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Saturday, January 18, 2020

1917


There are many good impossible-mission World War II dramas of course, but not many about World War I. And none have been shot with the flow of a single camera. This trick was done by master Alfred Hitchcock in his otherwise average Rope (1948), but it's not a gimmick here.

The seemingly singular take puts the viewer into the action immediately and the cinema experience lands somewhere between frightening and magnificent to watch. At times, cinematographer Roger Deakins’ (Blade Runner 2049) visuals are artistically beautiful. Other times, horrific, as you would guess.

Many of the best war films rely on following multiple, strategic details of war play but 1917 benefits from the simplicity of its storyline— young British soldiers need to take a message from there to there. It’s a movie to look at and feel, not analyze. Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) has crafted a masterpiece that will sit on the shelf with films Bridge Over River Kwai, Saving Private Ryan, Letters from Iwo Jima, Das Boot, Patton and Platoon, yet it’s truly an original.

In a nutshell: Breathless. Uniquely brilliant by craft and by the fact that an epic WWI movie can take place in just two hours.

Award potential: Already a winner at Golden Globes and a nominee for the Best Picture Academy Award, 1917 seems poised to win four Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, and Original Score.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

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