Before we begin, check out my post on 1917 on my other blog, Before I Go See It.
Now, on with the show.
While this isn't exactly a one-shot movie (sorry, "a movie with no cuts"), it's still an interesting movie to see. "Time is the enemy" should have been a clue that this film lacks cuts, and Director Sam Mendes explains, in an interview with CinemaBlend, that it gives the audience a chance to feel the tension, in real time, alongside the characters every step of the way, and it works, and in a way, it's like a claustrophobic movie because we follow the characters through bombed-out trenches, abandoned bunkers, and decimated cities.
I think somewhere in there was that the one-shot technique allows you to see the horrors of war, but if you see war movies regularly, or are treated to intense footage in high school and college, there really isn't anything new that we haven't seen because you see the trenches, you see dead horses in No Man's Land, you see decaying bodies strung out in a field, you see tanks flipped over, you witness a pile of cannon shells, you crawl through a river with bodies floating in it.
I said, in my BIGSI blog, that I wanted a twist ending in a movie like this, and I do get it from a certain point of view, and when William meats Mark Strong, Strong tells him to make sure there are witnesses because "some men just like to fight," which made me think that they are going to pull a Paths of Glory and have Benedict Cumberbatch's character ignore the general's orders, but I was wrong when Benny calls off the second wave of attack, but the movie does pull a Saving Private Ryan and has the brother of Tom Blake still alive after Tom was killed, but I guess that's the horror of war, but it was a stupid horror.
There is one more thing that isn't talked about in this movie, and it's its symmetry: the story begins with Will sleeping against a tree, then he and Tom walk into a trench to receive the message to give to Colonel Mackenzie, they walk through the front lines to a German bunker, where they experience a near-fatal incident involving a rat and a tripwire, they cross a cherry orchard to a farm with a fresh supply of milk, Will continues with his journey to the river up to a large building where he shoots an enemy soldier, the soldier firing results in Will falling down the stairs, cut to ten seconds of black, the film starts working its way back, from the building goes to a shelter where a frightened woman is hiding out with a baby, Will gives them the milk, he is instructed to follow the river, and he has another near-fatal incident where he falls over a waterfall, along the river, he finds cherry blossoms from nearby trees, he approaches the trenches and delivers the messages, and it ends with Will exiting the trench and sitting against a tree.
All in all, it's a beautiful film worth watching, and it will be a film to talk about for filmmakers to come.
I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie for me to review. Thank you for reading. I'll return next week with another movie. See you then.
Released On: January 10, 2020
Rating: R
Stars: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch
Director: Sam Mendes
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.5/10
Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Academy Awards
(Click here to view more awards for "1917".)
Now, on with the show.
While this isn't exactly a one-shot movie (sorry, "a movie with no cuts"), it's still an interesting movie to see. "Time is the enemy" should have been a clue that this film lacks cuts, and Director Sam Mendes explains, in an interview with CinemaBlend, that it gives the audience a chance to feel the tension, in real time, alongside the characters every step of the way, and it works, and in a way, it's like a claustrophobic movie because we follow the characters through bombed-out trenches, abandoned bunkers, and decimated cities.
I think somewhere in there was that the one-shot technique allows you to see the horrors of war, but if you see war movies regularly, or are treated to intense footage in high school and college, there really isn't anything new that we haven't seen because you see the trenches, you see dead horses in No Man's Land, you see decaying bodies strung out in a field, you see tanks flipped over, you witness a pile of cannon shells, you crawl through a river with bodies floating in it.
I said, in my BIGSI blog, that I wanted a twist ending in a movie like this, and I do get it from a certain point of view, and when William meats Mark Strong, Strong tells him to make sure there are witnesses because "some men just like to fight," which made me think that they are going to pull a Paths of Glory and have Benedict Cumberbatch's character ignore the general's orders, but I was wrong when Benny calls off the second wave of attack, but the movie does pull a Saving Private Ryan and has the brother of Tom Blake still alive after Tom was killed, but I guess that's the horror of war, but it was a stupid horror.
There is one more thing that isn't talked about in this movie, and it's its symmetry: the story begins with Will sleeping against a tree, then he and Tom walk into a trench to receive the message to give to Colonel Mackenzie, they walk through the front lines to a German bunker, where they experience a near-fatal incident involving a rat and a tripwire, they cross a cherry orchard to a farm with a fresh supply of milk, Will continues with his journey to the river up to a large building where he shoots an enemy soldier, the soldier firing results in Will falling down the stairs, cut to ten seconds of black, the film starts working its way back, from the building goes to a shelter where a frightened woman is hiding out with a baby, Will gives them the milk, he is instructed to follow the river, and he has another near-fatal incident where he falls over a waterfall, along the river, he finds cherry blossoms from nearby trees, he approaches the trenches and delivers the messages, and it ends with Will exiting the trench and sitting against a tree.
All in all, it's a beautiful film worth watching, and it will be a film to talk about for filmmakers to come.
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Click image to view URL.
I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie for me to review. Thank you for reading. I'll return next week with another movie. See you then.
Released On: January 10, 2020
Rating: R
Stars: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch
Director: Sam Mendes
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.5/10
Awards
Golden Globe Awards
- Best Motion Picture Drama - Winner
- Best Director Sam Mendes - Winner
- Best Original Score Thomas Newman - Nominated
Academy Awards
- Best Picture - Nominated
- Best Director Sam Mendes - Nominated
- Best Original Screenplay Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns - Nominated
- Best Original Score Thomas Newman - Nominated
- Best Cinematography Roger Deakins - Winner
- Best Makeup & Hairstyling Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis & Rebecca Cole - Nominated
- Best Production Design Dennis Gassner & Lee Sandales - Nominated
- Best Sound Editing Oliver Tarney & Rachael Tate - Nominated
- Best Sound Mixing Mark Taylor & Stuart Wilson - Winner
- Best Visual Effects Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler & Dominic Tuohy - Winner
(Click here to view more awards for "1917".)
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