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How entertaining? ★★★★★
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 11 March 2015
This article is a review of VICTORIA.Seen at the Berlin International Film Festival 2015. (For more information, click here.)
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“He’s just angry because he has no wife,” Sonne (Frederick Lau)
Emotional equivalence of a fizzy soft drink bottle being shaken and suddenly opened is the euphoria felt as the closing credits scrawled. Director Sebastian Schipper and cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen have fashioned a work that, as Darren Aronofsky stated when handing the latter a Silver Bear for artistic achievement, "Rocked our world." For two hours 14 minutes the camera never stops. A single take. No edits. BIRDMAN's digital trickery almost seems pedestrian in comparison. Almost. Such endeavours have previously been confined to a building - museum, hotel, theatre; VICTORIA crosses a metropolis. Has Berlin ever looked so cool on the silver screen? German cinema has had a staggering shot of adrenaline to the arm.
Emotional equivalence of a fizzy soft drink bottle being shaken and suddenly opened is the euphoria felt as the closing credits scrawled. Director Sebastian Schipper and cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen have fashioned a work that, as Darren Aronofsky stated when handing the latter a Silver Bear for artistic achievement, "Rocked our world." For two hours 14 minutes the camera never stops. A single take. No edits. BIRDMAN's digital trickery almost seems pedestrian in comparison. Almost. Such endeavours have previously been confined to a building - museum, hotel, theatre; VICTORIA crosses a metropolis. Has Berlin ever looked so cool on the silver screen? German cinema has had a staggering shot of adrenaline to the arm.
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It is its own beast of course, though there are top notes of Gasper Noé (ENTER THE VOID) segueing into Richard Linklater (BEFORE SUNRISE) into Arthur Penn (BONNIE AND CLYDE). Such an ambitious project needs a three director reference.
Dancers in a club out of focus, shapes shifting coming into view, revealing a pretty young woman, the titular heroine (Laia Costa). On her own, the end of the night, in fact about 4:30am, one last drink before heading home, asking the barmen if he wants one too - prefacing a (deep) loneliness, which will allow the audience to buy the character's forthcoming scary/bold choices.
Wow moments:
- An impromptu piano recital in a cafe brilliantly gives VICTORIA an emotional core.
- A parking garage meeting soaked in dread shifts the film into another genre.
- The stalling of a car outside a bank squeezes your guts.
- Circular location revisit elation.
- Resourceful evasion exhilaration.
- A perfect ending.
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Not in an attention deficit manifestation, the camera never stays still to capture the nervous, excited energy of the protagonists and audience alike. Vibrancy in lighting and performance. Conversation zings as if re-written 100 times (in reality mostly improvised). Collecting her bicycle after leaving the club, Victoria comes across four lairy, drunk twenty-something guys not permitted into the venue. Alarm bells are going off. Go on your own way, the audience internally cries. You'll be glad she didn't. What a ride she, they and we are in for.
Statistics:
- 22 locations,
- Six assistant directors,
- Over 150 extras, and
- Three sound crews.
Delay, anticipation, delivery, pay-off – VICTORIA joins ALIENS and DIE HARD for pure distillation of that concept.
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