Pop Culture Archives - Page 32 of 56

Saturday

25

January 2020

Sundance Review: Summertime

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Raul Herrera, Jason Alvarez, Benet Benton, Amaya Blankenship, Tyris Winter, Gordon Ip, Lydia Ip, Maia Mayor, and Marquesha Babers appear in Summertime by Carlos Lopez Estrada, an official selection of the NEXT program at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by John Schmidt.

It’s rare to see a film unabashedly embrace the heart of Los Angeles, an often-maligned city rich with so many different cultures. Too often, films focus on the superficial or the star-crazed, a city seemingly as fake as the sound stages it houses. With Summertime, director Carlos López Estrada harnesses the power of 25 young poets speaking their truths in the city they call home.

Spoken word poetry drives the narrative, which possesses a loose continuity throughout the film. The individual scenes mostly function as vignettes, each containing a different poem from the large ensemble cast. The poets are breathtakingly raw in their deliveries, presenting their full emotions to the audience.

The characters comes from many different backgrounds, brought together largely by chance encounters. Summertime harnesses the sheer humanity in community, a powerful testament of simple interaction. The social media era provides glimpses into practically the whole world, sometimes at a cost to one’s awareness of reality around them.

Most of the plotlines are pretty heavy in nature, but there’s plenty of levity. Cheeseburgers play an important role in the narrative, a simple pleasure that can mean so much to people in times of struggle. Most of the characters are compassionate to each other despite being strangers, an optimistic tone in an era where too many find nothing but despair.

Estrada does a masterful job weaving the many strands of the narrative into a relatively cohesive story. Aside from one plotline’s time-jumping, the bulk of the film takes place over the course of a single day. The crossovers between characters do feel a bit arbitrary, but the emotion of each scene makes it easy to forgive some of the bumpier transitions.

Juggling twenty-five characters, Summertime doesn’t waste a single second of its runtime. Estrada tears at the heartstrings in every scene. It’s a tearjerker at times, but also quite hilarious in other moments. The film has an interesting grasp on realism, presenting intimate stories layered with a zanier delivery at times.

The film might struggle to win over skeptics of the spoken word emphasis. Estrada based the film off a high school showcase he attended, leading to its fairly singular presentation. Summertime works best for audiences that approach the film with open hearts, ready to take in Los Angeles from the poet’s souls.

Utilizing an exceptional young cast, Summertime crafts a beautifully raw love letter to Los Angeles. The loose structure allows it to reach a degree of authenticity that few films dare to try for. Estrada took more than two dozen moving pieces and made a tearjerker of a story.

Friday

24

January 2020

0

COMMENTS

Sundance Review: Miss Americana

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

A still from Miss Americana by Lana Wilson, an official selection of the Documentary Premieres program at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

The big challenge for films like Miss Americana is to present its stars in a way that doesn’t feel like one big infomercial. Taylor Swift is one of the most famous people in the world. She doesn’t need to give access to anyone. Director Lana Wilson covers a wide range of Taylor’s life while building a narrative that strikes at the nature of her relentless drive.

From a timeline perspective, Miss Americana includes practically the entirety of Swift’s life, aided by footage numerous home videos. The film spends the bulk of its time on the past few years, namely the production of Reputation and Lover. Swift allows cameras in the studio for the first time in her career, capturing intimate moments where her music comes alive.

Swift has kept up an impressive workload for an artist who has little left to prove. Unsurprisingly in that regard, she often conducts herself as a person still trying to climb the mountain well after she’s reached the top. Success at an early age appears to have instilled a deep longing for the public’s approval, often to her own detriment.

Wilson wields Swift’s own words to tell a story that hints at the artist’s shortcomings without ever feeling like it’s being outwardly critical. Miss Americana breaks new ground while thoroughly remaining on Taylor’s side. It’s a singular kind of music documentary, one with the artist’s full participation that manages to be thought-provoking, even if it’s clear that punches are being pulled. Wilson doesn’t need to be Mike Wallace to dive deeper into her subject.

Sometimes she earns an eye roll for complaining about things that can be safely filed into first world problems, but that also reflects a person who has barely had any privacy for over a decade. Strangers break into her house to sleep in her bed. That’s not normal by any definition of the word.

Miss Americana works best when it focuses on Taylor’s rise in the resistance after a decade of silence on the political front. For a performer with roots in the country music world, the Dixie Chicks serve as a cautionary tale for what happens when you bash a Republican president. Taylor’s embrace of feminism and LGBTQ rights created an untenable situation for staying on the sidelines.

To her credit, she admits mistakes on this front. She has one of the most powerful microphones in the world. Though her management, including her father, protests, she wades into the 2018 senatorial race in Tenessee, knowing full well that attacks from the Tweeter-in-chief are bound to follow. Plenty of people and big corporations talk a big game on inclusion, but Swift feels genuine in her desire to grow as an ally. The sexual assault case that she recently won had a profound impact on her approach to activism. That kind of sincerity is sadly too often missing from this political climate.

The film does leave a couple strands of her career undeveloped. Early on, the film walks up to the idea that Reputation had made some mistakes, but never really follows through on this idea. The Taylor Swift that once sang about how “the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now” is nowhere to be found. That Taylor appears to not only be dead, but forgotten also.

For a film with a ninety-minute runtime, it’s understandable how stuff like her feud with Katy Perry wouldn’t make the cut. Taylor Swift has had a very long and storied career, all before the age of thirty. Also absent is Scooter Braun, though the ongoing nature of that dispute makes it difficult to include in a narrative like Miss Americana.

It is somewhat disappointing to not see the thought process behind songs like “Bad Blood” or “Look What You Made Me Do” explained, or even examined. Miss Americana frequently highlights the fact that Swift writes all her own songs, making it all the more jarring that Reputation’s lead track borrowed the melody from Right Side Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy,” a truly horrendous one-hit wonder.

Miss Americana succeeds at its primary objective, to take a global superstar and present her in a relatable fashion. She’s one of the most successful musicians in history, but also a human being. Society may not want those two versions of Taylor to co-exist, but people need growth to sustain themselves. Taylor Swift may have it all, but the film proves just how hungry she is for more.

Friday

24

January 2020

0

COMMENTS

Sundance Review: Cuties

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Fathia Youssouf, Medina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas, Myriam Hamma, Demba Diaw, and Maimouna Gueye appear in Cuties by Maïmouna Doucouré, an official selection of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

The desire to rebel is a natural instinct for many children. To be told what not to do tends to fuel an inherent urge to push back against authority. Set in France, Maïmouna Doucouré’s Cuties demonstrates the universality of these themes, transcending language and culture.

Amy (Fathia Youssouf) is a fairly rebellious eleven-year-old, discontent with the strict rules in her household. The circumstances make it hard to blame her. Her mother Miriam (Maïmouna Gueye) is a hard-working parent struggling to raise three children while her husband pursues a second marriage in Senegal. Miriam is a compassionate woman who played by the rules of tradition, with seemingly little to show for it.

A group of girls who dub themselves the “cuties” attract Amy’s interest with their elaborate dance routines. Eager to join their clique, Amy starts to deviate from the guidelines set before her. A stolen cellphone provides Amy with valuable cultural capital, as well as a glimpse of the broader world she’d been sheltered from.

Doucouré is quite skilled at conveying emotion, capturing the highs and lows of adolescence in a way that speaks to the universality of growing up. Cuties is often hilarious. The young talent are superb at drawing laughs from subtle moments that are easy to relate to.

Though many have not had to experience the idea of having a second wife move into one’s already-cramped apartment, Cuties touches on themes that are quite popular in American cinema. Amy’s father is not shown to be a great guy, and the adults in her life struggle to help Amy copes with this harsh reality. Earlier eras put up with that stuff in a way that simply isn’t appealing to a younger demographic that’s experienced a world outside the strict confines of religion.

Which isn’t to say that Amy is some misunderstood angel. Like many eleven-year-olds, she’s prone to behaving like a brat. Doucouré captures this trajectory in a powerful way largely through Amy’s relationship with her mother. American family sitcoms are filled with predictable teaching moments at the end of their episodes. Cuties follows similar arcs, but shakes things up in a refreshing manner, dealing with reality rather than a “mom knows best” outcome.

Cuties captures adolescence life in a deeply moving manner. The film is very well-crafted with a keen sense of pacing, packing quite a lot into a ninety-minute runtime. Doucouré fully understands what it’s like to be a kid and an adult, delivering a compassionate family narrative that respects both sides of the equation.

Tuesday

21

January 2020

0

COMMENTS

Sundance Review: Jumbo

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Nomie Merlant appears in Jumbo by Zoé Wittock, an official selection of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

For years, the discussion around gay marriage included plenty of preposterous claims such as allowing gay people to wed would lead to individuals wanting to marry their pets or their cars. Similar outlandishness follows the fight for transgender rights, as “jokes” about people wanting to identify as attack helicopters or penguins are made on a daily basis even to this day. In her debut feature Jumbo, Belgian director Zoé Wittock pursues a similar line of thinking in a surrealistic take on the meaning of love.

Jeanne (Noémie Merlant) is a creative young woman who’s happiest in her thoughts. She works the graveyard shift at a local amusement park and builds elaborate models in her free time. Her mother Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot), a bartender, is troubled by Jeanne’s lack of drive, particularly with regard to her romantic life. Margarette herself enjoys a healthy sex life, especially with a new partner Hubert (Sam Louwyck).

A new attraction at the park catches Jeanne’s interest, much to the chagrin of her boss Marc (Bastien Bouillon), who pursues her romantically. Unfortunately for Marc, Jeanne’s heart belongs to a Tilt-A-Whirl ride, with its bright lights and mechanical spinning prowess. Dubbed “Jumbo” by Jeanne, she pays special attention to the ride during her shifts, making sure his lights are in tip-top shape.

Jumbo is the kind of film that works best when it skirts the lines of reality. Wittiock includes many beautiful sequences where Jeanne quite literally loses herself in the grandeur of Jumbo. The cinematography is spectacular, using light and color to convey meaning in the absence of words. Wittock appeals to all the senses in her efforts to convey a very peculiar kind of love.

Merlant is spectacular as Jeanne, capturing the essences of emotions foreign to many. She fully sells Jeanne’s emotion, as absolutely ridiculous as that sounds. Her performance sets the terms for the audience’s engagement with the narrative, presenting Jeanne not as someone who should be pitied, but rather appreciated for the way she holds her ground in the face of relentless opposition.

The supporting cast is also superb. Louwyck in particular stands out as Hubert, taking what could easily have been a throwaway role and transforming the character into someone with remarkable depth. As Margarette, Bercot puts forth an authentic portrayal of what any mother might struggle with in such a position, with happiness and reality existing in stark contrast to each other.

Perhaps the only point of critique for Jumbo is the absence of a broader sense of rationale behind Jeanne’s behavior. For a film with such an intimate scope, it’s understandable that there wasn’t much backstory, but there’s a lot of questions that the audience is left with by the end of the narrative. Film cannot present a complete portrait of a person’s life, but there’s so much to Jeanne lingering beneath the surface that supplies much food for thought afterward.

Jumbo takes an absurd premise and fully commits to presenting a heartfelt story. It’s easy to laugh at the idea of a person falling in love with a machine. Rather than make a mockery of the subject, Wittock finds beauty in the unexplainable.

Tuesday

21

January 2020

0

COMMENTS

Sundance Review: Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Sadaf Asgari appears in Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness by Massoud Bakhshi, an official selection of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Films like Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness shine a light on the complexities of justice. The idea of an “eye for an eye” is frowned upon in most societies, even Iran, where the practice is allowed. To beg for forgiveness under those conditions is to strike at the heart of humanity, mercy and vengeance existing at polar opposites.

Maryam (Sadaf Asgari) has been sentenced to death for the accidental murder of her much older husband Nassar. Her fate lies in the hands of Nassar’s daughter Mona (Behnaz Jafari), herself old enough to be Maryam’s mother, who alone can choose to sentence her to death or spare her life. Further complicating matters is the fact that Maryam’s fate will be decided on live television.

The film takes place almost entirely on the set where the reality show is filmed, where millions of people are watching to see whether Maryam will live or die. The audience themselves can play a role, texting their own verdicts to the show, the results of which could determine if the program’s sponsors will pay the blood money owed to Nassar’s family. A young woman’s fate decided in a similar fashion as American Idol.

Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness is a powerful film, striking at the heart of humanity through a jaded modern lens. The idea of a reality show determining a woman’s fate feels sickening, yet the film depicts the show in a compassionate manner. The show’s producer Ayat (Babak Karimi) and host (Arman Darvish) aren’t bad people looking to exploit Maryam, but to play the system they inhabit in a way that satisfies all sides.

The film largely succeeds on the back of Asgari, who demonstrates her range as an actress time and time again throughout the narrative. Understandably, Maryam resists the idea of playing into this absurd premise of begging for her life on national television. That is, however, exactly what’s expected of her. Asgari’s grasp on emotion is gut-wrenching, casting a light on the horrors of her reality. She cuts right through any perceived glamor of show business.

Jafari also does a great job as Mona, a woman with understandably conflicted emotions toward the younger woman who killed her father. In the heat of passion, it’s easy to call for someone’s head. The film understands the fleeting nature of rage, leaving Mona alone and clear-headed with the stakes of her decision.

Though the film takes place over the course of a single night, director Massoud Bakhshi packs a lot of story into the narrative. The audience gets a pretty good grasp of the events that happened, largely through an on-air back and forth between Maryam and Mona. The show never lets you forget that it’s not actually a trial, but it often functions that way.

Watching Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness is often an unsettling experience. Showbusiness and justice are not typically thought to go hand in hand. Bakhshi is extremely effective at presenting the dichotomy between Iran’s traditional approach to punishment and the modern method of carrying out that practice on reality television.

Tuesday

21

January 2020

1

COMMENTS

Slamdance Review: Jasper Mall

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Photo credit: Jasper Mall

As films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless demonstrate, shopping malls used to be a pillar of American culture, especially for teenagers. Mallrats succinctly captures this zeitgeist in its title. The world has changed quite a bit, with e-commerce wiping out plenty of shopping malls throughout the country. Jasper Mall is a documentary that showcases a year in the life of a mall on the brink of closure.

Directors Bradford Thomason and Brett Wittcomb have crafted a clever, quiet film about an institution in slow decay. Much of the narrative unfolds through the eyes of Mike, a former Australian zookeeper who serves as the security guard/caretaker for the mall in rural Alabama. The film does showcase some of the mall’s tenants, including a florist and jewelry repair shop, but this is mostly Mike’s story. He displays a genuine love for the mall and its tenants that’s easy to identify with.

The film does not spend much time trying to diagnose the root cause of the Jasper Mall’s decline. The word “Amazon” is never once uttered. In many ways, this makes perfect sense, as the audience is bound to understand the reality that brick-and-mortar stores face in the e-commerce age. The specific circumstances of the town of Jasper could have used a bit more exposition, though the film takes place entirely on the mall grounds.

The departure of two of the mall’s “anchor stores,” large retailers intended to draw traffic to the mall, has had an unfortunate trickle-down effect on the tenants. Without K-Mart or JCPenney, two retailers who are in severe decline nationwide, the food court and service-oriented stores don’t see enough customers to sustain themselves. Several stores close during the narrative.

The beauty of Jasper Mall is through its ability to retain an upbeat narrative while never losing sight of the inevitably bleak outcome. Mike constantly talks about various ways to draw traffic back to the mall. The film presents his voice without endorsing his words. There is almost certainly not going to be a great renaissance for the Jasper Mall.

The mall itself looks pretty terrible, the kind of place you might visit if you needed something specific but wouldn’t go to for window shopping. Thomason and Wittcomb are respectful of the fact that there are people, mostly older patrons, who have a sense of community in the mall. The death of retail is a slow process.

While Mike is the perfect lens to present the documentary, the frequent shots through the corridors do you leave you wondering about the many tenants that weren’t featured. This can be explained to a large extent by the presence of national brands such as GNC or AT&T, but the film only focuses on a couple stores out of the whole mall. For all of Mike’s charm, he does get a little repetitive after a while.

Jasper Mall is a moving narrative about perseverance in the absence of a future. Barring a total remodel that seems highly unlikely, the Jasper Mall doesn’t have much left in the tank. To many, that’s not sad, only indicative of the times. The documentary does an excellent job capturing the essence of those who rely on the dying establishment and what exactly they’re going to leave behind.

Monday

20

January 2020

0

COMMENTS

Slamdance Review: Tapeworm

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Photo: Tapeworm

Films like Tapeworm force one to examine the very nature of the medium. The idea of taking what is essentially a collection of vignettes, in this case four fairly unrelated stories, and tying them together into something that looks like a film could sound like a puzzling proposition to a person who only engages with movies that follow the typical beginning-middle-end trajectory. There are no inherent rules governing how a narrative must work, even if we can understand that the vast majority of films play by this fairly accepted set of rules.

Set in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tapeworm follows a number of fairly unhappy people being miserable. One character is a bad amateur standup comedian. Another plays video games in his mother’s home, refusing to help her put away the groceries.

The closest thing Tapeworm has to a protagonist is Adam (Adam Brooks), a man who’s convinced his wife is cheating on him. Like the others, Adam is a sad guy. He also thinks he’s sick. It’s kind of hard to blame his wife. After spending a little time with Adam, you’d probably want to cheat on him too.

The film is well-crafted. Shot on 16mm film, directors Milos Mitrovic and Fabian Velasco did a good job making Tapeworm look like the kind of indie film you’d stay up late watching in college. The Winnipeg scenery is also used well, exacerbating the misery that encompasses each of its characters. After watching the film, you’d probably never want to step foot in Manitoba.

The problem with Tapeworm isn’t that it’s a joyless experience. The film doesn’t make you feel anything at all. The characters aren’t compelling. They don’t do anything of note.

As the film progresses, you get the idea that the mundane is supposed to be the point. Trouble is, there’s simply nothing to be gained by watching characters kick soccer balls or buy Canadian flags with a marijuana leaf instead of maple. For a film hell-bent on presenting everyday life, it simply has nothing to add to the equation.

To its credit, Tapeworm isn’t a completely miserable experience. With a runtime of seventy-seven minutes, it can hardly be said that the film overstays its welcome. It’s the rare kind of awful film that’s so bad you can’t even really muster up any anger toward the waste of time. You can’t call Tapeworm overwhelming because the film isn’t capable of overwhelming anything.

Monday

20

January 2020

0

COMMENTS

Slamdance Review: Beware of Dog

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Photo credit: Nadia Bedzhanova

The question of social media’s value is one that’s talked about every day across the world. For all the ways technology has seemingly brought us together, plenty of people feel increasingly isolated. Nadia Bedzhanova’s Beware of Dog focuses on three characters in three different countries, each struggling to cope with loneliness exacerbated by mental illnesses.

Marina (Marina Vasileva) struggles with OCD in Moscow, faced with a boyfriend who doesn’t care much about her. Paula (Paula Knüpling) meets a traveler in Berlin who’s interested in her romantically, though her bipolar disorder causes problems with her communication skills. Mike (Buddy Duress) is doing his best to stay clean, desperate for his girlfriend to reciprocate the attention he’s trying to give.

Bedzhanova juggles her film’s three leads well, a director with a keen sense for detail. Filming in three beautiful cities, she often uses the landscape to accentuate the isolation that her characters feel. New York, Moscow, and Berlin are beautiful yet deeply intimidating cities. In many ways, the settings feel like characters themselves.

The film has a knack for communicating mental illness in nonverbal ways. Bedzhanova shows off her skills as a director to craft surrealistic sequences that illustrate the hardships that her character’s face. The audience gets a front row seat to the conflict, understanding the flaws of the protagonists while retaining a large degree of sympathy for them.

Beware of Dog captures the universality of humanity. You get the sense that Bedzhanova could swap the characters’ surroundings and the end result would be the same. The film makes easy work of cultural boundaries, showing its audience all the things we share in common.

The ideas that the film addresses are quite complex, without easy answers. The supporting characters help the narrative grapple with the leads’ imperfections. Mike in particular is a sympathetic guy who’s also essentially his own worst enemy. Paula is quite frustrating in her behavior. Bedzhanova presents these dynamics in a way that helps the audience understand where these people are coming from without condoning their actions.

In some ways, Beware of Dog is a frustrating narrative. Focusing on three leads is a tricky proposition for a film with a runtime of under ninety minutes. That line of thinking can also apply to narratives with only one lead, but the audience is left with a sense that there were plenty of elements of the film left to be explored.

Beware of Dog is a thought-provoking film that handles its many moving pieces with grace. There’s a lot left on the table, but Bedzhanova crafted a narrative that examines the many facets of mental illness in a way that never feels trite or exploitative. Loneliness knows no borders.

Monday

20

January 2020

0

COMMENTS

Quezon’s Game Makes a Mess out of an Inspiring Story

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

Courtesy of ABS-CBN Films

Manuel Quezon was the rare kind of politician, hellbent on pursuing what he believed was right against overwhelming opposition. As the second president of the Philippines, Quezon was tasked with leading a government in turmoil as World War II approached. Recognizing the threat that the Jewish people faced from Hitler, he attempted to relocate tens of thousands of refugees to the Philippines at a time when too many politicians did nothing.

The film Quezon’s Game centers around the president’s efforts to save as many Jewish refugees as possible. The true story beyond Quezon is a compelling one that deserves to be told. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t do it justice.

The lead acting is the film’s strongest asset. Raymond Bagatsing brings nuance to Quezon, a believable politician. As his wife Aurora, Rachel Alejandro represents the film’s emotional core, drawing out the best in her husband. The scenes between the two supply most of the film’s best moments.

Sadly, the same can’t be said for the film’s supporting cast. Lines are awkward delivered from actors who often look lost in the scenes. Often, the cast seem to deliver their expressions well after speaking, a disconnect that could be forgiven in a community theatre production, but hardly from a feature film.

The script is absolutely atrocious. Heaps of exposition are dumped on the audience all at once. For a film based on a true story, the characters often talk as if they possess a retrospective knowledge of the events they’re supposed to be portraying in real time. There’s very little flow to this film.

While it’s hard to put too much blame on the film’s understandably small budget, director Matthew Rosen has a way of exacerbating this situation. Many of the scenes are shot in buildings with impressive architecture, but the cameras remain zoomed in on the actors, preventing the audience from examining the interesting sets. This dynamic continues for practically the whole film. The lighting also carries the feel of a soap opera, dim and dreary.

With a runtime of over two hours, Quezon’s Game is simply too long for its own good. There’s a lot of scenes that don’t really add anything to the narrative, and there’s too many of people sitting around a table having the same conversations. This wouldn’t be a big deal if the film had a good script or decent actors, but Rosen has a knack for drawing attention to his film’s shortcomings.

Quezon’s Game is an inspiring story with strong lead performances undermined by a weak script, a mediocre supporting cast, and a bloated runtime. The film is a real shame considering its powerful narrative. Manuel Quezon is a very inspiring figure. His legacy deserves a much better film.

Saturday

11

January 2020

0

COMMENTS

1917 Is a Masterpiece of Filmmaking

Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Movie Reviews, Pop Culture

The confines of runtimes restrict film in many ways, requiring a director to operate with laser focus into their character’s lives. Two hours depicting an event hardly seems like enough time to capture its essence in full, yet somehow plenty of movies manage to deliver in this regard. 1917 presents its narrative as one single continuous take, a bold approach for director Sam Mendes. The result is a breathtaking experience that captures the brutal emotions that war forces upon young people.

The film follows two young lance corporals, Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Dean Charles-Chapman) as they journey to deliver a message to a battalion planning to attack German forces in France who are believed to be in retreat. The limits in technology during World War One forced the intelligence to be delivered by hand, through unclear conditions, as aerial intelligence could only reveal so much. The fate of 1,600 British troops, including Blake’s brother, rests in the hands of two young men.

The cinematography works wonders on the narrative, revealing much about the two lead characters as they trudge through hazardous battlefields. Confronted by their own humanity, neither man seems like much of a hardened warrior, individuals merely responding to the circumstances put in front of them. Blake and Schofield repeatedly reveal themselves to be fundamentally decent human beings, doing a job that no one would ever want bestowed upon themselves.

Mendes uses the one-shot approach to fully display the horrors of war through the quiet moments. 1917 is a masterpiece of filmmaking. By presenting the narrative in real-time, Mendes allows the audience to experience the mission fully alongside the protagonists. From the trenches to the destroyed villages to the battlefields ripe with decaying soldiers, you follow them through the heart of war. It’s a deeply unnerving experience.

The pacing works extremely well. There’s plenty of quiet moments, but the suspense never lets up. Character development is a tricky proposition for a one-shot film, but Mendes ensures that there’s plenty of growth along the journey.

The film also utilizes some high-profile actors in a way that keeps the spotlight on the two leads. Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch both play high ranked commanders, delivering strong supporting performances that work well within the confines of the one-shot approach. MacKay and Charles-Chapman are hardly A-list stars, but their low-key profiles serve as a good reminder that war might be waged by elites, but fought by common men.

1917 presents a singular take on World War One, the kind of film that manages to keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. What’s perhaps most impressive about that notion is the fact that it’s not a particularly action-heavy film, especially for a war narrative. It’s a deeply moving piece of art best enjoyed on the big screen. Few films manage to convey such emotion with such ease. 1917 likely won’t spark an influx of one-shot narratives, but Mendes makes a strong case for the method.

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