1/10/2020 - 1917 (2019) - 8/10

Bombastic but cultivated film-making, as you are driven in the heart of darkness that was the original Great War. Genuinely picturesque and determinedly constructed, the journey consumes you while situation subsumes. This is war film mastery and passion on par with Dunkirk and Saving Private Ryan, while keeping the shaded heart of a Come and See; it aligns itself well in the annals of indisputable cinematic glory.

While the fake oner (the seeming one long unbroken take) may feel slightly trying and hokey if you are specifically scoping for its flaws, I can only imagine that for most of the audience are immersed. It does bring you into the action and the struggle, heart, mind and soul, while never letting you leave the immediacy of the danger, the grace, or the anxiety. The technique might be one-note for some of the viewers, I think the skill, the blocking, and the planning to have it generally come off so well and so thoroughly can only be applauded.

The film was ambitious in its scope and elegant personal detail, but the elements to make this specific achievement not only successful but special were crucial and victorious. The score was intense, bellowing, euphonic and grand. Probably one of my favorite scores of the year. Similarly, George MacKay was superb. Sometimes someone comes on screen and you just find your eyes drawn to them, like a sponge to life giving ichor, to soak up every ounce that they are putting forth as an actor; that is MacKay here. Videogenic to an enchanting and illustrious degree, his presence and work was a boon. 

The costumes, the effects work, the lighting, the sound design; all were first-class. But, perhaps the greatest of all was the incomparable Roger Deakins. OH! Daddy likey. This may be his best work in years, on par or possibly surpassing Blade Runner 2049 and Skyfall. Phantasms of his sublime masterworks dance in my mind and make my cinephile soul melt like gooey cinnamon butter. Mmmm. I just contemplate the flares weeping on the ruins, the harsh light mellowing into magic; just dazzling.

Perhaps it settles in as the 2nd most tense film of the year (Uncut Gems is a blood pressure spiker). Perhaps the 2nd most “precise” film of the year (Parasite is an inch perfect near masterpiece). But the package and the experience was gargantuan and gripping and one of the very best of the year.