1917 (2019)

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1. 

   aniforprez

   Absolutely incredible. An exhausting, somber, grim war movie made with some of the best talent on all fronts especially the cinematography done by the absolutely brilliant Roger Deakins 4 years 4 months ago
2. 

   Siskoid

   Is 1917 a good title for something that takes place over a day? (And indeed, is almost 2 hours in real time given the one-shot conceit, though director Sam Mendes does find ways to contract time.) Lets talk about that conceit because it exacerbates the completely legitimate comparison to an MMO side-quest. The story is so streamlined - it's this one, very simple mission - that it's basically an NPC giving the player a quest and off we go. With the camera never cutting away from the main character and following him through the adventure, often over the shoulder, the visual vocabulary is somewhat like that of a third-person sandbox/shooter. Does it really intensify immersion into the story? Maybe. I kind of think Mendes gave himself and his cast and crew a big challenge for us to marvel at as TECHNIQUE and that's all there is to it, but that's fine. We DO marvel at it. If there is a point to the single shot, it may be to show war as a continuous and relentless experience, here crunched into 24/2 hours for our convenience, a temporal prison for men who just want to go home but are afraid they can't connect to that other timeline. More importantly and all that said, it works, with a couple of stand-out moments (the flare run and the final sequence through to the end and bookend especially) and given the brief scenes with the characters NOT on the mission (you can't exactly go back to keep track of them), it's especially wonderful that they each leave such impressions (and not just the ones who are name-brand actors). My personal favorites are the hilarious Andrew Scott and that big fat rat. 4 years 4 months ago
3. 

   Michael12

   Possibly the best film of the year. While some may say that editing the movie to seem like one shot is a “gimmick”, I wholeheartedly disagree. This technique allows the audience to become fully immersed in the world, you feel as if your in the trenches, on the battle field, etc. Plenty of twists and turns, even moments I knew were coming based on the trailers still caused me to jump out of my seat. Highly recommend this film, and see it in theaters while you can. 4 years 4 months ago

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