WASHINGTON 鈥� It won four awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival before winning the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday and being nominated聽for an Oscar on Thursday.
Now,聽Hungary’s Holocaust drama “Son of Saul” finally hits聽D.C. movie theaters this weekend.
As you check out this聽Academy Award聽contender, it’s also the perfect time to stream聽Germany’s “Victoria,”聽unfolding in聽one continuous shot over 2 1/2 hours on the streets of Berlin.
Both films are set in very different German settings, both have bagged an array of聽international film festival prizes,聽and both are absolutely worth your time if you love daring European filmmaking.
Time for a double review of “Son of Saul” and “Victoria,” including a Q&A with the latter’s star, actress Laia Costa, who recently joined 海角社区app聽over the phone from a beach in Spain.
Interview below may contain some explicit language.
‘Son of Saul’
顿颈谤别肠迟辞谤:听L谩szl贸 Nemes
Set in聽1944, Hungarian native Saul Ausl盲nder (G茅za聽R枚hrig) is interred at Auschwitz聽as a member of the聽“Sonderkommando,” a work group of Jewish prisoners forced to lead other inmates to the gas chambers, burn their bodies in the crematoriums and shovel their ashes into the wilderness.
One day, during his horrific daily duties,聽Saul encounters the body of a young boy. Fascinated by the young loss of life, he “adopts” the boy as聽his posthumous “son” and attempts to arrange a proper Jewish funeral for him, including a Rabbi reading last rites and an actual burial instead of incineration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fpv0S8wE9Y
Directed by聽L谩szl贸 Nemes in his first feature film, “Son of Saul” immediately feels like a different sort of picture than a more sentimentalized film like “Sophie’s Choice” (1982) or “Schindler’s List” (1993). We don’t flash back to the protagonist’s tearjerking back story like Meryl Streep in “Sophie,” nor do we get Liam Neeson聽breaking down in tears on Ben Kingsley’s shoulder like the end of聽“Schindler.”
Instead, the movie opens in jarring 4:3 aspect radio, displaying聽a static shot with a completely dirty frame (out of focus), until the protagonist walks toward the camera and gradually comes into focus.
As we follow Saul, the聽camera often hovers behind his head, just over his shoulders where an “X” is printed on his back. A similar style was used by Darren Aronofsky hovering behind Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (2008) and Ava DuVernay hovering behind David Oyelowo in “Selma.” In “Son of Saul,” it brilliantly shows the weight of morality hanging on聽Saul’s shoulders in this Holocaust hell.
Because of the camera’s proximity to the actor聽and the director’s intense focus on his hero, we often can only guess at the atrocities occurring around him. You could argue the unseen is more聽horrific. Instead, we catch only glimpses 鈥� a lifeless limb here, a naked breast there 鈥� as the stripped聽dead bodies are dragged around the crematory, often out of focus in the peripheral of the 4:3 frame.
This style makes聽R枚hrig’s performance all the more crucial, having to carry much of the movie with the posture of his shoulder blades and the expressions of his worn face,聽his eyes tuning out the violence to聽keep his eye on the prize of burying his聽“son.” Thus, R枚hrig placed second for聽Best Actor at the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards behind only Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs”) and second for Best Actor at聽the National Society of Film Critics Awards聽behind only Michael B. Jordan (“Creed”).
R枚hrig’s face 鈥� and the聽brilliant sound effects of gunfire, screams and聽barking dogs聽鈥� suggest the fate of the fellow inmates at the camp. With this approach, don’t expect everything to be tidied up by the end, which leaves us聽with聽R枚hrig’s tellingly optimistic facial expression amid the sound effects of inherent doom surrounding them. You could call this finale frustratingly ambiguous, or you could treat it as a game as to not only what happened, but聽what the hero was thinking when it happened.
This lack of hand holding is refreshing. At one point, a Nazi guard looks聽Saul in the face and says, “Hungarian is such an eloquent language.” You could say the same about this film, which just put Hungarian cinema back on the map. It’s already won Hungary its first Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and is set up nicely to do the same at the聽Oscars. “Son of Saul” is the first Hungarian film since 1988 to be nominated for the Oscar, and if it pulls it off, will be the first to win it.
‘Victoria’
顿颈谤别肠迟辞谤:听Sebastian Schipper
While “Son of Saul” is a favorite to win the Foreign Language Oscar, “Victoria” was聽regrettably disqualified for having too much English dialogue blended with聽German and Spanish.
While this will unfortunately keep “Victoria” out of the Oscar race, it firmly establishes the film聽as one of the most聽underrated global gems聽of 2015 鈥� and a must-watch .聽If you聽stream it on a聽small screen, please put away all digital devices and remove all potential distractions from view.
“Victoria” deserves to be seen without interruption to fully appreciate its masterful long continuous shot that lasts聽the聽entire 138 minutes during the聽early聽morning hours of modern-day Berlin.
It follows Victoria (Laia Costa), a Spanish native who聽has moved to Berlin, where her flirtations with a charming club patron,聽Sonne聽(Frederick Lau), spark聽a聽dangerous night on the town with聽his buddies. By the end, you’ll quote聽“Black Swan” director Darren Aronofsky:聽“‘Victoria’ rocked my world.”
Of course,聽“Victoria” is not the first movie to achieve this. Alfred聽Hitchcock attempted it back in “Rope” (1948) but lacked the technology to fully achieve it, masking聽his聽cuts each time the film stock ran out. Since then, we’ve seen similar single-take efforts in聽Alexander Sokurov’s聽“Russian Ark” (2002),聽Gus Van Sant’s聽“Elephant” (2003) and Alejandro G. I帽谩rritu’s “Birdman” (2014).
“They all play with this format, but the three of them are completely different,” Costa聽tells 海角社区app.
Indeed,聽German director聽Sebastian Schipper knew from the start that his film would be gritty.
“When we were starting the rehearsals in Berlin last year, I was a big fan of ‘True Detective,’ so I saw these (six-minute) single shots of …聽and then I mailed Sebastian the director and I said, ‘Look! That’s amazing man!’ He was like, ‘Yeah, but our one-take is going to be punkier, it’s not going to be perfect, it’s going to be like the war journalists … just trying to steal the picture.'”
Schipper聽achieved the amazing feat after just three takes, hitting聽his聽carefully choreographed marks with the precision of聽cinematographer Sturla Brandth Gr酶vlen, who won Best Cinematography at the German Film Awards and the prestigious Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
“There’s a lot of technical stuff that has to be correctly done. I knew that I have聽to be careful at this point because I need to help Sturla, the cameraman, pass through the door, or I need to get into the car like this, because the boys are going to do that, or you have to remember that the blood is going to be hidden in that tree, so you have to go there and take the blood and smash it in your stomach.”
There is a聽brief moment聽where a background extra accidentally steps into the frame as Victoria and Sonne enter a hotel, but such minor glitches are to be expected in such an elaborate long-take.
“The streets were not controlled, so people from the street all the time were interfering. At one point, Blinker, he has a panic attack in the street, so there were like a couple of Russian guys, they were a little bit drunk maybe, they were looking at us thinking, ‘Oh my God! These guys need some help!’ So they came to us and the director, Sebastian, was hidden inside the car (shouting),聽‘It’s a film! Don’t go there!聽It’s a film!’ And they start fighting. That was happening just three meters from us.”
Beyond the technical achievements and real-time logistical distractions, the filmmakers also make sure to craft a truly engrossing story. At the midpoint, the film聽masterfully shifts tones from a rambunctious nightclub romance聽to a gripping crime thriller, starting with a聽chance romantic meeting聽between two strangers like Richard Linklater’s聽“Before Sunrise” (1995), then shifting toward the danger of Tom Tykwer’s “Run Lola Run” (1998), in which Schipper actually starred as Mike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNFGKXQGoIc
These brilliant tonal shifts showcase Costa’s unexpected聽talent, as we actually feel like she’s falling for聽Sonne聽while making hot cocoa in the coffee shop or playing the piano in her apartment.
“I think it’s just about being there and being concentrated. If you have rehearsed before and you know your character and you know what’s going on in all the locations, and you know what’s the conflict, what’s the objective and who are you basically, then you can just聽do the scene,” she says.
Costa’s performance is聽not unlike Lorraine Bracco聽during聽her聽Copacabana聽 in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” (1990), swept along with criminals, sensing something is awry, braving the danger due to聽intrigue, and rising to the occasion to hold her own in a world of moral dilemma.
“Today we have a lot of friends like, let’s do a coffee today and maybe聽one more聽in a couple weeks. (‘Victoria’ is about) not that kind of friendship, but, ‘I’m f***ed up. I have to do something really bad. Are you going to be with me?’ That kind of friendship is something quite different,” Costa says.
The entire performance builds to an聽emotionally聽devastating final scene, sobbing and聽slobbering on the floor before picking herself up and moving on 鈥� a changed woman. As she confidently strolls down the streets of聽Berlin toward the end credits, you’ll be shocked to learn that she only recently began acting in 2012聽after聽spending聽the first 17 years of her life playing basketball in Spain.
Thus, she’s聽still perfecting her craft and studying the greats. Her favorites?聽Gena Rowlands in John Cassavettes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974), Holly Hunter in Jane Campion’s “The Piano” (1993),聽Isabelle Huppert聽in Michael Haneke’s “The Piano Teacher” (2001) and Emily Watson聽in Lars Von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves” (1996). Who knows? We may one day put聽Costa in the same class.
“If I’m like 90 years old and I’m with my grandchildren and some journalist is starting to say this, I will think, OK, now I can die happily. That’s magic. But to know this kind of thing, you need time. You need years in between. It’s nothing that I can say, or someone can say, it’s something that time says.”
Yes, time is the ultimate single-take.
The above ratings are聽based on a 4-star scale. See where these films rank in Jason’s . Follow 海角社区app Film Critic Jason Fraley on Twitter .
Listen to the full interview with Laia Costa at the top of this review.
