1917

1917 (2020)

90% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 325 reviews)

Runtime: 119 minutes

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Starring: Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, some familiar faces in small roles

From: Universal

I saw this on Sunday night, before the Oscar nominations were made public. Those are even more problematic than usual but at least they were right in giving this many nominations: 

In the past I've seen a smattering of World War I movies; thing is, all of the best ones (All Quiet on the Western Front, Westfront 1918, The Big Parade) are almost 100 years old. There's the immediacy of those taking place shortly after the war actually took place but I am happy that there is finally a new film about the conflict which deserves such high marks. I was intrigued by the trailer when first viewed a few months ago and it was awhile later that I found out it was filmed to look like one continuous take. All the recent praise had me excited so I was happy when the opportunity finally came to see this last night.

I presume everyone should know the plot by now from the trailer so I won't dwell... it was a simple yet effective tale where two soldiers are selected to deliver a message personally to a squad of troops that the Germans are planning an ambush and if they don't stand down, 1,600 lives are at stake... oh, and one of the two has a brother in that squad. Along the way, through conversation there is some characterization given... I've heard some complain that there should have been more but it was enough for me in this situation. The one take gimmick was more than just that; it helped make the movie incredibly intense. With the focus on the leads, you never knew when a German sniper or other soldier is lurking in the midst, hiding somewhere in the shadows, itching to shoot or otherwise attack. Then again, there's a case or two where someone appears in the open and only once he attacks do they realize he's not a friendly.

From what I read, like with Rope (which is what I thought while viewing the movie... and others thought too, from what discussion I overheard after the film) this was filmed in long takes and sometimes I had an idea where cuts were made but it was seamless. I am not a Nolan fan-as stated multiple times in the past-but his film's editing has never been an issue and Lee Smith masterfully put it together to make the effect work. The legendary Roger Deakins did the cinematography so of course it was a beautiful movie to look at and all the camera movements was critical for making the audience believe. Thomas Newman also delivered a nice score. As others have noted, Sam Mendes seemingly did the seamless take idea for the opening of Spectre and realized that he could do it for an entire movie, and thankfully it was not a spectacular failure when such a complex, difficult idea was attempted for a movie that has a few flurries of action.

The cast-while having some familiar faces in small roles-has the two leads as standouts as much of the time the focus is literally on them. Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay are names not familiar to me but both were tremendous in their roles and made you care about those characters. It was not an easy trek for them as the movie made the hellish landscape-full of dead animals, destroyed buildings and mud... plenty of mud-look like something from a terrible nightmare... thankfully there are also some charming moments which help make 1917 not a miserable or punishing 2 hour experience. In addition, I also appreciated the subtle bits that I am glad the movie did not highlight as if they were insulting the audience's intelligence. 2019 in film is not something that I loved overall as there were too many disappointments; that said, there have been some outstanding moments and with the acknowledgment that the Oscar nominations announced hours ago were even more questionable than usual, all the accolades given to Parasite, The Irishman and 1917 are richly deserved.