Film: "1917"
Two British soldiers embark on an impossible mission in Sam Mendes’s World War I epic, with Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott and Mark Strong.
Like Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman, this real-time battlefield spectacle has been shot to appear as one single take—a feat that is already generating Oscar buzz for legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins (boasting 14 previous Oscar nominations and one win for Blade Runner 2049).
When asked why he wanted his upcoming film to appear as one continuous take, director Sam Mendes said, “I wanted to travel every step with these men—to breathe every breath with them. It needed to be visceral and immersive. What they are asked to do is almost impossibly difficult. The way the movie is made is designed to bring you as close as possible to that experience.”
The result is a tour-de-force that keeps you on the edge of your seat as the two young privates cross enemy territory to save 1,600 brothers from a deadly trap—and you are right by their side. D: Sam Mendes, UK, 2019, 1h50m
