The announcement of the Oscar nominations is not far off and I just checked out another movie that is most worthy of being nominated. I have been excited to see 1917 since it won Best Drama and Best Director for Sam Mendes at the Golden Globes, although I think it also should have won Best Score.
After seeing this movie I doubt I’m the only one to compare this to Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. They both have a pretty simple premise, you don’t learn much about the characters and the intensity never gives out. The only difference with 1917 is it’s better. It’s set in World War I which I have always found fascinating to learn about and this movie captures it perfectly. This easily has the best production design of the year as we get a great opening of the two young men walking through the muddy cramped trenches filled with different soldiers who each look like they have their own story to tell. Afterwards they walk out onto no man’s land and it’s littered with detail where it’s just a complete mess of pot holes, dead bodies and murky puddles.
One of the reasons I prefer this movie to Dunkirk is because of the characters. We only follow two of them, and despite not learning much about them, they’re still quite interesting and you want them to beat the odds that are stacked up against them. Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay both give captivating performances. They do have their moments when they settle down and have a bit of a laugh, but you always have that sense at the back of your mind that the shit is about to hit the fan and when it does it is bloody tense!
The highlight of this movie by far is the cinematography and Roger Deakins deserves another Oscar. I don’t think it’s as much of a marvel as Blade Runner 2049’s cinematography, but it’s still easily one of the best looking movies of 2019. The thing the audience is most likely to take away from this movie is that it is filmed in one uninterrupted take. It’s filmed like we’re an imaginary third character that is walking right behind our two main characters. It’s very impressive although I kind of wished there were more wide shots of the surroundings, but I’m willing to let that go.
Overall 1917 is a technical achievement for cinema and it definitely deserves many awards, but does it deserve a place on my best of the year list? I strongly believe so as it’s tense, emotional and the main reason I’m putting it in my top 5 is because it’s filled with heart. All my top 5 movies feel like the director put their heart and soul into making their films as authentic as humanly possible. It’s a 9 to 10/10 if you’re a fan of great movies or war movies then it’s a must watch.
More posts coming in the following days and maybe including an Oscar prediction post, but that will probably be the following week, but until then I have been The Blog Complainer, signing out.
The Blog Complainer 