An Incredibly Personal Movie

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2020)

This is an incredibly personal movie. Everything in the picture is designed to make you an intimate witness: the writing, the performances, the cinematography, the editing (or lack thereof), the uniqueness of all the exteriors which never repeat, and it is incredibly effective. You find yourself holding your breath as the action plays out. The seed of this film came from the stories Sam Mendes heard his grandfather tell of his time as a message courier in the First World War. The partnership between Mendes and cinematographer, Roger Deakins, to create the movie as one long shot is award worthy and completely elevates the film above its genre. It's not just a war movie, or an action movie, or a thriller, or a drama. It's all of this things, and more. A truly intimate experience, I give this film a rating of 9 (superb) out of 10.