1917

George MacKay    Dean-Charles Chapman     Andrew Scott

Mark Strong     Richard Madden     Colin Firth     Benedict Cumberbatch

     Be prepared to run for all you’re worth with the characters over all kinds of terrain strewn with friendly and enemy soldiers and feel continuing tension for almost the entire film of 1917.  Director and writer (with Krysty Wison-Cairns) Sam Mendes and his cinematographer Roger Deakins made an excellent call in filming the entire adventure in essentially one continuous take.  With the immediacy of the story, it pulls the viewer right into the screen, and you are there.  

     In France in the first World War, two young Lance Corporals, Tom (Chapman) and Will (MacKay) are sent on a mission to Colonel MacKenzie (Cumberbatch) with the urgent message to cancel a military charge where, unbeknownst to MacKenzie, a trap has been set by the Nazis.  Will and Tom will have to cross a no-man’s land of dead bodies and through enemy lines to get by all kinds of dangers along the way, and they have only a few hours to make it.  The charge is given with a special incentive:  Tom’s brother is one of the 1600 men in MacKenzie’s company who will be killed if MacKenzie proceeds with the attack.

     Along with the script and direction, cinematography and music (Thomas Newman) are paired so seamlessly with the story they serve as sensory enhancements, intensifying the whole experience.  There are breathtaking scenes such as one at sunset when a soldier is sneaking through the sculpted forms of the remains of a bombed-out building, which Deakins has constructed to look like a morbidly colorful abstract painting.  The whole scene is heightened by the fear of being shot.  In this case, the music has unworldly sounds that give expression to the tension and fear.  Other times, there are sharp contrasts between the horrors encountered along the way and snow-white cherry blossoms wafting in the breeze or come upon in a host of trees felled by the Germans.  

     Another feat in this film is the production design (Dennis Gassner) and the creation of miles of military encampments, abandoned encampments complete with rats, and a bombed out building where a young woman and an abandoned child are sheltered with one candle burning brightly.  And much later on, we witness a contrast with a camp of British soldiers listening to one of their own singing the popular American folk song, “Wayfaring Stranger.”  

     The paradox of 1917 is in its graphic description of the horrors of war coupled with the visual and lyrical beauty in which the story is presented.  A late bloomer this year, 1917 may be at the top of more than one list in the upcoming award season.

Heroics are paramount in 1917, but the visual and musical enhancements and the brief, tender moments, altogether, earn it a place on the “must see” list.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Ryan Gosling     Harrison Ford     Robin Wright     Ana de Armas     Jared Leto     Sylvia Hoeks     Mackenzie Davis

   The cinematography (Roger Deakins), special effects and other-world atmosphere (production design by Dennis Gassner) give this film’s story the mystery and spookiness it deserves.  The 1982 Blade Runner film, based on Philip K. Dick’s graphic novel, has been updated by screenwriters Hampton Fancher (who also worked on the earlier film) and Michael Green under the excellent direction of Denis Villeneuve.  It’s fast-moving and suspenseful, leading the viewer down garden paths that make it seem predictable, but ultimately is not.

     ‘K’ (Gosling) is a blade runner charged by his supervisor Lt. Joshi (Wright) to track down out-moded replicants made by the Tyrell Corporation and retire them.  The new ones, manufactured by Niander Wallace (Leto), who bought the Tyrell Corporation, are considered to be so human-like a special test has been devised to distinguish between replicant and human.  ‘K’ must be tested each time he returns to base to be sure that he has not been tampered with.

     Something comes up in one of his investigations that arouses his curiosity, and he begins to pursue it, against the orders of Joshi.  This search constitutes the main part of the story with all its complexity, assortment of figures, and dangerous encounters.  He does eventually find Deckard (Ford), the original Blade Runner, who has become a recluse, and who is not very happy to see him, but K has burning questions Deckard can answer—or so he thinks.

     The picture of the future that Blade Runner 2049 constructs is alarming as well as fascinating.  Identities merge and transform with ease, paranoia about who is who is rampant, sophisticated space ships for rapid travel seem to appear out of nowhere any time, and most of the buildings look like tool shops inside.  Digitized figures (many especially in the form of sexy women) tower over the city, which is teeming with multitudes.  At one point, a character says, “We’re all just looking out for something real”, which is like the viewer’s experience throughout the story.

     2049 continues with the existential questions of the first Blade Runner, having a lot to do with issues about what it means to be human.  Yet, although it is enlightening to be familiar with the previous film, 2049 stands on its own; it’s not necessary to have seen the first film to grasp the import of the current rendition.

With robotics in our near future, it behooves us to consider what it is to be human.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland