{"id":5671,"date":"2020-01-11T16:23:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T21:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5671"},"modified":"2022-10-26T10:06:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T14:06:31","slug":"1917-is-not-the-first-single-take-movie-but-its-one-of-the-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/1917-is-not-the-first-single-take-movie-but-its-one-of-the-best\/","title":{"rendered":"1917 is not the first single-take movie, but it’s one of the best"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every review or casual comment about 1917<\/em>, from pan to praise, will all begin with the same undeniable fact: it’s an astounding technical achievement. While far from the first apparent single-take feature-length film, it’s certainly one of the most seamless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better, the feat is partially insulated from charges of gimmickry in that the structure derives directly from the urgency of the plot. There’s an essay waiting to be written about how both Sam Mendes<\/a> and Christopher Nolan<\/a> approached the venerable war film genre in the 21st Century: by experimenting with structure and time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Claire<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A couple things took me out of the experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The very intrusive score. Often so overbearing that I suspected the filmmakers doubted the power of their imagery. One particular example being Schofield’s (George MacKay) mad run across the battlefield being accompanied by a pounding rock score, when surely the shells, screaming, and guns would have been more effective.<\/li>
  2. Sentimental war movie cliches, most notably coming across a pretty young woman in the middle of a battlefield.<\/li>
  3. Casting movie stars as the various superiors the soldiers encounter throughout the film has some deleterious effects: it’s distracting when the two leads are relative unknowns, it calls attention to an episodic structure, and it relies too much on melodramatic camera reveals (holding the lens on Mark Strong’s boot for so long seemed a bit rich).<\/li>
  4. An unimaginative, unevocative title. These are not perfect analogies, but imagine if Platoon<\/em> had been titled 1967<\/em>, or if M*A*S*H<\/em> had been 1951<\/em>.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Every review or casual comment about 1917, from pan to praise, will all begin with the same undeniable fact: it’s an astounding technical achievement. While far from the first apparent single-take feature-length film, it’s certainly one of the most seamless. Better, the feat is partially insulated from charges of gimmickry in that the structure derives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[1872,1915,885,2101,943,624,653],"class_list":["post-5671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-1872","tag-benedict-cumberbatch","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-george-mackay","tag-mark-strong","tag-sam-mendes","tag-war"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/1917.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-1tt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5689,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/a-time-twisty-scenario-interstellar\/","url_meta":{"origin":5671,"position":0},"title":"Interstellar is a yet another time twisty Nolan scenario","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The torturously complex premise of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar requires a constant stream of exposition throughout, something I don't recall being a problem in the director's other time twisty scenarios like The Prestige and Inception. It's also less emotionally urgent than either, perhaps indicating that the high-concept structure overwhelmed everything else.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Interstellar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/interstellar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/interstellar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/interstellar.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/interstellar.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/interstellar.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4535,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/foolproof-and-incapable-of-error-christopher-nolans-70mm-unrestoration-of-2001-a-space-odyssey\/","url_meta":{"origin":5671,"position":1},"title":"Foolproof and Incapable of Error: Christopher Nolan’s 70mm Unrestoration of 2001: A Space Odyssey","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If any excuse were necessary to rewatch Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a new print projected in a proper theater would certainly be it. To mark the film's 50th anniversary, Warner Bros. commissioned filmmaker and Kubrick aficionado Christopher Nolan to create a set of new 70mm prints. Nolan's team\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "5 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"5 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/5-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Keir Dullea in 2001: A Space Odyssey","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2001-a-space-odyssey-helmet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2001-a-space-odyssey-helmet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2001-a-space-odyssey-helmet.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2001-a-space-odyssey-helmet.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2001-a-space-odyssey-helmet.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2042,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/christopher-nolans-fugue-state-inception\/","url_meta":{"origin":5671,"position":2},"title":"Christopher Nolan’s Fugue State: Inception","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In his 1999 essay Celluloid Vs. Digital, Roger Ebert cites studies equating the experience of watching a movie to entering a fugue state: \"film creates reverie, video creates hypnosis.\" In other words, experiencing a film in the traditional manner, projected at 24 frames per second in a darkened theater, affects\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Inception","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":787,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/iron-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":5671,"position":3},"title":"Robert Downey Jr.’s got a bum ticker in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Jon Favreau's Iron Man finds just the right tone for a superhero movie, pitched somewhere in the sweet spot between Spider-Man's emotional melodrama and Batman's grim vengeance. This blogger, a former lover of comic books (that stopped keeping up with them partly out of frugality, and partly lack of brain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Iron Man","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/iron-man-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/iron-man-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/iron-man-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/iron-man-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/iron-man-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":937,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/batman-dark-knight\/","url_meta":{"origin":5671,"position":4},"title":"Batman wants to be taken seriously in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I really wanted to like The Dark Knight. Director Christopher Nolan (also cowriter with brother Jonathan) and star Christian Bale have long proved themselves thoughtful, serious filmmakers, but if they have one common flaw it might be a terminal deficiency of levity. The Dark Knight inarguably has all the hallmarks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dark Knight","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/batman-dark-knight-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2044,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-best-of-inception-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":5671,"position":5},"title":"The Best of Inception Online","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"To follow up on our recent review of Inception, here's a collection of the best online coverage I've seen elsewhere: Devin Faraci's Never Wake Up: The Meaning and Secret of Inception is the best thing you will read about Inception, an opinion shared by The Awl. \"Inception is about making\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/movies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Inception","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-city.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-city.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-city.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-city.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/inception-city.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5671"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7562,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5671\/revisions\/7562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}