1917 (2019)

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2020)

Directed by Sam Mendes. Starring George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Colin Firth, Claire Duburcq, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong, Richard Madden, Benedict Cumberbatch. (R)
Two British soldiers (MacKay, Chapman) are given the task of delivering a message across enemy lines to halt an attack that would cost over a thousand lives. Director Mendes' WWI drama cares naught for the politics or grand theater of war, choosing instead to focus on two individuals undertaking one mission covering less than twenty-four hours, with the camera ceaselessly following them in real time. That faux-continuous "single shot" gimmick is a distracting one, especially in the early-going; Roger Deakins' photography is sublime as expected, and the technical mastery is undeniable (though some of the edit points are hardly seamless), but the technique trivializes character dimension and the economy of rhythm for the sake of raw, limited experience. Designed to give the viewer a down-and-dirty, firsthand look at the experiences of soldiers, never exceeding its scope beyond what the main characters can see or anticipate, but also never escaping the labors of its own ritual--visually spellbinding at times, appropriately stark and grimy, yet never fully immersive or emotionally engaging. The leads do solid work with little meat written onto the bones besides exhaustion, fear and determination; small roles for recognizable faces do little besides provide faces to recognize.
67/100