like to play the game where they open their prestige pictures in at least some minimal way that allows them to be eligible for the Golden Globes and Oscars in the opening weeks of the following year. Today’s film certainly fits that bill with press screenings in early December, DVD screeners mid-month, and a Christmas-day limited release in just a couple major cities. I usually see this tactic used for well-made but unadventurous films calculated to appeal to the older, predominantly white male members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences who hand out the Oscars. Let’s see if this one is awards bait... or something more.
Today’s movie is 1917, written by Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns and directed by Mendes. 1917 is an epic war story that follows two British soldiers, Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) as they navigate a French battlefield at the height of World War I. The pair are given orders to deliver a life-and-death message to a general stationed miles away. Notably, the film unfolds as a single, uninterrupted shot, following their journey through the deadly terrain.
1917 is far from the first film to present itself as a single take and, though there are a few points where Mendes surely did some splicing, it pulls off the feat with utter perfection. Back in 2014, Alejandro González Iñárritu took down the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director for BIRDMAN, which took the form of a two-hour uninterrupted shot weaving through the backstage and surrounding streets of a Broadway show. I remember being suitably wowed by the gimmick and impressed by several of the acting performances, notably Edward Norton in a supporting role. Yet, just five years later, the film seems to have entirely faded from the cultural conversation. As cool as it was at the time, the single take really didn’t add much to the story other than giving it a boost of kinetic energy. I mean, the film is set inside of a Broadway play and what are most plays if not two-hour single-take stories performed nightly anyway.
Anyhow, we’re not here to dunk on Birdman. I just feel like if you are going to make your film look like one continuous take, you had better have good reason. With 1917, Mendes absolutely does, delivering an unforgettable masterwork.
Without giving away anything more than you’ll see in the trailer (and I 100% advise against watching the trailer), we follow these soldiers through packed trenches, bombed-out war zones, grassy fields, and abandoned farms. I can’t say for certain that the terrain presented in the film is geographically accurate to France in general or to any World War I battlefield in particular, but I’ll buy the world that Mendes has built. No other war film I have ever seen has come closer to delivering on the realism and horrors of war than 1917. Without the luxury of cuts, the camera is allowed to linger and swoop in all directions to reveal the world that surrounds Blake and Schofield.
Multiple moments took my breath away and quickened my pulse as the lens pulled back to reveal the larger setting in a way where cutting to a wide-angle shot would not have had nearly the same impact. Though the film is fully engrossing, during both of my viewings I could not stop trying to figure out how Mendes was able to get so many stunning shots with such flawless transitions.
What makes 1917 fantastic? From a technical perspective, the film stands on its own. Even if the characters didn’t speak a single word, I would be in love with the film. Sam Mendes is coming off two Bond films with SKYFALL and SPECTRE, where he proved he can direct action. However, it has been 10 years since he directed anything but Bond, so it’s easy to forget that his prior three films - AWAY WE GO, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, and JARHEAD - were all very personal stories with memorable characters and powerful performances. MacKay and Chapman are excellent in 1917 and the secondary characters are solid in limited duty as well, though I did find some of the celebrity cameos a bit jarring in a film that cast two relative unknowns as the co-leads.
1917 is a transcendent war film told by a visionary director. Fans of DUNKIRK (Episode #331) and THE THIN RED LINE will love this film, but you do not have to enjoy war films to appreciate 1917.
Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (CERTIFIED FRESH)
Metacritic: 80
One Movie Punch: 10/10
1917 (2019) is rated R and opens in theaters nationwide this Friday.
I’ll be back next Friday for THE DEATH OF DICK LONG, a tale of friendship gone wrong. But before you get hung up on that ridiculous title, know this: A24 is distributing the film. A24 absolutely killed it in 2019 with nearly two dozen eclectic and acclaimed films, including the likes of UNCUT GEMS, MIDSOMMAR, and yesterday’s reviewed film IN FABRIC. Is DICK LONG just a juvenile joke or will it live up to A24’s standards? We’ll find out together.
See you then!
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