“One City. One Night. One Take", boast the promos for Sebastian
Schipper's blistering crime flick/romance, Victoria.
There's no getting around what the film promises to be, a two-hour plus story
all done in one camera shot, and honestly so, not a series of clever edits like Birdman. While the
"gimmick" of the single-take sequence has grown tiresome and a crutch
too many filmmakers lean on as proof of their supposed skill, Schipper uses it
to brazen, ballsy effect, crafting a cinematic experience that is unlike any
other you'll experience this year.
Victoria is one of those films it's best to go in
to completely cold, because where it begins is a total 180 from where it ends
up. Shot across 22 locations with a razor thin screenplay to encourage
improvisation, the film takes place in the late night party hearty hours of
Berlin, where we meet Victoria (Laia Costa) as she dances the evening away. A
Spanish transplant looking to make new friends, she encounters four guys who
instantly look like they could be trouble. We can't help but fear the worst.
The street toughs are Sonne (Frederick Lau), Boxer (Franz Rogowski),
Blinker (Burak Yigit), and Fuß (Max Mauff), and the ease with which Victoria
latches on to them shows her disturbing desperation. Even as they start to get
a little more belligerent, especially the rowdy Boxer, Victoria doesn't want to
leave their orbit. She's only got a couple of hours before she has to open up
the cafe for work, but leaving her newfound friends is simply something she
doesn't want to do.
Part of the reason she won't leave is the
casual, completely charming flirtation she shares with Sonne, and their growing
attraction encapsulates the film's first hour. As dizzying as DP Sturla
Brandth Grovlen's camera was in the opening party scene, it takes a less
intrusive position as these two organically fall in love over the evening's
course. Their courtship takes some small, awkward diversions, but builds
naturally. There's the reticence about that first romantic contact, the
offering up of personal, somewhat embarrassing information. We're so invested
in them that if this is all the film were it would still be a richly observed
romantic drama.
But it's just a facade, a clever ruse to
lower our guards. A phone call to Boxer sends the film into an unexpected
overdrive as a heist plot emerges that will leave you breathless. The original
single-shot conceit takes on a greater urgency as events spiral out of control.
Driven by chaotic plotting rather than understated characterization, the film
takes on a completely different kind of energy. The transition from astute Before Sunrise-style love story
to kinetic thriller in the vein of Run
Lola Run is seamless. Some of
the decisions the characters make, and the bonkers situations they get thrown
into, stretch the limits of plausibility. However it's the continuous
camerawork and the grip it has on you that never allows a moment to consider
flaws in logic. There's also no denying the exhilaration in the film's change
in genre, with the ensuing fallout producing some wildly tense and gorgeously
shot action sequences. A shootout later on is as beautifully rendered as an
earlier, quieter scene in which Victoria plays the piano for an enraptured
Sonne.
Looking back on Victoria it's amazing to think it was all
done in a single take in only a few run-throughs. The level of commitment from
Laia Costa to so completely embody the role of Victoria is astonishing because
the film hangs on her ability to do so. While somewhat overlong and a bit slow
in the early going, Victoria literally has something for
everybody. It works as a love story, a stirring drama, and an exciting crime
thriller. Once it's over you'll be dying to watch it one more time to see how
such an achievement could be accomplished.
Rating: 4 out of 5
