1917 (2019)
Country: US/GB/IND/SP/CAN
Technical: col/2.39:1 119m
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch
Synopsis:
A corporal and private are entrusted with the task of carrying an important message to a distant section of the line that is about to embark on an ill-advised offensive. Their route takes them through an unsurveyed no-man's land, then through more perilous terrain.
Review:
Undoubtedly one of those narratives in which it is not so much the destination but the journey that counts, and some have confused this with the central conceit of the whole enterprise, namely the adoption of a (virtual) single sequence shot. To label it an 'empty technical exercise' is of course one option open to the jaded viewer, but the majority will be swayed by the singleness of purpose of protagonist and film-maker alike. Moreover, while editing exists for a purpose, and there can be some tedium in the lack of elision allowed for the movement of our main characters, the gain is in the immediacy of their peril. A technical triumph akin to that of Dunkirk (2017).
Country: US/GB/IND/SP/CAN
Technical: col/2.39:1 119m
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch
Synopsis:
A corporal and private are entrusted with the task of carrying an important message to a distant section of the line that is about to embark on an ill-advised offensive. Their route takes them through an unsurveyed no-man's land, then through more perilous terrain.
Review:
Undoubtedly one of those narratives in which it is not so much the destination but the journey that counts, and some have confused this with the central conceit of the whole enterprise, namely the adoption of a (virtual) single sequence shot. To label it an 'empty technical exercise' is of course one option open to the jaded viewer, but the majority will be swayed by the singleness of purpose of protagonist and film-maker alike. Moreover, while editing exists for a purpose, and there can be some tedium in the lack of elision allowed for the movement of our main characters, the gain is in the immediacy of their peril. A technical triumph akin to that of Dunkirk (2017).
Country: US/GB/IND/SP/CAN
Technical: col/2.39:1 119m
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch
Synopsis:
A corporal and private are entrusted with the task of carrying an important message to a distant section of the line that is about to embark on an ill-advised offensive. Their route takes them through an unsurveyed no-man's land, then through more perilous terrain.
Review:
Undoubtedly one of those narratives in which it is not so much the destination but the journey that counts, and some have confused this with the central conceit of the whole enterprise, namely the adoption of a (virtual) single sequence shot. To label it an 'empty technical exercise' is of course one option open to the jaded viewer, but the majority will be swayed by the singleness of purpose of protagonist and film-maker alike. Moreover, while editing exists for a purpose, and there can be some tedium in the lack of elision allowed for the movement of our main characters, the gain is in the immediacy of their peril. A technical triumph akin to that of Dunkirk (2017).