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Tuesday, 3 November 2015

LFF 2015 top 10 memories no.7: Victoria

Touch of Evil intro? Pah! Birdman? Meh! Victoria dares to go where they failed and contain the entire run time of the film in one single, unedited shot. Conceived by director Sebastien Schipper, this is exhilarating and immersive cinema as the real hero, cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grovlen, puts us directly into the action.

Briefly, the film takes place between 4.30am and 7am in Berlin, charting the encounter between Victoria and Sonne and his three friends at a club. Before she knows it, she’s allowed herself to fall in with them and gets dragged into their botched bank robbery for a local mobster.

So far, so what?!

Victoria’s raison d’etre lies in Schipper’s desire to film the entire escapade in real time and in one 140-minute take. The plot takes us from the club, to the block of flats where Sonne lives, to the cafĂ© Victoria works in, to an underground car park for the meet with the mobster, and then to the bank robbery… I will say no more: you get the gist.

Grovlen and his single camera is always at the heart of action, immersing us in the group’s actions and interactions, making the audience feel like it’s a mute member of the gang. Indeed, in the end titles, Grovlen gets top billing, ahead of the hard-working cast.

The cast knew their cues, but some of the dialogue and action is improvised. There was only the budget for three takes, and what the audience sees is the final take, so the performances are fresh, vital and real. Again, given the immersive nature of the film, you forget you are watching ‘performances’.

There’s no getting away from the fact that nobody would be raving about this film were it not for its technical ambition and accomplishment, but it is impressive stuff, especially on the big screen (don’t wait to watch it at home).
Score: 8/10

Victoria is set for release on 29 April 2016.


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